Friendship and Fun (and food, of course)

First of all, thanks to Petty Witter , for awarding me the Panda Super Comments Award*. She has a fun blog filled with humor, trivia and books reviews. Always a pleasure to visit! (* These bloggers leave awesome comments - they make you laugh, think, and offer encouragement and support. In other words, they're freaking awesome) Though this award has no "rules" for passing on, I thought I'd share it with Marion. I can count on her (and Petty Witter) to visit me here most every day! Thanks, Marion.... I appreciate you!

It's fun to make new friends in blogosphere. Sometimes those friendships become more personal such as when Marion, Quid, Pam and I got together for a weekend in Louisiana. I managed to dig up the post from my old blog here telling about that meeting. Then, occasionally an old friend from real life will also become a blogging friend. I'm referring to Bob, who is one of my oldest friends (old in the sense we probably first met as toddlers in the church nursery).

Thanks to one of my friends for organizing get togethers when she comes "home" for visits, there is a group of us from high school (and earlier) that try to connect at least once a year. Last night was one of those times. I especially enjoyed the evening because when they gathered last year I was at my WI BOW event and missed it. We had one missing member this year, too..... she had to be in Orlando, FL for a work related event. Maybe next time we'll all make it. It was a great evening packed with lots of talking, laughing and, of course, eating. Everyone contributed and one of the recipes I took was this one that I clipped from the May issue of Simple & Delicious.

Spinach Cheese Dip
(contributed by Christine Cragan of Salem, MA)

1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 jar (16 oz) salsa
1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 cups (8 oz) shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided
Tortilla chips

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, salsa, spinach and 1 cup cheese blend. Spread into an ungreased 9-in. pie plate. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Serve with tortilla chips.

In conclusion, here's a photo of Bob and me along with a group shot.

Wisconsin Winter BOW

The seed was planted at the LA BOW clinic I attended in April of 2008. I had already heard about winter BOW events while at my first workshop in 2007, but a conversation with two women from Wisconsin at the LA BOW made it seem “doable”. It stayed in the back of my mind until last summer when I mentioned it to a college friend.

Jenny and I talk once or twice a year, bur rarely see each other since she moved to Chicago a number of years ago. A few years back she and her husband opened a branch of their business in Boise, ID where she now spends most of her time. Always a fitness and outdoors enthusiast, she jumped on the idea of attending a workshop together, particularly a winter workshop. It all fell into place from there.

Last Wednesday we both flew to Chicago to begin the adventure. Another friend of Jenny’s, Lori, set out with us on Thursday for the drive to Wisconsin. An overnight in Steven’s Point put us in the Treehaven vicinity for the start of the event on Friday morning. Set up like a traditional BOW workshop, each participant signed up for four classes. Both evenings featured a guest speaker with the addition of a raffle and silent auction the second night.

Jenny and I took ice fishing, dog sledding and snowshoe 101. My fourth class was trapping, hers outdoor survival skills. Lori was in a different snowshoeing class along with geo-caching and skijoring 101 & 102. Other options were cross-country skiing, sewing with fleece & fur, gun safety, Dutch oven cooking, and wreath-making just to name a few. I cannot tell you how much fun it all was!! Not a cold weather person, I wasn’t sure how I would handle the climate. Friday the daytime temps were in the low 20s and in the teens on Saturday and Sunday. However, I dressed as they recommended (in appropriate layers) and never really noticed the cold. All of my classes were a total blast, but I think dog sledding was the best. I learned so much about so many things! Even though I still consider myself a warm weather person, I’m no longer intimidated by frigid, snowy weather.

I would love to post dozens of photos chronicling our WI BOW adventure here, but instead I’ll narrow it down to a few of my favorites. Enjoy!


One of our ice fishing instructors, Jenny and another camper. This is the power auger we used to bore holes in the ice.


Here I am setting up a "tip-up". We also learned to set "tip-downs" and spent some time jig fishing in the warming huts.


In the snowshoeing class we hiked two miles through the woods and across a bog. No groomed trails for these outdoors women!!


After learning all about the furbearers of Wisconsin and various trapping methods, we had the opportunity to help skin a badger. Here's the pelt after it was skinned. It still needed to be fleshed out and tanned before becoming an educational tool for the WI BOW program.


Here's Lori skijoring. I had never heard of the sport before signing up for this workshop.

These are our dogsledding instructors. They brought two sleds and 14 dogs to the workshop. Since adding dogs only adds power rather than speed, we just used two dogs at a time. The course was a little slick and, being novices, they wanted us to be able to control the dogs and have a good time. I was proud of myself... I didn't tip the sled over or lose control even once!

AR BOW, Round 2

I just can’t say enough good things about the Becoming an Outdoors Woman program! My first workshop was in September of 2007 when I attended the AR BOW weekend in Ferndale, AR. I had such a good time I knew I’d have to do it again. In April of this year, I attended the LA BOW in Pollock, LA. Despite a few differences in the setting and setup, overall it was the same great experience. This past weekend I went back to the AR BOW for a repeat performance.

Two friends rode with me to the facility at Ferndale on Friday morning. One attended the LA BOW with me last spring; the other had never attended a BOW event. The fourth person in our room was a woman from California whose husband’s family has land in our community. They’ve just started spending some time in Arkansas and that’s why she signed up for the program.

The Arkansas program gives preference to first-timers, so this time I didn’t get all my first choices in classes. I don’t think there’s any such thing as a “bad” class, so it really didn’t matter. I was just glad to get in to the program at all. Friday afternoon I took Stream Ecology. We got lots of hands-on experience testing the water in a nearby stream for chemicals, turbidity, temperature, etc. We used nets to take samples and find out what types of bugs were present… which also help determine the “health” of a stream. Saturday morning I made lots of neat things in a Nature Crafts class. It was fun despite the injury I received from a hot-glue gun. There are some folks that just shouldn’t be allowed to use glue guns….namely, ME! Fortunately my injury didn’t keep me from having a great time learning to tie flies in my Saturday afternoon class. Everyone made five: an Olive Wooly Booger, a Scud (fresh water shrimp), a Peacock Soft Hackle (nymph), a Cone-headed Shad Streamer, and an Elk Hair Caddis. My final class on Sunday morning was Basic Duck Hunting. I’ve done a fair amount of duck hunting in the past, so it was pretty much a refresher course for me. I haven’t been in quite a few years, though, so it got me psyched up to go again this year.

Just like last year, the food was wonderful; there were lots of great door prizes and fun freebies just for attending (as well as give-aways in the classes) and fantastic entertainment both nights. Sponsorship is generous and the raffle items are top quality. Various BOW programs handle their raffles differently, but in Arkansas each participant is given five tickets to risk as they choose. I spread mine out between the three fishing packages available. I was thrilled to win the first raffle announced: A Pflueger Lady Trion spinning combo rod and reel with a Shakespeare 2-tray tackle box (filled with goodies)! I only had one ticket on that item so it just goes to show…one is all it takes!

My next goal is to attend a Winter BOW somewhere. There are several states that host them and I’ve already started doing my research. I’m not really a cold weather person, but I figure I can handle it for just one weekend!