Uncle_Tricky

Thanks Dave. Yup, I'll be showing up one of these weeks. Midweek days are my weekends right now, so Tuesdays have found me out of town... [ 04-20-2002, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

My neighbor from Twisp lives in Thailand every winter where he raises tilapia (a kind of fish) in abandoned rice paddies. According to him, the area is an ecological disaster. The impoverished locals have poached out all the game and the only thing left is a thriving population of huge rats. Now, for sport and nutrition, the local men take to the forest every night with flashlights and old-style muzzleloaders in pursuit of the wily rodents. Apparently a whole economy and social structure has developed around the harvesting of rats. In addition to providing a cheap source of protein, its the men's main source of entertainment and income. And, of course, the nightly rat hunt serves the time-honored necessity of getting away from the old lady. Since rat tastes pretty good (like chicken!) I'd recommend cooking up a feast. This is one of my favorite rat recipies: Cheesy Rat Florentine The classic Rat Florentine recipe is named for the Italian city of Florence. Dishes a la Fiorentina feature rat on a bed of spinach leaves. The dish is dressed in a creamy white sauce mixed with Parmesan cheese. This casserole will transport your and your dinner guests to the romantic sewers of Florence. I recommend a fine bottle of Vernaccia di San Gimignano to round out the culinary journey. NOTE: regional variations are possible. Depending upon local availability, one may substitute rat with road killed possum, or the delicious but elusive snafflehound. Rat catching time: variable Prep Time: approx. 20 Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 1 Hour 5 Minutes. Ready in: approx. 1 Hour 25 Minutes. Makes 6 servings with average sized Norwegian rats. Ingredients 6 skinless rat halves, seasoned with salt and pepper 2 (12 ounce) packages STOUFFER'S® frozen Spinach Souffle, defrosted 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 cups cooked white rice 1 cup milk 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese, divided 1/4 cup chopped onion 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup fresh, coarse breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted Directions 1) SAUTE rats in vegetable oil until both sides are golden brown. Rats will finish cooking in the oven. 2) COMBINE Spinach Souffle, rice, milk, 1/2 cup Swiss cheese, onion, mustard and salt in large bowl; stir well. Spread into bottom of 9x13-inch baking pan; place rats on top of spinach mixture. Combine breadcrumbs, butter and remaining Swiss cheese in small bowl; sprinkle mixture evenly over casserole. 3) COVER casserole with aluminum foil. Bake in preheated 375 degrees F oven for 25 minutes; remove cover. Continue baking for 35 to 40 minutes or until spinach mixture is set and rats are no longer pink in the center. 4) CHOW DOWN and watch with amusement your guests faces when you reveal to them what they just ate! [ 04-21-2002, 06:58 AM: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

I always get a good laugh out of those "FEAR THIS!!!" stickers. Gave one to my grandma for her birthday. She say fewer people tailgate her as she putters down the road--until they see she is just a bluehair sitting on a phonebook.

I tried to post a poll. I can't. I don't know why. Anyway, my poll question was: Is there anybody out there among the 2000 people registered here that think bolting an easily protectable crack is actually a good idea? I don't get it. Please explain. The Arch is a fun climb. Recommended to me by an old eight-fingered character in Leavenworth. [ 04-15-2002, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

Climbed the NW (???) route on Kangaroo temple last year. Can't remember the exact name, but it's the 5 or 6 pitch 5.7. For an easy route, it has a good variety of climbing and is fairly consistent at the grade. The first pitch is a traverse with some downclimbing and then up a water groove with sparse pro. I was climbing with an second who had only climbed a couple times, so following the traverse was pretty intimidating for her. The route follows a chimney system with a couple short sections of laybacking or jamming. The best pitch was the "dance floor" pitch--a fun slab perched high on the rock with a corner crack. The descent is two or three single raps into the notch on the N. side, which is a 2 pitch route popular with the mounties (5.6ish?) Contrary to the map in the becky book, the best approach from the hairpin is found on the W side of the creek. [ 04-14-2002, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

Thanks for sharing--brings back memories of bad trips past. In fact I was just recently recounting memories of bad trips with a friend of mine from high school. Like the time we got caught in a summer lighting\hail\rain storm on S. Arapahoe Peak (CO). Classically unprepared, totally freezing, lighting striking all around, we ran a couple thousand feet down a snowfield to lower ground. It was only then that my friend discovered that somewhere along the way, he'd ran out of his shoe--and hadn't even noticed cause his feet were so cold! (It was a long, slow walk out). Or the time we went backpacking and brought all canned food but no can opener or pocket knife. Or the time we tried to paddle a canoe through a culvert on a flooding creek and nearly got stuck, or the time we were in a suvivalist phase and tried to hunt and gather all our food for a week and ended up skinning mice and roasting slugs on a skewer....ahhh the memories! As far as sleeping bags go, in my experience, the warmest way to sleep is nekkid with hat and socks, or with just a thin layer of long underwear at most. Anything more than that (fleece or whatever) seems to dilute your body heat and render the bag less effective and/or retard blood circulation. Of course, DRY is the key. In a snow cave, the temperature often stays a little above freezing, which can result in high relative humidity. Even if you have dry clothes, water vapor from the snow and your breath will pass right through your bag and clothes, contributing to a clammy, damp feeling. I've noticed that its easier to be warm at 20 degrees where the air is dry, than at 33 degrees where the air has a lot of moisture in it. Kind of the inverse of the rule about heat and humidity. [ 04-13-2002: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

