Stuffing Recipe

Here's that awesome cornbread stuffing recipe I promised to post:

Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing.
Serves 8-12

3 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
16 ounces chopped Andouille (or some sort of pre-cooked/smoked sausage) sausage
1/2 cup chopped green onion
¾ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
Fresh parsley if available
6-8 cups day old cornbread, crumbled
1 cup saltines, crumbled
20 ounces chicken stock
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
Poultry seasoning
cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet heat oil over high heat. Add the onion and Andouille, and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the green onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic, cook 2-3 minutes. Then stir in the cornbread, stock, milk, and eggs, season with cayenne, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Place skillet in the oven for ca. 45 minutes or until done.

Photographing with Darin Dearden

Saturday I met up with Darin Dearden, an old friend from Utah State University. Darin currently lives near Richfield, Utah. He's the parts and repair manager for the Ford dealrship in Richfield. He's seriously considering applying to graduate school (in photography) for this Fall sememster. He's going to be coming up in a few weeks to make platinum prints, but in the meantime he's photographing with an 8x10 camera to get some negatives to print. He and I went out photographing near his old hometown of Fillmore, UT.

Our first stop was Pavant Butte (known by the locals as Sugarloaf). On the top of the butte stand two circles of large concrete monoliths, apparently this was to be a wind-generated powerplant. The project began in the 1920s, but was never completed. It now resembles an accidental stonehenge. The light was really nice, and the weather was really miserable. We experienced sun, snow, high winds, calm winds, and cold temperatures all in the hour and a half we were there. Darin blew through his 14 sheets of film in an hour and a half and I shot three rolls of medium format color. It was a great place to photograph and I wouldn't mind going back sometime.

Darin then took me to a wildlife refuge out in the desert, it was beautiful, but devoid of birds. We then drove to the backside of Pavant Butte, called the lace curtain. It's a sheer wall with all sorts of strange rock formations, apparently the waters of historic Lake Bonneville created the formations.

I asked Darin if he knew of any caves in the area, he did, and off we went. We drove a few miles through the lava fields and eventually came to a medium-sized symmetrical hill known as Tabernacle Butte, another volcano. There was a nice lava tube here that looked a lot like the caves I've been photographing north of Rexburg. I took a few photographs before we got snowed out.

It was great to see Darin and spend some time photographing in a new place.


Darin Dearden Photographing on his Jeep


Sugarloaf Monoliths, Millard County, UT


Lace Curtain, Millard County, UT


Tabernacle Cave, Millard County, UT

Thanksgiving

Susan, the children, and I made it down to Fayette, a small town in central Utah to be with Susan's family for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see everybody. Kevin and Ethan had fun playing with their cousins and grandparents. The kids got to ride on the ATV, feed the birds, play with the cats, and do a lot of other typical small-town things. Thanksgiving dinner was good, I made Cornbread stuffing (I'll post the recipe soon). We ate a lot of food, played games, and laughed. I did a lot of exploring and photographing.

The day after Thanksgiving we went in the mountains to cut a couple of Christmas trees for Susan's parents, and Susan's sister. The kids got to ride in the back of the pickup truck, which they thought was really cool. We found a couple of nice Pinyon Pines, which we cut down and brought back home. It's great for the kids to get down there and experience small-town life (not that Rexburg is much bigger).


Kevin, Ethan, and Grandpa Bartholomew


Ethan, Kevin, and their cousin Jared

Power Outage via Squirrel Explosion

Every once in a while we'll hear a loud explosion followed immediately by a loss of electricity. We have a transformer box on top of a power pole in our backyard and sometimes squirrels try to chew through wires and get themselves killed. It also kills the power. That happened Saturday. Today I came home for lunch and saw a Utah Power truck in our front yard; it happened again. It's pretty exciting stuff. Here's a couple of photographs:


Utah Power Worker Removing the Squirrel


The Squirrel

Porcupine

I got out and enjoyed the nice late November weather today (sunny, calm, 45 degrees) by doing a little birding. Wintering Trumpeter Swans are really moving in and seem to be everywhere. The Upper Snake River Valley must be one of the most important non-coastal wintering areas for this sensitive species. I also saw three Snow Geese, a common bird in spring, but unusual here for fall. Rough-legged Hawks, Tree Sparrows, and Bohemian Waxwings have also arrived in numbers.

