Life On A B-I7

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 88

“When a dog is barking because someone is at the door, the worst thing you can do is yell. To the dog, that’s like your barking too…”

The trick is to break the pattern.

The more time you spend practicing good habits, the less time you will have for bad habits. If you find yourself doing something bad and recognize it, stop, acknowledge it, and look around for something good to do.

It’s hard to beat a good beef stroganoff in the wild.

Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1 C water
• 3 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 C sour cream
• 1 (12 oz) bag egg noodles
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Brown meat, onion and spices in Dutch Oven
2. Mix water, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and sour cream
3. Combing meat and sauce mixture
4. Pour half into Dutch Oven
5. Spread noodles evenly on top
6. Pour remaining mixture over top, moistening all the noodles
7. If additional moisture is needed, add beer
8. Cover and cook 30-45 minutes, 10 coals on bottom, 15 coals on top

Nothing better than crispy little baked potatoes to go along with your casserole. These guys are sure to please.

Ingredients

• 24 oz bag small red potatoes cut in half
• 1/2 stick butter (or less)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp Lawyer’s Seasoning Salt

Directions

1. Melt butter (or slightly less than called for)
2. Add spices and herbs
3. Coat potatoes with butter, spice, herb mixture
4. Put potatoes into preheated Dutch Oven
5. Cook at 450 until crispy

If doubling the recipe, it’s better to use two 10” Dutch Ovens than it is to overfill a 12” Dutch Oven.

This is a yummy recipe that you can make in a campground and it tastes terrific. It satisfies the urge for a salad when camping.

Ingredients

Slaw

• 3 C grated cabbage
• 2 C grated apple (Granny Smith or Rainier or 1 of each)
• 1 C grated carrot
• 1 or 2 chopped green onions

Dressing

• 1/3 C mayo
• 1/4 C brown sugar (or slightly less)
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• dash of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Grate and combine slaw ingredients
2. Squeeze out excess moisture with paper towel
3. Mix dressing
4. Add dressing (not all of it)

Don’t mis all the dressing into the slaw to start with. Reserve the remainder for those that want a bit wetter salad.

10” Dutch Oven

12” Dutch Oven

These are finger licking good. A 12” Dutch Oven is recommended for this recipe.

Ingredients

• 3/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 1/3 C butter
• 1/2 C peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 C flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 12 oz milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cream butter and peanut butter with sugars.
2. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well
3. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt
4. Stir into wet mixture
5. Spread into 12” Dutch Oven
6. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top
7. Bake at 350, swirl chips after 5 minutes of baking, bake 20 minutes more

Cool thoroughly before serving. See cast iron baking temperature chart.

This isn’t the type of thing you would normally associate with camp cooking, but why not? This is typically made in a 12” Dutch Oven.

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 (29 oz) can pumpkin
• 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3 eggs
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 C evaporated milk

Topping

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 1 C butter

Directions

1. Mix filling ingredients
2. Cut butter into cake mix
3. Pour filling into parchment lined Dutch Oven
4. Sprinkle topping over the filling
5. Bake for 1 hour (or more) 8 coals on the bottom, 16 on the top

Serve with Cool Whip, of course.

A great camping desert. For deserts in a Dutch Oven, always line with parchment paper.

Ingredients

• 1/2 C butter
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1 (20 oz) can peach slices (enough to cover bottom of oven)
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• juice from peach slices plus enough water to make 1-1/4 C
• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 box cheesecake instant pudding mix
• 4 eggs beaten

Directions

Use 12” Dutch Oven. Melt butter in bottom of dutch oven. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of butter. Place pineapple slices on top of butter brown sugar mixture. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and spoon into dutch oven. Cook with 6 coals underneath and 18 coals on top. Place serving plate over dutch oven and invert onto plate.

