It’s a bit cooler in my neck of the woods, so I turned to a favorite recipe of mine to chase away the dampness. My mom’s recipe for Irish Soda Bread. It’s easy, tasty, and keeps well for a few days (well, if you don’t eat it all first). I like it with stew or on its own for breakfast.
Enjoy!
Irish Soda Bread
- 5 c. flour (all-purpose or bread flour)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 4 T. sugar (can add 1 more T. if you like)
- 4 T. (1/2 stick) butter (or margarine, if you have to)
- 1 3/4 c. buttermilk or sour milk
- 1 egg
- 1 c. currants (can leave these out and you’ll have Scottish Soda Bread. If you don’t have currants you can substitute raisins).
Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Sprinkle a little flour over a large baking sheet, or line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put all the dry ingredients ito a mixing bowl and work in the margarine with your fingertips until mixture is crumbly.
Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk; add the egg and beat well. Add the currants and mix until all the flour is wet, then knead just to complete the mixing.
Cut dough in half and shape each half into a ball. Put dough balls on floured baking sheet, slash a cross into the tops of each dough.
Bake 40 min., or until a golden brown. Cool on rack.
I used raisins in this loaf. It's very tasty when warm and topped with butter.
I was recently at a show where a little boy was selling some really cool paracord show leads. I bought one (orange and black, naturally) and really like it. A friend bought a pink and black one, then commented that she’d like one much longer for obedience. I studied the construction a bit and came up with a rough idea of how to make the leash she wanted.
Luckily, there is a website with the instructions on how to make the leash–a beautiful step-by-step that includes how to figure out how much cord you’ll need for your desired length of leash. There are a number of other good projects on that site as well.
How to Make a Four Strand Round Braid Dog Leash From Paracord.
Here’s how mine turned out:
I used a brass snap on the tan/black leash and bronze on the pink/black. The nice thing with paracord is that it’s strong, light weight, and resistant to mildew. This is a great choice for leashes for your traildog.
If you’re the kind of learner who really needs to see the motions of tying/weaving like I am, here is a great video that shows exactly what you need to do to make this kind of leash.
Edit: I highly recommend using a clamp to hold down the snap end of the leash while weaving the rest of the leash. You’ll get a tighter, more uniform weave than if you simply hold the cord. I made a couple more leashes this way and I think they look much better. I also greatly prefer the wood burning tool to a lighter for sealing and securing the ends.
A few weeks back I decided to make the trip to the National Working Dog Association National Weight Pull as Ranger had qualified to attend when he pulled in Michigan at the beginning of November.
We loaded up and traveled from Indiana to Pennsylvania to compete, where Ranger earned two 2nd place finishes in his weight class and two first place finishes, including first place in his class (60 pounds) in the National Finals pull. The pulling surface was difficult due to weather conditions, so his final weight pulled was 1107 pounds–just over 19 times his weigh-in body weight of 58 pounds. He did a phenomenal job considering the conditions, and I’m very proud of him.
Here is a shot of Ranger pulling the second-to-last pull of the weekend.
Ranger is off getting some special training this winter, so I hope he’ll get back in the swing of things when he comes home in the spring.
I’m very happy about the turnaround Ranger took this year–he went from standing in the chute wagging his tail without even trying to pull back in May to getting a new personal best weight, getting new titles, and winning on the national level. It goes to show what can happen with some time and dedication.
I’ve been absolutely awful about posting anything this year. I’ve sat down to write posts at least a dozen time, then ended up just walking away.
Looking back I realized I didn’t update with information of what I’ve been up to.
Last fall, about the time I got sick, Ranger stopped pulling when in competition. I gave him time off and restarted his training to see if that would snap him out of it. In May he was still quitting on pulls or barely even trying when I knew he was perfectly capable of pulling.
Back in June I took Ranger to the UKC Premier, where he finished his UKC Weight Pull Champion title. I made several mistakes, but he made up for them and did me proud.
This past weekend I traveled to Michigan to compete in a National Working Dog Association weight pull. I’ve never competed with this group before, but I knew many of the people there and wanted to see how Ranger would do. He completed his Weight Pull 3 (WP3) title by pulling over 23 times his body weight in the Saturday morning pull. He took 2nd place, defeating 3 dogs, in the two pulls on Saturday. On Sunday morning he again pulled over 23 times his body weight and earned his Weight Pull Champion title (WP3CH) and taking 2nd in his class of 6 dogs. In the afternoon I decided to see what he could do since he was pulling very well and he smashed his previous best pull of 1455# on wheels by pulling 2525# in 32.72 seconds. This was over 44 times his body weight and earned him 1st in his class of 6 dogs. I withdrew him from competition because even though he was still wagging his tail and happy, and probably could have made one more pull, I decided he’d done enough. He is now ranked with the NWDA and is eligible to compete in the Nationals at the end of this month. I’m not sure if I’m going to go yet, but I’d really like to.
