Murray Martin

Eye On The Outdoors columnist Murray Martin is a former Ontario Conservation Officer and a long standing member of The Outdoor Writers of Canada.

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A coyote stalks through the snow and trees

Behind Every Great Flea Is A Lesser Flea

An area of land that includes habitat like water, or sources of food and places where animals seek shelter will support specific animals or birds. Because that parcel of land would support a grouse, does not mean the same parcel would support a different population of birds.

Beaver

Knowing the Canadian beaver

Back in the 50s and 60s, before many of my readers were even born, as a conservation officer I had the pleasure of undertaking many studies on specific wildlife. These included banding waterfowl, tagging and following fish species, partaking in tagging waterfowl, netting and tagging fish, big game management such as flying the winter yards, …

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Looking back (way back)

My interest in ancient archaeology happened when I turned 62. True, it was a little late in life to go back to life studies, but I was digging in my garden back in north central Ontario when I came upon some old bone structure.

Christmas treats

I just can’t wait for Christmas to come around again and the kitchen abounds with the cooking smells of Christmas pudding.

Game on

One thing you know for sure about wild meat is that it hasn’t been loaded with chemicals and growth hormones to get it to market quickly. In general, it has feasted on wild plants and grasses. It’s about the most natural meat you could get. When hunting and harvesting wild game, you know the exact …

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Lest we forget

The poppy was originally worn by Americans. Madame Guerin convinced Canadian veterans to adopt the poppy in Canada.

Pancakes

I come from a time when tradition dictated that Friday was Pancake Friday. That meant we had pancakes for supper on Fridays. At the time, we didn’t make pancakes from a box of ready-made, store-bought mix. I’ve dug back into the 1930s, 40s and 50s to pass along some of those good old-fashioned recipes. To …

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Anti-hunting lives on

History of bloodshed has led some to associate firearms in war with hunting. There are misconceptions and misunderstandings about firearms.

Factors in wildlife management

Look at a section of forest that has been harvested. A group of conservation-minded people entered the cut and made a number of bush piles. The bush pile becomes a safety net for rabbits, squirrels and other such creatures, but let’s not stop there.

Chicken a la king, fit for a king

Chicken a la king Ingredients 4 ounce medium noodles 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup 16-oz can Carnation evaporated milk 1 tsp salt 1-1/2 cups shredded Velveeta cheese 2 cups of diced chicken 1 cup celery slices 1/2 cup diced green peppers 1 cup slivered blanched almonds ( toasted) Instructions Cook the noodles in …

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Tasty Soups and Salads

Many people are doing more cooking and baking at home right now, and as well leaning more towards vegetables than meat. This week we will pass on some tasty salads for you to try. Salads TASTY MACARONI SALAD 2 cups spiral macaroni 2 cups chopped tomatoes 1 green onion 1\2 chopped cucumber 1 chopped green …

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Are beaver ponds wetlands?

Since writing a column on wetlands, a question has come up for me—is a beaver pond considered a wetland?

Factors in wildlife management

Progression. Now there’s a word that’s important to the future of all wildlife. Look at a section of forest that has been harvested. A group of conservation-minded people entered the cut and made a number of bush piles. The bush pile becomes a safety net for rabbits, squirrels and other such creatures, but let’s not …

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Know the age of fowl meat when cooking

There’s a big difference between cooking the meat of wild animals and cooking the meat of domestic animals. Domestic meats contain a wide variety of chemicals, including growth hormones, while wild meat has none.

Cleaning big game

There’s more than you think to cleaning and butchering that big game animal.

Dog Culture – Murray Martin

Birds of a feather flock together, including Murray and Lisa Martin’s Siberian husky, Avalanche. [box] Meet our dogs, they live for us, we live for them, the Yukon would not be the Yukon without Dog Culture. Send us photos of Yukon dogs and their people![/box]

All about the red fox

Foxes have a number of colour phases. Mainly, we see the red and white, but additional phases include all-black, and black and red. No matter what colour, these foxes all have two things in common.

