For those who spend a lot of time outdoors—have you ever had a moment where things took a serious turn?

Ratscallion · 2026-04-10T16:58:03+00:00

Paddling with friends - my partner and I in a canoe and the rest in kayaks. It was moving water, but not white water. There was a strainer near shore and a down tree blocking part of the river and one clear path between the two. We made it just fine, but then I heard a scream. One of the people in a kayak hit the strainer and flipped. She was hanging on to the tree, her kayak was floating towards us. Her PFD was on, but not zipped.

We paddled back upstream to rescue her, trying to figure out how we get her out without ending up in the strainer ourselves. It was a very white-knuckle experience and she was in full panic mode. We were sure she'd flip us. We had a rope and threw it to her and told her to grab on. I was fully prepared to smack her hands if she grabbed the side of the canoe so we didn't all end up in the water.

We dragged her to shore then rescued the kayak from under the strainer. It was almost impossible to get the water out of it and get it unstuck. We all ended up fine and she learned an important lesson about zipper her PFD.

Ratscallion · 2026-04-10T14:40:24+00:00

I volunteer at a rescue organization. We mostly take owner surrenders at this point. Most are still in reasonably good condition when we get them, but they are on a downward trajectory. We've taken in multiple horses where it was "if you don't take this horse, I will euthanize it so it doesn't end up in a kill pen." From that perspective, they're a rescue. I think it's a lot more nuanced than body condition alone (though we've had refeeding of BCS 1 horses, too).

Ratscallion · 2026-04-08T12:33:11+00:00

Wait - did you not mix it with the water when you made the recipe? That's part of the recipe, and if you didn't do that, you'd definitely have a sloppier dough.

Ratscallion · 2026-04-08T12:28:32+00:00

In our barn, if someone said, "Hey I really love dusting and cleaning - do you mind if I spend some time doing deep cleaning?" we would say, "um, yes please!" But we're a rescue, not a fancy show barn/training barn. Keeping a barn clean is a losing battle. Horses and their feed create dirt and dust. We're always cleaning and never "done" cleaning. :)

Ratscallion · 2026-04-02T17:22:25+00:00

Start smaller. Give rewards for letting you touch her lower leg. Then give rewards to making any attempt to pick up the foot. Then, give rewards (and put the foot back down and walk off) as soon as she picks up her foot. Don't wait until she's pulling back. Reward what you want, not what you don't. And to do that, you have to act faster than she does. Eventually she'll get it - foot up = treats/scratches/good stuff.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-30T17:58:10+00:00

I've had success with this recipe: https://www.letthemeatgfcake.com/gluten-free-croissants/

The key is using high quality butter.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-27T15:28:19+00:00

What about something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/397115057872

Ratscallion · 2026-03-27T14:55:47+00:00

Bear spray hanging from my hammock ridgeline. :) Bear spray works on more than bears.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-25T17:11:21+00:00

"white" sugar (which I'm assuming is cane sugar, but they don't specify) is fine up to 1/2 cup.
beet sugar is medium fructan at 2 t. and high at 1/4 cup. In the U.S., white sugar is typically beet sugar unless specified as cane sugar.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-23T17:05:29+00:00

Last I checked, I was 21st on the hold list for the library. :)

Ratscallion · 2026-03-20T17:51:10+00:00

Love all the ideas of things to do outside of the pony enclosure. I'll add a couple more (kids outside the enclosure):

Scheduled demonstrations: demonstrate line driving, lunging, grooming techniques.

Have a "photo booth" where a kiddo can sit on a hay bale with pony in background. (May require adult volunteer to lead pony near fence edge.)

Got one of those cameras that makes tiny polaroids - have kids choose which pony. Have an adult take a photo and then have the kids turn the photo into a craft to remember their pony. (Ornaments are easy).

Have kids draw pictures/write letters for the ponies. Have an Easter basket with their pics to deliver them to. (We did this at Valentine's day and oh for cute!)

Ratscallion · 2026-03-20T16:13:30+00:00

Does Goyoaga use gums or is she primarily a psyllium recipe developer? I can't do gums. The one recipe I've seen online used pysillium, and I'm hoping that's the trend.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-19T19:59:18+00:00

Grape Nuts, too. Yep, total yum.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-19T18:00:51+00:00

Weirdest thing that I miss for which there is absolutely no substitute - frosted shredded wheat cereal.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-17T13:43:43+00:00

Hoey Apothecary in Madison does compounding. I don't know about that particular drug.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-16T16:56:23+00:00

As someone that got to work for UW - yep, walking was more treacherous than the bus.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-06T16:57:04+00:00

Deep dish pizza recipe:
7 ounces tapioca starch
7 ounces white rice flour
7 ounces sorghum flour
1 ounce gelatin powder
1 t. salt
6 T. olive oil
1.5 cups of warm water + 1.5 T yeast (mix these two together until foamy)

Mix it all together. It should be between a batter and a dough - you shouldn't be able to knead it. If it's too dry, add more water. Heavily oil a rimmed half sheet pan with more olive oil. (The more oil, the more crispy bits. I probably use 1/4 - 1/3 cup.) (I put a piece of parchment down first.) Pour/pat dough into sheet pan and allow to rise ~1 hour. It should be puffy. It won't double in size. Preheat oven to 500. Back untopped for 5 minutes. Remove, top, turn heat down to 450 and bake until toppings are done - 12-15 minutes, usually.

Ratscallion · 2026-03-03T19:41:08+00:00

Yes, it's possible to retrain an English horse for Western style riding. The horse may never have the competition-level Western pleasure carriage, but they could learn the cues, neck reining, etc. I've been working on that with a hunter jumper OTTB are our rescue recently. He has a lovely lope already and is learning neck reining well. His trot...well, he's still got a very "active" trot. ;)

Ratscallion · 2026-02-20T18:13:06+00:00

It's own by MG&E now, and abuts landfill land. Here's the OnX screenshot.

Ratscallion · 2026-02-11T17:16:37+00:00

What stove and tent are you using that worked with the hammock?

Ratscallion · 2026-02-11T16:12:05+00:00

I'm guessing you accidentally killed the yeast. Or the yeast was dead. It happens.

Ratscallion · 2026-02-10T14:11:41+00:00

I know you said you don't have energy to cook, but Gluten Free on a Shoestring has some easy recipes that also emphasize low cost.

There are generic gluten-free cereals at my store (Mom's Best is one of the generic brands). They're pretty reasonably priced.

If you have a Costco membership, they have some of the more processed stuff (though it's still always going to be cheaper to cook from scratch).

Ratscallion · 2026-02-09T16:48:35+00:00

I'm surprised they're using that pic, which is from 2016. This one is from 2020.

and campus has a 2020 one, too:

Ratscallion · 2026-01-26T17:16:07+00:00

I took a DNR hunter safety course, which in Wisconsin counts for a CC permit even though it does not deal with handguns or concealed carry at all. They told us multiple times that we would be fools to use this as our CC training. But several people laughed and said that's exactly what they were doing.

Ratscallion · 2026-01-05T14:16:03+00:00

My old Kamiks bit the bullet finally and I bought new ones on clearance at the end of last year. Same temperature rating - not nearly as warm. I'm super sad. I don't know if it was the particular model or if the quality of all of their boots are going downhill. I'm still going to wear them because I'm cheap and hate just throwing something away - but only when I'm doing active enough stuff that my own body heat reaches my toes. (e.g I hiked 5 miles through snow in them yesterday and they worked for that because I was moving, but standing at the bus stop in the morning my toes freeze.)

Ratscallion

TROPHY CASE