It’s pleasing to see him turn around from refusing to pull to pulling so hard that I have to withdraw him from competition because he wants to keep working but I feel he’s worked hard enough for one day.
I took my 8 year old Marin mountain bike in for a tune up this week. When I got home I started looking at craigslist for something else entirely and ended up finding this gem:
It’s an early 1960s Huffy Eldorado cruiser. It’s got a sturdy steel frame and coaster brakes. And a tank. I loved it. The price was decent for what I want it for (see below). I went and got it.
It also looks not unlike the bike on the Fat Tire label and New Belgium Brewery logo. I’m a little jazzed about that.
I saw some cruiser bikes when I was in college but never got one because I wanted something with a little more flexibility since, at the time, I managed to bike a lot on muddy dirt roads. Since then fuel prices have increased drastically and I wanted something I could convert to a motorized bicycle (either electric or gasoline since even on gas it would be cheaper to drive for most errands than my Jeep is).
My plan is to–over the next year or three–fix up the chrome bits, add some carrying capacity (baskets and/or paniers), upgrade the lights, replace the rims and tires, upgrade the pedals and hopefully put on a motor of some kind (with upgraded brakes, of course). I’m not opposed to running both an electric wheel hub motor as well as a small 4-stroke gasoline engine. If I change the color I’m not sure what it’ll be. I like the red better than I thought I would.
Another thing I’d like to add is a side car for cargo and/or a dog.
This is a nice little side project that I can tinker with year ’round.
When I dropped off my Marin for its tuneup I picked up a little card for People For Bikes. Check them out–see if you can make a difference in your community.
Hey all,
I was cleaning out my gear closet and discovered that I have entirely too much stuff in there. I have a lot of dog packs for reasons I won’t get into here, but I want to get them out of my closet and into the hands of people who will use them.
Note: while I have prices listed, I’m also willing to work out a trade.
(Click pictures to embiggen)
They are:
*SOLD*Ruffwear Pallisades II pack, size medium, new with tags. It has a matching Bamboo brand collar/leash combo. Red. $65 US.*SOLD*
*SOLD* Ruffwear Pallisades II pack, size medium, new with tags. It has matching a Bamboo brand collar/leash combo. Blue. $65 US. *SOLD* NOTE: The Collar is still available.
Ruffwear Palisades II pack, size medium, well used, but has a lot of life left in it. It no longer has the water bladders–or at least I can’t find them. It’s also the original style from the “reboot” where there is no binding around the foam of the harness. Blue. $30 US.
**SOLD** Ruffwear Approach II pack, size medium, new with tags. Red. $50 US. **SOLD**
**SOLD** Mountainsmith Dog Pack II. Well used, but a lot of life left in it. Red. $20 US. Update This also has a small collapsible bowl that comes with it. **SOLD**
I also have some people gear:
GoLite Women’s Odyssey pack (2008 version). New with tags. Size: Medium. Color: Lip (brick red). $100 US.
I’ll ship anywhere, but the buyer pays the actual shipping. I prefer Paypal for payment. Please contact me if you are interested.
I’ll likely have more gear available before too long.
Please share with your friends if they are in the market for this kind of thing. I’ll likely list them at an online market or three if I don’t get much interest in a few weeks.
Wow, it’s March already and I haven’t posted this for you guys.
The Dirtbag Diaries Year of Big Ideas 2011 episode.
I’m in there, but I’ll let you guess which one I am.
It may not be the start of a new calendar year, but I just heard a little song bird outside my window announcing it’s the start of a new season. It’s starting to stay warm enough for long enough to get out on the trails… or at least it will be once they dry out a bit more. Plus, the ice is off the lake! Only a few weeks until it’s good paddling weather. Definitely time to do some spring cleaning and overhauling my equipment to make sure it’s ready to go for the warm weather.
I got a little behind on posting between an ice storm taking out my electricity/heat for several days during the same week as my brother moving the site over to a new content management system. Plus I’ve been traveling with the dogs again, so I’ll have some cool pictures and stories to tell in a few weeks.
Earlier in 2010 I decided to set a goal for myself to walk or bike 400 miles in 2010. This seemed like a completely attainable goal—and it would have been if I’d not started having some health problems. I was tired often and wrote it off as stress. I figured exercising regularly would help. It didn’t.
I put together a spreadsheet to help me calculate drop weights for Ranger’s weight pulls. At first it was designed for dogs in his rough weight range and for a specific set of equipment. Upon further thought I decided to make it go from a 1-block drop on up to a 25-block drop and to work on any vehicle. It calculates from an empty cart on up to the 16th drop (I don’t know how many dogs are pulling that number of times in a day).
My summer has been very busy, so I haven’t had much time to post, nor has there been anything particularly interesting to post about.
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