On the Other Side of the Coin

Murray Martin gives WUY permission to share this poem free of charge every holiday. We wish you a safe and Merry Christmas, and please drive responsibly at all times of the year.

The perfect canoe paddle

There are many canoe paddles on the market today, made in many styles, of many materials. The key to buying one to fit you personally is appreciating the adventures you will be undertaking in your canoe. If I was to go kayaking, I certainly would only use the ultra light synthetic paddles, even though I …

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Homemade salads

Murray shares a variety of salads and dressings to make at home… Let me take you back to the 1940s when Mom did not rely on buying her salads from the local grocery stores. These were the days you knew where the products came from and mostly it was Dad’s garden.

Walking stick – what you see, but don’t see

There is an old saying, “I can’t see for looking.” That could be very true when it comes to actually seeing a “walking stick.” The walking stick is a most interesting insect to study. Being from Ontario, where there are plenty of these insects, I had plenty of chances. It’s apparently not so common here …

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The history of the canoe

Back in the early 1970s I wrote a monthly outdoors column for an Ontario outdoors magazine. One evening, after a day spent hunting moose, we pulled the canoe up on the sandy shore of an island and started a small campfire a short distance from our tent. I was with my hunting buddy, Dan Thomey, the founding publisher …

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For the sweet tooth

Cranberry bread I love old-fashioned toasted raisin bread, but digging into some old recipes, I came across one for cranberry bread. Checking our cupboard, the only thing missing was the cranberries, but you could experiment with just about any berries.  Ingredients  2 cups flour 1 tsp salt 1 cup white sugar 1 tsp baking soda …

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The amazing bat

Part 1 of 2 Back in the 1930s and 40s, many weird stories hung from the tails of bats—they would get tangled in your hair, they were mixed up in witchcraft, a bite from a bat would condemn you to a life married to a witch. The list went on, despite the fact they were …

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Wild Game Stew

A stew to go hunting for

This is one stew recipe that I picked up more than 30 years ago. It has yet to be outshone by any other wild game stew I’ve made.

Nuts to the red squirrels

Red squirrels are a fascinating part of the outdoor life. They also can be an intentional nuisance to your pet dog. We often watch Red, the red squirrel that inhabits our backyard, as he torments Avalanche, our Siberian husky, daily. Red also steals the peanuts we put out for the magpies. Although the red squirrel …

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Nature versus hunting

How can I go out and shoot an animal? It might surprise you that many animals that go through meatpacking companies are actually shot with a .22 caliber stunning bullet, then hung up by the back legs, then sliced so they can bleed to death in a way that makes the meat of that animal …

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Getting to know bears

If I had to say which member of the bear family I mistrust the most, with little hesitation, I would say the black bear. This is backed up by an experience I had as a conservation officer at the Ottawa Sportsman show. The department had a two-year-old black bear that had been in captivity all …

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Telling a fish’s age

Once you cut a tree down, you can count the number of years it has stood by counting the annual rings around the stump. It might surprise many that you can get a pretty good idea how old a fish is by counting the rings on a single scale. When we used the big box …

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Sport fishing and the future

Fish management is an ever-changing science. With climate change at hand, it will present many unanswered questions about the future of fishing.

Fish actually have ears

Although fish have ears, they do not have eardrums like humans and other wildlife A number of years ago, while writing outdoor columns for some Ontario newspapers, I touched on the subject of the anatomy of the sensory parts of animals and fish. After the publication hit the newstands, I walked into a coffee shop …

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Yukon See It Here: Murray Martin

These photos were taken on the road to Haines, Alaska. The view of the mountains is spectacular as you approach Kluane National Park. [box] We invite you to share your photos of Yukon life. Email your high-resolution images with a description of what’s going on and what camera equipment you used to [email protected][/box]

What do the letters “N-U-R-S-E” mean?