Rumi’s Little Book of Life

Selected poems translated by Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin. It was difficult to choose just four from the more than 200 poems in this particular collection. Rumi writes beautifully of peace, love, unity, and respect. It’s wonderful to think that a 13th Century scholar and poet can bring to life knowledge that is still hard to fathom in our modern age, and do it with such beauty and clarity. Perhaps not surprising really, since the knowledge spoken of here is something that has to be earned, not something that can simply be handed to you. The most poignant aspect to Rumi’s writing is his confidence in the power of love to transform human lives. Something desperately needed today.

I love this poem because it gives me strength. We are living through a very tough time. I never expected my generation would have to deal with the fallout from spectacularly poor leadership. Leadership that is reeking havoc around the globe. This poem gives me encouragement.

Separation bends the back of hope
cruelty ties the hands of longing
yet the lover never despairs.
For a committed heart
everything is possible.

This poem grounds me. It helps me see the true priorities of life.

Who would write on a page already filled with writings?
Who would plant a sapling where one is already planted?
One would look for an empty page and virgin soil.
Become bare like the earth so the Beloved
may plant His seed, become a blank page
so His pen may write upon you.

This poem reminds me of the importance of love and its power. It speaks to the power that understanding of the Divine brings to the individual.

He who is not captured by Love
is like a wingless bird.
What understanding can he have of the world
without knowing the Knower?
In love with himself, he is easily lured astray
with no courage to embark on the path.
The Beloved is the guardian of the gate
that only He can open.
Those unable to pass are robbed of their essence.
Dawn may come, but they remain asleep,
while in our sky, the sun never sets nor rises.

A reminder to open your eyes and see beyond your desires.

I stole a glance from You and my eyes
became longing and wistful.
I heard one word from Your lips and
my ears deafened to the world.

But my friend, if you have not had this experience
you are excused to be entangled in this world.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 87

It doesn’t do any good to publish a stoic thought every day unless you can remember and put into practice the wisdom you humbly attempt to impart…

Very little of this wisdom is mine. I’m simply doing the best I can to put it into words I can understand and remember. The inspiration for these posts is from the book “The Daily Stoic 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and The Art of Living,” by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

So why am I doing this instead of just reading the book? It’s about absorption. You can’t make something your own unless you focus on it and put it into your own words. Words that speak to you. I believe when authors put pen to paper they are speaking to themselves, and after all, the words Ryan Holiday is sharing are his interpretation of the words originally written by men like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, so in a way, what I am doing is no different than what has been done for ages, simply put, trying to understand through exercise of your own mind.

Stingray

I never had a Schwinn Stingray bicycle as a kid but I sure do remember them. In fact, I was always a little jealous of the kids that had one. That didn’t stop me from putting playing cards on my bike. I distinctly remember turning my bike into a roaring 4-cylinder monster with four playing cards pinned to the rear wheel. I was very intentional about which cards I used, always Aces, never anything else.

Just for fun I’m going to card-up my Davidson and ride it down to my buddy’s house, knock on his door and tell him let’s go for a ride. I can’t wait to see the expression on his face when we head out! First I need to buy some clothespins…

Best Friends

We were best friends in a previous life. Go ahead and laugh, but after you have regained your composure, try and prove me wrong.

The Eternal

I love how the cat
curls himself up between
my love and me.

His gentle purring is pure contentment.
I stroke the top of his head
and he purrs louder.

He is pure bliss.
This is how I feel
when I contemplate the Eternal.

Whiskey

“Whiskey has killed more men than bullets, but most men would rather be full of whiskey than bullets.”
—Winston Churchill

“I always carry a flask of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore, always carry a small snake.”
—W.C. Fields

“If I cannot drink whiskey and smoke cigars in Heaven then I shall not go.”
—Mark Twain

“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.”
—Mark Twain

“Happiness is having a rare steak, a bottle of whiskey, and a dog to eat the rare steak.”
—Johnny Carson

“Tell me what brand of whiskey Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.”
—Abraham Lincoln

This is the perfect accompaniment to the Dutch Oven Baked Beans. It is important to use a parchment lined Dutch Oven to prevent the bread from absorbing flavors from the previous oven use.

