Elephants, Sharks, and Assorted Antelope

Last Saturday (the 12th) was our wedding. Getting past that and into this week (and finally being able to actually do homework for my classes like I’d hoped) was like coming up for air. The last 11-12 weeks have been a whirlwind, to say nothing of the month or so before that.  So I thought I’d spend my morning writing some catch-up material.

So we spent 10 days in South Africa. After a grueling 18 hour flight, plus 6 hours in layovers each way.  We were shuttled around by our PH, Sirk. He drove us all over the place and generally was a babysitter/guide, and he was awesome. He put us onto pretty much all of the animals in our package, and big ones, at that. He set up a day of shark fishing for us with a friend of his, and got us a day of video safari at a beautiful reserve. The only animal out of our original package that we failed to get was a warthog. From what I was told, the weather thwarted us there- it was cool (ranging from low 50s F for a high to a few days in the 60s, almost 70s), and often rainy. Warthogs apparently aren’t out and about in that weather, so I swapped for a different animal, a duiker.

The people were all wonderful, the scenery was stunning, and it was quite an experience to be in a country on a continent I never thought I’d visit. So let there be pictures.

Our last sunset

GE

GE

The second lodge was much more modern

Impala on the game drive

Wildebeest

Nyala bull on the game drive

At the ver fancy restaurant at the end of the game drive. The food was excellent, and there were monkeys.

The surf at Port Alfred

Setting up for shark fishing

GE

As mentioned, we got all of our animals, and with time to spare.

My blesbok, shot at 235 yds

Duiker, shot at about 150

Matt’s impala was quite close, inside 100yds

The kudu was impressive, and shot at 450.

These rhinos were on the farm where we shot the kudu. We were inside the fence.

Springbok, shot just under 100yds

Me following Sirk after some blesbok. He made a good place to hide behind. He was basically a mountain.

Matt’s big Blue Wildebeest.

Unfortunately, I’m still searching for the external hard drive we loaded all of our pictures onto. Once it turns up, I’ll get some more pictures of the scenery and other things we saw up.

The Epic of the Ditchboat Continues

Matt got new tires on the trailer yesterday, and last night we put the rest of the lower unit on. Today was the day.

Urban Sugaring part II

The weekend of the 20th, we began boiling down our maple sap. Our first set up was a simple stock pot over our propane turkey fryer, and it stayed that way for another week

30 gall food-grade barrel in the foreground.

Battle on Bago 2015

This week, I’m relegated to my tablet, since the pup chewed through my laptop cable. The pictures will come at the end, bear with me.

We returned to Lake Winnebago last weekend to participate in the two day Battle on Bago tournament. We arrived later than expected on Friday, and were set up just as it got dark. We stuck it out in a hastily-chosen spot on the south end of the lake near North Fond du Lac until about 8:30 when the lack of fish and the cold drove us off.

Black Powder in Coulee Country.

Matt somehow managed to talk his college buddy into letting me tag along on a late season bow/muzzle loader weekend hunt at his place in Pepin county (not Trempeleau like I thought). We drove up Friday night, and left Sunday morning. It was a nice change of pace to see deer and a lot of them. 

Milestone: Purchasing a Second Freezer

One good thing to come out of this past weekend was a new freezer. Sunday night, the weather began to turn as we struggled back to the boat landing. And it’s been raining since. Soaking rains Monday, more on Tuesday, and the last bits straggling away today. So no deer hunting like we hoped on Monday night- I was not about to sit in the pouring rain, no thank you. 

Bear Hunt

Monday night, Matt announced that he had written me his bear piece. Turns out he meant by hand. Matt’s handwriting is not the most legible on the planet, so some editorial license has been taken. Grammar and spelling is mostly original.

Bear Down

I can’t read the phrase I used for the title without thinking of the Chicago football fight song, but blame that on my roots. I told Matt that he was going to be writing the post about the hunt, since I wasn’t there. But I wanted to at least get the pictures up: he got his bear.

Wild Dessert: Blackberry Crumb Bars

After putting together wine and brandy, I used what was left of my blackberries to make a pan of crumb bars. Like with most of my recipes, I adapt an existing recipe for grocery store, domesticated whatever it is. I used smittenkitchen’s recipe for blueberry crumb bars (though at some point I’d love to go wild blueberry picking), and just swapped the fruit.

So, like most of the best desserts, these things are full of buttery goodness. I followed the recipe exactly:

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

And then once assembled, into a 375F pre-heated oven.

Mixing the dry ingredients with the butter.

The texture you’re shooting for.

Bottom crust pressed into the pan

Filling mix- berries sugar, cornstarch.

Filling.

Crumbs on top.

A nice golden brown after about 45 minutes in the oven.

 

The end result.

I’ve already eaten about half the pan. I’d also go a further step and say I like them a bit better the second day. I also went out yesterday evening, and gathered another 3 pounds of blackberries. If I can scrounge up another pound or two from somewhere else (I’ve gotten just about all there were ripe out at sunny slope), I might start a second gallon of wine.

More Solo Fishing

I had originally requested this past weekend off, thinking Matt and I were headed down to bowfish for Asian carp on the Illinois river back by home. Turns out, Matt forgot he had work to do both Saturday and Sunday. So I had the three days originally requested, plus two more. That was a lot of days to fill.

Friday, I volunteered to drive to Racine and pick up the new gas tank for the ditch boat. We gave up on the old one, given that the sealing kit barely covered half of it. We got a new, plastic one for under $200. Shipping would have been almost as much as the tank itself, so I drove down for the day. After wedging the tank into the VW, I headed to the river there to fish. I went to the Steelhead facility, where Matt and I had been fishing before. Everyone I asked said there was little trout activity, and I wasn’t surprised- the water was pretty warm. So I cast for bass and whatever else might bite. I did find some bass. But there was a surprise in store for me.

Little bass

Little bass

Whoa, hang on a minute.

Yup. A 6 1/2 muskie fingerling

My first muskie was about as big around as my index finger. Though, at this point, I think I have cast for one a few thousand times. Maybe my next one can be a little bit bigger. I released him & told him to go get bigger.