In the 86 years since I was born, I’ve been admitted to nine different hospitals from Fredericton to Vancouver and from Whitehorse to Toronto. The causes were hockey, football, boxing, aging and sometimes just stupidity. While spending my 86th birthday at Whitehorse General Hospital, I had time to reflect on the letters “n-u-r-s-e” and just …

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Forgotten meals

Here are some old and mostly forgotten meals that still linger on my taste buds and I, once again, long to dig into the good ol’ days with some of these home-cooked meals. Barbecued wieners INGREDIENTS 8 wieners, slit lengthwise Cheese, sliced (enough to fill slits) (Sauce) 1 tsp. dry mustard 2 tsp. vinegar 1 …

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Get a quick and easy fire going

I put wood in the stove, set the Hurlburt fire starter under it and struck a match. Within seconds there was a six-inch flame. After a minute, the wood ignited.

Fish for dinner

Now that we’ve caught the fish, what do we do? Throw away the fish chain, remove the fish to a waterbox to keep the fish alive and replace it with an ice box.

Dog Culture – Murray Martin

Avalanche sitting on his seven-foot snow pile, watching his pals, including ravens and 100 smaller birds that feed daily in Lisa and Murray’s backyard during the winter. [box] Meet our dogs, they live for us, we live for them, the Yukon would not be the Yukon without Dog Culture. Send us photos of Yukon dogs …

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A carpenter’s lesson in life

Each year, just as New Year’s rolls around, I place this on the front page of my new diary so when I open it and read each line, it will help me to make my way through the on coming days of another year.

Yukon See It Here: Murray Martin

Hello Everybody, We invite you to share your photos of Yukon life. Email your high-resolution images with a description of what’s going on to [email protected] I like to submit a picture along with a saying to go with it. For this large tree, “Family tree: set your roost and firmly hang on to them.”

Old-fashioned tasty pancakes

As promised, this week’s recipe is from my Grandmother’s Kitchen and is on great pancakes of the 1920s. Remember, these are not ingredients from a box, so follow the directions to a T. True, old-fashioned pancakes were baked (not fried) in cast iron pans. My wife Lisa and I still have iron pans that we …

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Old-Fashioned Marmalades from Grandmother Davenport’s Recipes

INGREDIENTS Oranges Peaches Sugar METHOD Wash the oranges and then cut in half lengthwise. Place on a flat surface and cut into thin slices. Hold the slices together and slice through again to make smaller pieces. Wash the peaches but do not skin them. Slice peaches into ⅓-inch thick at the widest edge of the …

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Old fashioned baked breads

If you are from the 1930s and ‘40s, you may still long for those old-fashioned baked breads of all different tastes. You will also know what was in them and, to me, that is what is most important. Remember, those were the days when a man was sure, when walking down the street, that the …

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Hints about cooking from the 1950s

Back in the early days of the 1940s and ’50s we made most desserts at home. Here are some of great hints for how to enhance your home baking:

Cooking with moose meat

A successful hunt means cooking moose. Murray shares some meat pie and quiche recipes to try with the moose meat from a successful harvest.

Chicken out on the wing

One thing about chicken … just about anywhere you travel, you can bet you will find a thousand different recipes to match just about any taste.

Birds ‘on the fly’

One of the best-tasting meats comes from game birds. Stripping the bird of all of its bones should be your first step … and the next step, after cooking, is to enjoy.

Know your firearm

The first thing you should do after taking a hunter safety course is to go to the nearest shooting range and ask for help in getting to know your rifle.

Let’s go fishin’! – 3 of 3

On land we have voracious bears that will eat almost anything. In the rivers and lakes, without a doubt, the most voracious fish in North America is the northern pike.

Get stuffed!

Stuffing for fish, birds or game should never be overpowering. When preparing stuffing, make it moist and fragrant.

Desserts out on the edge

Rum and Apple Crisp Ingredients: 4 cups of wild apples ½ cup maple syrup 2 Tbsp lemon juice ¼ cup rum ¼ tsp salt 2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats ¼ cup soft butter Method: Place diced apples in buttered oblong oven dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice. In a bowl, blend butter, brown sugar and salt. …

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Moose Dish

Many ways to eat moose

Now that you have your moose or deer meat in the freezer, it’s time to get serious about cooking it the outdoors way, inside.

