There was a Gathering of the Clans on Saturday. Powder burned; clays shattered; steel rang. Ceili’s fiancé Jarod is the director of Bend Adventure Sports, an outreach program of their church. Through March, he’s been leading Saturday snowshoe treks, but the past couple of weeks, the conditions have just not supported snowshoes. So Saturday … [Read more...] about All-Clan Range Day

* Back in 1860, a Scotsman named Donald Dinnie picked up a pair of stones used for counterweights in bridge maintenance on the Potarch Bridge in Aberdeenshire. He carried them across the bridge, a distance of 17-feet-1-1⁄2 inches. Because, well, because.... Ever since, the stones have been called the Dinnie Stones. The stones were lost … [Read more...] about Dominating The Dinnie Stones

“Russian warship: Go fuck yourself.” A salute to the brave. Remember Snake Island. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y2iVHUMZhg UPDATE: The Snake Island defenders apparently survived. On Monday, a statement from the Ukrainian Navy said that the soldiers on the island repelled two attacks by Russian forces but in the end were forced to … [Read more...] about Remember Snake Island

Saturday was quite a day for Clan Cornelius. I busted out at dawn to Zimmerman Butte to get in an early Frontier Partisan Biathlon. And a glorious dawn it was. Temperature at 15 degrees meant the kettlebells felt like frozen fire in the hand, but the still, crystal air resulting from high pressure that has settled over our region made for a … [Read more...] about Dawn Dancing With A Growing Clan

My friend Vernon Stubbs  is a remarkable man — an elite warrior who is passionately dedicated to native grass restoration. He owns a place on the rangeland north of here that was threatened by the Grandview Fire last summer. Fortunately, he was well-prepared, having engaged in significant fuels reduction work on the place. A year ago, he tracked … [Read more...] about The Hard Way

Hail, Slainte, and Happy Thanksgiving, Frontier Partisans! May you feast well — and don’t let the Rhenish go to your head... Speaking of Outlandish things... ’Tis my sacred duty on Thanksgiving to peel a mighty lot of potatoes, which Ceili turns into a delectable dish infused with truffle oil. To make the task more congenial, I shall be … [Read more...] about Feast Well, My Friends

  A few days ago, Central Oregon Daily — a local TV news outlet of quality ( a rare beast) ran a feature on my friend and Frontier Partisans contributor Greg Walker. It’s part of a a series titled War Stories by another friend, the talented journalist/photographer/videographer Cody … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — The Power Of Imagination

It should be obvious to anyone reading Frontier Partisans that Clan Cornelius enjoys Halloween to the fullest. For us, it’s not a single date on the calendar — it’s a season. Ceili and her beau Jarod hit the pumpkin patch near Smith Rock off to the east of us and looted it for a barrow full of gourds.   And then we turned ’em into … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Seawitches, Pumpkins And Bloodlines

Deuce Richardson scouted up this curious story. The theory seems far-fetched on the face of it, but... maybe? Seems to be backed up by data. Ivory poaching has led to a “rapid evolution” of tuskless African elephants, as elephants without tusks were far more likely to survive during the height of the ivory trade, according to new research. Much … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Tuskless Elephants & Zero Risk

Our trek through the tanglewood of the spooky season continues... Think I’m gonna sign up for this workshop: Folksongs of Fall, Death, and Mystery Workshop with Saro Lynch-Thomason by Folk Music Society of NY, Inc. In many traditions, late October marks the time of the last harvest, a period of abundance that mingles with an awareness of death … [Read more...] about Folksongs Of Fall, Death, And Mystery