Ingredients

• 3/4 C corn meal
• 1-1/4 C flour
• 1/4 C sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 C buttermilk
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/4 C vegtable oil
• Honey butter for topping (optional)

Directions

Measure and mix dry ingredients at home to simplify preparation.

1. Preheat Dutch Oven to 350. 21 briquettes. 14 on top, 7 underneath.
2. Mix all ingredients in preheated, parchment lined Dutch Oven.
3. Cook 30 minutes (approximately) rotating the oven and lid 1/4 turn in opposite directions every few minutes.

This recipe uses similar ingredients to the Baked Beans recipe but it does not use BBQ Sauce or Molasses, the result is surprisingly different. This recipe yields 5 or 6 Joes. Most people if they are hungry are going to want 2 of these babies!

Ingredients

• Butter and Olive Oil for sautéing the Onions and Green Pepper
• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 2 large Italian Sausages, casing removed
• 1 Green Pepper chopped
• Medium Yellow Onion chopped
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• 2/3 C Ketchup
• 1/2 Can Guinness
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Yellow Mustard
• 3/4 tsp Chili Powder
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Instructions

1. Sauté hamburger and sausage, drain.
2. Sauté onions and green pepper using butter and oil, add garlic at the end of the cooking time.
3. Light charcoal
4. Combine meats in Dutch Oven and add remaining ingredients.
5. Cook using 10 coals on top and 5 - 8 coals on the bottom

Cooking time is about 30 minutes, but could be longer to reach desired consistence. If mixture is too moist, add corn meal to thicken.

Serve over toasted Potato Buns.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 85

What happens to each of us stems from our destiny, that is, what was meant to be. Whatever has befallen you, has been prescribed for you. Your job is to look into it and find that which was meant for you to see.

America Has Become A Crime Family

This is what happens when you put a crime boss in charge of your country.

”Don’t you get it? America’s new foreign policy is basically this: Don’t kill people there (the Middle East) kill them over here (South America), in your own time zone. It’s classic advice: Shit where you eat. That’s the new Trump doctrine. It’s not in any way about stable democracies: it’s about spheres of influence. Russia can have their sphere of influence, China can have theirs, and we get South America. America is no longer the shining city on the hill, it is merely just one of the five crime families, splitting up the territories.”
—Jon Stewart

I wouldn’t take medical advice from Jon Stewart but when it comes to political insight, it’s hard to argue with his analysis.

I had to really coax Polly to give me this recipe. This is a recipe that you can make in cast iron (my preferred method) and works well in the campground. It tastes even better in the wild than it does at home. There is an homage here for my Irish friend. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble picking it out. I’ve always had a bit of a beef with the Irish because they keep the good Guinness in the homeland and they send the shitty Guinness to America. I suppose in a lot of ways we deserve that.

Ingredients

These ingredients are for starters, once the beans come up to temperature in the cast iron, you can adjust the ingredients to suit the flavor profile you are shooting for.

• Pinto, Black, White and Kidney beans in the can, rinsed and drained.
• 3 or 4 Kosher Dogs cut in medallions
• 1/2 can of Guinness
• 1/4 C Molasses
• 1/2 C Ketchup
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/4 C Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 Yellow Onion cubed and sautéed with 4 cloves of chopped garlic
• Dash of olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
• 1/4 C of your favorite BBQ Sauce

Ya, that’s a lot of ingredients, but nothing good comes easily, even in the campground.

Directions

Mix and cook. It doesn’t take a bunch of charcoal, just a few cubes on the lid and a few underneath. If you want to add more protein, Sauté some nice sausage sliced in the diagonal and add to the pot wile simmering.

Using a Kitchen Aid stand mixer is the quickest, easiest, and most foolproof way to make pie crust.