Get the best out of the fish you caught

One of the best ways to assure the very best taste of your fish is to kill it immediately after landing it. Throw away the fish chain and any containers that just hold water. Just don’t use them.

Chicken Galore

Travelling back into time to the 1950s you would see some great old cars, but we would like to bring the cherished food recipes from the ’50s forward to 2017. Here are some great old fashioned, tasty recipes. We hope you will try them and enjoy.

Dog Culture – Murray Martin

Birds and dogs flock together? As seen in our backyard, when I or my wife Lisa throw out some dog food for the birds, our Siberian husky Avalanche joins them for the breakfast treat. [box] Meet our dogs, they live for us, we live for them, the Yukon would not be the Yukon without Dog …

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Fish soups to warm the stomach

Newfoundland Oyster Soup Ingredients 1 cup milk 8 oysters 2 Tbsp soda cracker crumbs ¼ tsp. salt 1 Tbsp butter A touch of pepper Method Scald the milk in saucepan. And then add the cracker crumbs and seasoning. Followed by the butter and oyster. When the butter is melted the oysters will be done. New …

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Mushrooms From the Open Fields

As a youngster back in the 1950s, one of our responsibilities was to go out in the open fields and pick fresh mushrooms – and to know the good from the bad. There are hundreds of different kinds of mushrooms and some types contain the lethal toxins amanitin and phalloidin. These two toxins can be …

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Traditional butter cookies

Old time treats

Back in the 1930s and 40s mom baked her own goodies and desserts. They tasted far better than the modern off-the-shelf desserts.

Winter’s white on white

Before I was married, and my wife Lisa and I moved to the Yukon, my home was built on the northern borders of the Township of Oro-Medonte, in Central Ontario, where I just happened to be the deputy mayor. It is a land of rolling hills, valleys and rippling cold water streams, where many a …

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Beaver Lodge

Knowing the beaver

Evolution is an amazing thing and for the beaver, it has taken millions of years. Once almost 8 feet long some thousans of years ago, now the beaver, even though it continues to grow all its life, it will be lucky if it reaches four feet in length and hardly more than 65 pounds. If …

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Knowing the beaver

Picture this: an animal that lived in our waterways, here in Canada that was close to 8 feet long, big chisel teeth and could swim above and below the water line. Of course you would have had to live a few thousands of years ago. It was a beaver – and the beaver of those …

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Homemade Treats

Having grown up in the 1930 and 40s, I was used to homemade food such as pancakes, bread and fresh-from-the-garden homemade soups. Nothing was prepared in cans from the grocery store that had sat on the shelves for months. The only thing spread on the garden was cow manure as a fertilizer. So here are some …

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Not Just a Dog, But a Best Friend

My dog, who I called The Barron, had an all brown head and a brown patch on his shoulders, but otherwise, was all white and, shall we say, not really accepted by the rich and mighty of the bird dog organizations.

Hunting Season Recipes

Looking for a few good hunting season recipes. The Best Venison Steak 2 large venison steaks 1-½ cups water ½ cup dry wine ½ pkg. onion soup mix 2 tbsp butter salt and pepper to taste 2 large carrots peeled and sliced 2 tbsp cornstarch in ¼ cup of water Melt butter in Dutch oven …

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Good Ol’ Comfort Food

Baked Fish and Vegetables 4 large mushrooms, sliced 1 cup peas 2 chopped white onions 1 cup string beans 2 tomatoes chopped 1 cup shredded cabbage 2 cloves garlic,minced 2 medium potatoes, sliced 2 carrots, sliced 1 green green pepper, finely sliced 1 cup salad oil ⅛ tsp thyme 1 bay leaf 2 tsp salt …

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Fish Chowder

When out on a day’s fishing and you don’t catch one of those big clunkers, don’t be dismayed. You can make a great chowder with little fish too! Gary Hill, one of the very best fishing guides out of Atlin gave me his secret fish chowder recipe. Gary Hill’s Atlin Chowder Ingredients: 2 pounds of …

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How Times Have Changed

Times have changed since 1933. Monopoly was invented, Joan Collins; Joan Rivers; and Willie Nelson were born. So was this columns author.