Yup, as others have said, Peshastin is open for biz. Got fumigated there early this week. As we were up on the rock, they started spraying the orchard next door. A strong westerly wind coated us with a white, bitter-tasting fungi-herbi-insecticide powder. Probably not too healthy, but it cleared my flea and tick problem right up!

Yeah, Benton City? What are you thinking? Go with the downwind side of Hanford--it quite affordable, and you can grow a hell of a garden there! You may want to consider the cosmopolitan Tri-Cities area of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco. Richland is particularly nice. The high school team is named the "Bombers" and their mascot is the A-Bomb: [ 04-06-2002: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

Do you know what the man is saying? Do you? This is dialectics. It's very simple dialectics. One through nine, no maybes, no supposes, no fractions. You can't travel in space, you can't go out into space, you know, without, like, you know, with fractions. What are you going to land on, one quarter, three-eighths, what are you going to do when you go from here to Venus or something -- that's dialectic physics, OK? Dialectic logic is there's only love and hate, you either love somebody or you hate them.

The are transient wolves in the Cascades, but they are extremely rare, occasionally filtering down from Canada. There have been only a couple verified sightings in the last 20 years, the most recent being up near Hozomeen along Ross Lake. Do not fear the wolf--fear the KILLER RABBIT with a vicious streak a mile wide! [ 03-30-2002: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

Never get out of the boat. Absolutely god damn right. Unless you're going all the way. Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole fuckin' program. The horror. The horror...

The Top Four Coolest Towns in the PNW: 4) Yelm - A beautiful burg nestled down by the banks of the lovely Nisqually River. Only minutes from Fossil Rock, the secret sport climbing destination which is also referred to as "The Smith Rock of the Greater Yelm Area." 3) Tokeland - A little known paradise on the mudflats of scenic Willapa Bay. High Times magazine recently rated this as "One of the best places to spark a doob while harvesting shellfish." Only a short three to four hour drive from the nearest rock, which happens to be the sport climbing mecca of Fossil Rock! 2) Forks - If you like precipitation, this is the place to be, with over 150 inches of rain a year. Grow a mullet, wander through the woods, and hang with the friendly unemployed sasquatches at the hip Hangup Tavern. Warning: if you do not drive a Ford or Chevy truck, this might not be the place for you. Since the fall of logging, jobs are somewhat limited, but there are "new economy" opportunities if you can either pick salal or manufacture meth. EZ access to Olympic National Park! And the #1 coolest, hippest, hottest and happeningest town in all of the PNW is......... 1) Ritzville - the name says it all. A ritzy little resort town in the heart of Washington. Promoters think this place might be the next big thing. Land of big sky, big trucks, big hair and big butts. There may not be lots of girls, but each girl gottsa lotsa woman to them! Ritzville was voted the best place to park your combine in the latest issue of "Grain Growers Monthly." A side note--Ritzville is currently suing Yakima, who it claims plagarized Ritzville's motto: "The Palm Springs of Washington." Have fun exploring these places, and let us know which cool town you decide to settle in!

[ 03-22-2002: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

Glad all ya'll had a time of it. Due to pass closure, I attended the Ardenvoire Club Pub at the grocery/post office/hardware/liquor/restaurant/bar/video rental/fishing tackle store maybe 10 or 15 miles up the Entiat River Valley. We had a great turnout. In fact everyone in the Ardenvoir Greater Metropolitan Area was there, which including one stranded traveler, made 8 of us. They were a seasoned crowd--you could divide my three decades two or three times into these oldster's years of existence. Sailor Tom reminesced about World War I. Gus told the story of every fire in the valley since 1916. Three Fingered Jack (Technically, he should be called "Two Fingered, One Thumbed Jack") smoked an unfiltered Gunsmoke held between thumb and ring finger and told of the days when the saw mill buzzed and Ponderosas lived up to their latin name. Octegenarian Floyd sat slouched between bar stool and wall, silent, still under his cowboy hat, presumably still alive. Maude kept the $1.25 cans of Hamms, Olympia and Ranier coming. Just from wandering around up at the end of the road (snowed in at 25 miles) I was impressed by the quality and quantity of granite up in them thar hills! [ 03-21-2002: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

Don't believe the hype. In fact there are numerous creasote bushes that are over twice as old as the the overhyped Methuselah tree, including "King Clone" at 11,700 years.