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoons (3 ounces or 85 grams) very cold water
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup ice
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces or 227 grams) very cold unsalted butter
• 2 ½ cups (11.25 ounces or 319 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

It’s best to use ingredients straight from the refrigerator. Slice the cold butter and freeze it for 5 minutes is recommended. Mix the water, vinegar, and ice mixture and keep it refrigerated while you measure out the dry ingredients.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter all at once and beat on low until the mixture has the texture of a coarse meal for about 3 minutes. Add 6 tablespoons of water from the water-vinegar-ice mixture and beat until the dough clumps around the paddle.

If the dough seems too dry, add more liquid from the ice water mixture 1 teaspoon at a time.

Quickly knead the dough into a rough ball then divide the dough into two even halves, forming them into a flat disc. Wrap each portion tightly in plastic wrap and flatten into a small disc. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Why Write

You have to be crazy to want to write. I have a natural instinct that makes it feel like I have nothing to say. The doubt, that I have nothing to say, presents itself as a daily struggle. The question is, why do it. My answer may not be completely satisfying to any ear but my own, but simply put, I am compelled to do it. If I don’t take the time each day to write, I feel like something is missing from my day. So, in the final analysis, I just do it.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 84

Prepare as best you can. When the time comes to put your preparation into action, be content with what comes next. The best you can do is acknowledge that the result is in the hands of fate. The ultimate result of any endeavor is never exclusively in our own hands.

The Written Word

What is the most amazing invention of the human mind? The written word. Without the written word, all knowledge would come down to matters of opinion, matters easily lost in translation, translation literal and translation that becomes altered due to the vagaries of time.

The written word brings beauty into our lives. Think of the great poetry and the effect it can have. The written word brings joy. Think of the great novels that have been written to entertain us. The written word is the basis of all scientific knowledge. Without the written word it is unlikely that science could have become as important to modern life as it has.

I try and read a book every month. Only 38% of Americans read one or more books a year. Conversely, 62% of Americans do not read a single book in the course of a year. These statistics are from two independent studies completed in 2023. Let’s go read a book America. It’s important for our health, and the future of our country.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 83

Do not regret what has happened. Recognize that what has happened cannot now be changed. To desire change, to have regret is a waste of energy, a waste of life. Practice gratitude for everything that happens. You cannot see reality without gratitude.

Welcome 2026

For a very long time (since I started this blog) I have avoided letting it devolve into a “personal clearing house” for grievance or a forum for “over-emoting,”

I’ve decided it’s time to modify that perspective — just a bit.

What is the point of publishing a blog if not to allow yourself to be honest with the world, and give the world a chance to better understand who you are.

I’m not talking about bitching or complaining, I’m talking about expressing yourself. That is a notion that does not come easily to me, but I have decided that it is time.

None of us live forever. There comes a time when we naturally should begin facing what the end of our existence looks like. To put it another way, we begin to face not only what we want to take into the next life, but what we would like other people to take away from our existence in this life.

That is something that is up to both of us. My goal is live the best life that I can. I am going to continue to grow and develop as best I can. The rest is up to you. No pressure. If I have offended you or you don’t want anything to do with me, I respect that. Stoic thought has taught me that we all have our own agency, our own reality. That means that I can only be concerned with my actions and not your actions or perceptions.

Where does that leave us?

Quite simply, this blog is shifting ever so slightly. Where I would have said to myself in the past, “I can’t share that,” it’s probable that now I will go ahead and share. Please don’t think I’m in this to change minds, I’m not. I’m responsible for me and you are responsible for you. It’s that simple. I’m taking agency for myself when it comes to sharing my journey on this blog. I’m not going to “emote” unnecessarily, but I am going to allow myself to speak to you from my heart where before I might have said to myself, “that is too personal to put out there.”

Why am I doing this? I am doing this for me. Please keep that in mind if you dip in here and read something that leaves you bewildered or confused, or you simply disagree with. Think of it as my attempt to open up a deeper understanding of myself, and share with you at the same time.