At Warm Slough Wildlife Management Area I saw what at first glance I thought to be a nice Magpie nest, but on closer inspection realized it was a young Porcupine. It's amazing to see these clumsy animals up in a spindly tree. It allowed me to take a couple of photographs before awkwardly wandering away.

Animal-altered Landscapes

Many of the photographers I admire (Emmet Gowin, Frank Gohlke, Robert Adams, Richard Misrach, Mark Klett, and Edward Burtynsky among others) concentrate their efforts recording the impact man has on the landscape. I make similar photographs. However, I've started paying attention to the alterations animals make to the landscape. The images certainly aren't politically charged, and they aren't a condemnation of animals. I just find it interesting how animals organize and/or alter materials (nests), divert water (beaver dams), and damage trees (insects for example). Here are a few photographs from the possible beginnings of a project that may be titled Animal-altered Landscapes, or something like that.


Pack Rat Nest, Clark County, ID


Beaver Dam, Drummond, ID


Magpie Nest, Market Lake, ID

First Snow

We had the first snow of the season today. We probably got 1.5" and most of it has already melted. We managed to get out and make a really ugly snowman though.


Kevin, Ethan, and the Snowman


Ethan pitches a fit while Kevin kicks over their snowman

Jon and his Truck

Jon was in town this weekend and like we often do, we went photographing. We drove to Camas Creek near Kilgore in Clark County. The weather was cold, wet, and windy. It had been snowing and raining earlier in the day. The roads were pretty sloppy and Jon likes to have fun with his truck on sloppy roads. We went through a big mud hole. Jon enjoyed it so much he wanted to try it again. I got out to photograph him. After getting through the puddle his engine started running rough, his check engine light came on, and we were both a little nervous about the situation. All worked out and by the time we got back home the truck was working fine.

I don't know that we made any significant photographs, but it was nice to be out. I saw my first Bohemian Waxwings of the fall (a flock of 500 birds).


Jon Busting Through a Mud Hole


Check Engine Light


Jon Checking his Truck

Blue Platic Bag that Blew into a Fence

The wind blows hard and frequently in Rexburg. Usually it's just annoying, but sometimes it does nice things. Today it blew a big blue bag into a fence.


Blue Bag in Fence

Russian Olives

Wildlife managers hate Russian Olives. They're not native, they're invasive, and they're great nesting trees for Magpies (which wildlife managers also hate). I selfishly love Russian Olives, they're hardy, have a beautiful silvery color, and a lovely form. I photographed these tonight at sunset.


Russian Olive, Roberts, ID 2005


Russian Olive with Magpie Nest, Roberts, ID 2005

Wasp Nest

Wandering around a Russian Olive grove I stumbled upon a huge wasp nest. It's been taking quite a beating from the wind. It looks a bit like the halloween ghost photographs I made a few posts back.

Bear World

Yellowstone Bear World is this weird drive-through zoo south of Rexburg. There you can see deer, elk, mountain goats, wolves, and grizzly bears. Their slogan is "Feel the Freedom" despite the fact that the animals are fenced in and seem lethargic. Anyway, they're closed for the winter. Here are photographs of weather-proofed, saran-wrapped bear statues at the entrance.

Seventeen Mile Cave

I remember camping in this cave as a boy scout. I remembered it was big, dark, wet, heavily vandalized, and full of smoke. I remember drinking apple beer, eating skittles, barely sleeping because of the penetrating wet cold, and lighting a fire that nearly choked us out.

On Saturday I revisited and photographed that cave. It was still big, dark, wet, even more heavily vandalized, and full of smoke. It's still an impressive cave. It has a fairly small entrance, but as soon as you step in the cave it gets very large, ca. 40 foot ceilings and very wide. The entire cave is covered in grafitti; most of it references Satan, heavy metal bands of the 80s, carnal acts, and that somebody loves somebody else. As you walk in you pass several cave-ins. After the second cave-in the smoke is so thick (from camp fires I guess) that it is difficult to see and breathe.

The cave is easy to find, very accessible, and well-known. It's frustrating to see a cave in such horrible condition (especially since I was a participant in it's downfall a couple decades ago). In a way though, it's good to have a well-known cave that people can destroy. This way it keeps them from finding lesser-known and more pristine caves.

Anyway, here's a few things I saw:


Seventeen Mile Cave Entrance, Bonneville County, ID


"I am not an asparagus"


Love


Murder