Speaking of Canajuns and eating healthy... According to Farley Mowat, the Inuit Indians in the Canadian artic were capable of gorging themselves with up to 15 pounds of caribou meat at one sitting when the herds returned from their annual migration. And an average pound of caribou meat had over 100 worms, parasites, and blowfly larvae. Now that's good eating! And another Great White North food anecdote. A few years back, my brother and I were paddling down the BC coast North of Vancouver Island, when we happened upon a camp of loggers. They had been dropped off in this remote roadless area by barge, along with some basic equipment to keep them going: a bulldozer, a couple pickups, a couple trailers, guns, and large quantities of booze. Anyway they were cool guys, and we were tired of eating fish for weeks on end, so we accepted their invite to dinner. Over beers, they told us all kinds of crazy stories. For entertainment they would chase and tree black bears, then break out the chainsaws and play "topple smokey." The game involved cutting down the tree with the bear in it, and betting on the result. Ah, those crazy canucks know how to have fun! For dinner, they cooked up the ultimate monochrome meal: white pork chops, white chicken breasts, white mashed potatoes, white rice, white steamed califlower, and white bread. Then, over everything, they poured this brown stuff called HB Sauce, which is sort of the moosehugger version of A-1 or barbecue sauce. It was pretty comical, but I have to admit, after eating fish and beans for the previous month, that was one of the top 10 meals I've ever had! [ 03-16-2002: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

SW Buttress of S. Early Winters Becky on Lib. Bell S. Face Prusik Big Tree Route-Darrington Total Soul-Darrington Cathedral Peak Chrome Plated Semi-Automatic Enema Syringe (Estes Park, CO)

Hey Sparky, how bout showing up one of these tuesdays and downing some beers with those whom you want to engage in a "battle of wits"? It's always entertaining, and there's plenty of good-natured shit talking, so you'd probably enjoy it. As for your quandry, I'm curious if you'd feel comfortable dogging people in person the same way you might online? If the answer is no, maybe you have gone too far. But hey, to each his own.

I passed through Wenatchee this past week and happened to pick up a local paper. It mentioned that all climbing areas up the Icicle from Bridge Creek Campground would be closed to climbers while the salvage logging is going on from July 15 til ??? In addition to the Colchuck TH, it specifically mentioned Secret Dome, 8 mile Buttress, Bridge Creek Wall, Condor buttress, the Sword area, Bathtub Dome, the Egg rocks, 4th of July rock. Not sure if this is set in stone, so to speak, but that's the plan according to last week's Wenatchee World... [ 03-08-2002: Message edited by: Uncle Tricky ]

An Update on Apocalyptic Winter Storm 2002 from the City of Seattle: Seattle is currently closed. This city has received almost 400 millimeters (2.5 inches) of snow in the past 24 hours. Blowing and drifing snow has reduced visibility to zero in some places. The mayor has issued a Natural Disaster Warning, and National Guard troops are in the street to prevent chaos, looting and unauthorized snowball fights. There is currently a 24 hour curfew in place. Do not leave you home, drive your car or walk anywhere, as conditions are much too treacherous. Stay tuned to local radio and TV for breathless Apocalyptic Winter Storm 2002 Disaster updates. Please note that there will be avalanche control work done on the North Face of Queen Anne hill, the West face of Capitol hill, and other dangerous slide paths in the area. Do not panic. Thanks for your cooperation in this difficult time,Greg NikolsMayor of Seattle

Erik, you're right...anything less than a 4-to-1 beer-to-Ramen ratio is probably inadequate. Plus, I've heard that the higher your blood alcohol level, the less likely you're blood is to freeze when the BLIZZARD OF 2002 blows down from the Arctic and lays waste to the greater puget sound area in a scene of greater destruction than the four horsemen of the apocalypse at a girl scout campout. I'm headed back to the store for more beer before panic buying shuts down all retail outlets in the area....

The flakes are coming down in Seatown. I watched the local news and thus am taking prudent precautions in preparing for "APOCALYPTIC WINTER STORM 2002!!!" I just returned from the store, where there was a mad rush to stock up for the coming blizzard. Fighting through the aisles filled with crazed worried housewives and other viewers of local TV, I managed to secure two sacks of rice, 50 pounds of beans, 2 cases of Ramen, and 3 cases of Schmidt's. Hopefully this will get me through the coming "APOCALYPTIC WINTER STORM of 2002." My advice to all out there is to PANIC!

Better hurry--the glaciers are advancing rapidly down the Nisqually river valley. You could easily find yourself surrounded. Better to head south to avoid being trapped in the coming Ice Age, which I hear is supposed to hit this afternoon or early evening at the latest.

You can always count on Caveman to step in as the moderate voice of reason in any dispute!

Dwayner, you're too modest. All would agree that the highlight of the evening was Dwayner's demonstration of how to use ancient Egyptian knot-making techniques to weave a functional, dynamic lead climbing rope from nothing more than soggy bar napkins and pubic hair. Now that's old school!