The following is transcribed
from my field journal. There are typos, misspellings and editings as there
would be for transcriptions of other period journals. This entry is from an
overnighter I did with my daughters in October, 2014
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014
FIRST DADDY/DAUGHTER OVERNIGHTER – FT. UNION
The girls, Signe & Brynja, & I finished packing after school & then headed out to Fort Union. This is the first overnighter that the girls & I have done together. Tommorrow I will be portraying a fort hunter for a group of Boys Scouts coming down from Minot, ND. As I understand there will be four or five stations they will go through. The girls & my brother Haans will be assisting me when we talk to the boys about Indian Sign Language.
When the girls & I arrived tonight
the sun was starting to set so we had to hurry. One of the hand carts our local
muzzleloader club built was brought up to the fort to use at my hunter camp
demo. The girls & I loaded our gear into the cart & brought it into the
fort over by the carpenters shack. Our camp consisted of ground cloths, our
blankets all together & a ground cloth on top of us. Supper was to be a
small stew of meat & potatoes but I need to quickly make a fire. When I
opened my fire kit I realized my error. I had onlyl two small pieces of char
cloth left. I had intended several times over the past month to make more, but
I never did. So much for being prepared. I tried my darndest to get some brome
grass to catch flame, but to no avail. I think it could have been too damp.
Maybe I just choked. Either way, I had fail to start the fire with flint &
steel & had failed in front of my daughters.
Fortunately I had a small match safe inside of our small lantern & quickly got a fire going. While we waited for the stew to come to a boil I read to the girls from a book I found in the back of the library work room at school that was no longer a part of the regular inventory. It was called “Jerry the Muskrat”. Before I new it we had been reading for over forty minutes.
The girls & I wolfed down the stew as it was now past nine in the evening. After we finished eating
we
cleaned all our cookware & got water for coffee tomorrow morning.
The moon & stars were bright tonight & we talked for awhile. The girls & I saw a meteor, which they were fascinated by & lead to a discussion on wishing on falling stars. We talked about coyotes & how they can’t climb the fort’s walls, how tall the walls were & how they want me to take them bird hunting. They asked me an onslaught of questions & were then finally ready for bed, which was good because I was rapidly running out of words. We crawled into the bedding & lay down to sleep. The girls were out in short order. The was a good evening. I really enjoyed the good one on one time away from distractions with the girls. They’re troopers for doing this with me. Hope it doesn’t get too cold for them tonight.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014
FIRST DADDY/DAUGHTER OVERNIGHTER – FT. UNION
Lastnight got down to 34 deg. F & stayed about 72 deg. F under all the blankets after we readjusted things in the middle of the night. We ended up snuggling close to each other, me, Signe in the middle & Brynja on the other end, all sharing the blankets. I also tucked the top ground cloth under our feet & around us. After it was tucked under it made a big difference because it kept the wind from entering through the blankets & helped keep heat in. The girls did great. We were up & going before staff arrived.
We first set to roasting coffee beans in a small pan & I then ground them in the pan with the back of my axe head. I dumped them into the kettle & set it over the fire. I was able to get a fire going from the few coals that remained from lastnight’s fire. We slept with our feet under the cart.
About the time I had a well
established fire going, Ranger Carr, Taylor, Kris & my brother Haans
arrived in short order, followed by Sawyer & Ranger Sanden. The girls
talked Kris into reading them more from “Jerry the Muskrat” while I began to
fry up our bacon for our breakfast of bacon cheese & flat bread. We always
have to have bacon now since they started to learn Indian Sign Language. Dave F
& Mike arrived as well.
Taylor was able to use the fire for his cooking demo station. He made cow tongue & collared beef. Both were very good.
We made a second fire, where I had my hunter camp set up to roast “hump ribs”, “buffalo stew” & actual buffalo meat.
When the scouts arrived at my station we talked about the duties & benefits of being a fort hunter, how they hunted buffalo & ways they cooked it. We had the boys prepare willow branches to roast the ribs. Then one by one they each got to roast a piece of the real buffalo meat. The Scout leaders really
enjoyed that. From comments we
got later that was their favorite part of the hunter camp. We also showed them
how to roast coffee beans, grind them & make coffee & worked with them
on short phrases in Indian Sign Language & also how to sign the Scout Oath.
When their time at the fort was done they thanked us all for putting on today’s
stations for them. Some of them took pictures with us & of me & my
girls.
When it was all done Taylor & I set up a buffet line on the wooden bar for all the staff & volunteers
with
food we’d prepared today. If anyone went hungry it was their own fault. Kim
& Garrick made it out & got to eat with us.
Even though it was a short outing I really enjoyed the time with my girls. I hope this is the beginning of many more daddy/daughter campouts.
--Leifer
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014
FIRST DADDY/DAUGHTER OVERNIGHTER – FT. UNION
The girls, Signe & Brynja, & I finished packing after school & then headed out to Fort Union. This is the first overnighter that the girls & I have done together. Tommorrow I will be portraying a fort hunter for a group of Boys Scouts coming down from Minot, ND. As I understand there will be four or five stations they will go through. The girls & my brother Haans will be assisting me when we talk to the boys about Indian Sign Language.
Fortunately I had a small match safe inside of our small lantern & quickly got a fire going. While we waited for the stew to come to a boil I read to the girls from a book I found in the back of the library work room at school that was no longer a part of the regular inventory. It was called “Jerry the Muskrat”. Before I new it we had been reading for over forty minutes.
The girls & I wolfed down the stew as it was now past nine in the evening. After we finished eating
The moon & stars were bright tonight & we talked for awhile. The girls & I saw a meteor, which they were fascinated by & lead to a discussion on wishing on falling stars. We talked about coyotes & how they can’t climb the fort’s walls, how tall the walls were & how they want me to take them bird hunting. They asked me an onslaught of questions & were then finally ready for bed, which was good because I was rapidly running out of words. We crawled into the bedding & lay down to sleep. The girls were out in short order. The was a good evening. I really enjoyed the good one on one time away from distractions with the girls. They’re troopers for doing this with me. Hope it doesn’t get too cold for them tonight.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014
FIRST DADDY/DAUGHTER OVERNIGHTER – FT. UNION
Lastnight got down to 34 deg. F & stayed about 72 deg. F under all the blankets after we readjusted things in the middle of the night. We ended up snuggling close to each other, me, Signe in the middle & Brynja on the other end, all sharing the blankets. I also tucked the top ground cloth under our feet & around us. After it was tucked under it made a big difference because it kept the wind from entering through the blankets & helped keep heat in. The girls did great. We were up & going before staff arrived.
We first set to roasting coffee beans in a small pan & I then ground them in the pan with the back of my axe head. I dumped them into the kettle & set it over the fire. I was able to get a fire going from the few coals that remained from lastnight’s fire. We slept with our feet under the cart.
Taylor was able to use the fire for his cooking demo station. He made cow tongue & collared beef. Both were very good.
We made a second fire, where I had my hunter camp set up to roast “hump ribs”, “buffalo stew” & actual buffalo meat.
When the scouts arrived at my station we talked about the duties & benefits of being a fort hunter, how they hunted buffalo & ways they cooked it. We had the boys prepare willow branches to roast the ribs. Then one by one they each got to roast a piece of the real buffalo meat. The Scout leaders really
When it was all done Taylor & I set up a buffet line on the wooden bar for all the staff & volunteers
Even though it was a short outing I really enjoyed the time with my girls. I hope this is the beginning of many more daddy/daughter campouts.
--Leifer
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