Classic Meat Recipes

Peppered Tenderloin Ingredients: 2 pounds of beef tenderloin 4 Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp oil 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper A dash of sage A dash of cumin 1 pound mushrooms, trimmed and quartered 1 medium white onion, cut to wedges 2 green peppers, cut in 1 inch pieces 2 Tbsp cider vinegar ½ cup …

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Thunder and Lightning

Thunder and lightning do not seem to be as common here in the Yukon as in southern Canada. However, lightning strikes are probably the most common cause of our forest fires. Lightning is a gigantic spark jumping between a charged cloud and the earth, but what actually causes lightning is still an item of debate. …

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The Life of Rabbits and Hares

Growing up in the 1930 and early 40s was tough times. First, there was the Great Depression, followed closely by the Second World War. For the average family, money was tough, far tougher than today and rabbits and hares often graced the supper plates. Of course the cottontail rabbit was the choice of the two …

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Do You Remember When?

Allow me to take you back in time to when the words of today had a great difference in meaning… Close your eyes… and go back in time… before the internet, Mac, Dreamcast, Playstation or Nintendo 64… away back, I’m talking hide and seek at dusk… hopscotch, Double Dutch, jacks, kickball, mother may I, Red …

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Cookies

My mother was a master cook sent down from heaven, and as she looks down upon me, I think back to the 1930 and 40s. I must come clean and admit it: I was the person always stealing those great sweet treats. Mom would say, “Don’t you dare steal a cookie.” Dare was something I …

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Muffinize Your Snack Time

Muffins are not only a treat, but a very healthy treat – especially when you bake them with fresh fruit. Here are some tasty muffin treats to try out. Wild Berry Muffins Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour ½ cup sugar 1 Tbsp baking powder ½ tsp salt ½ tsp cinnamon …

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Wonder What to do with a Pike?

Pike Chowder Supreme This will take some time, but it is time well spent. Ingredients: 1 pound of freshly caught pike fillets, cut into stew-size pieces 2 ¼ cups boiling water 2 cups milk ¾ cup diced celery 1 ½ cups raw diced potatoes ½ cup thinly sliced carrots 3 Tbsp butter 1 white onion, …

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For the Love of Potatoes

Let’s go back in time, say 60 some years ago. Potatoes in those days, in my mother’s kitchen, were an everyday vegetable and cooked in some tasty remarkable different ways. Here are some recipes for you to try. Mom’s Hashbrown Casserole Ingredients: 2 pounds of frozen hash browns ½ cup melted butter 2 cups sour …

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Bread and Butter

Here are some good bread recipes from the 1950s. Cranberry Bread 2 cups of sifted flour 1 cup sugar 1½ tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt ½ tsp baking soda ¼ cup butter 1 beaten egg 1 tsp grated orange peel ¾ cup orange juice 1½ cups light raisins 1½ cups fresh chopped cranberries Sift …

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For the Love of Tomatoes

Allow me take you back to some 65 years to a recipe dated in my mother’s hand written book as 1951. That was a memorable year for me as I had waited patiently for years to reach 18, so I could join the Air Force without my parent’s consent. Over the years I had six …

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From the Catch to the Table

For those who don’t like the taste of fish, the reason is because of the lack of proper handling of the fish from the time it is caught to the minute it is served. It might come as a surprise to some, but a fish starts to deteriorate the minute it is hooked. More often …

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Old Time Meat Dishes

Allow me to take you back to 1950s when we cooked in a specific way. At a time when we still did not rely on canned goods and most items came fresh from the garden. The following is an example of such. 1950 Meat Pie with Cheese Pastry Top Brown a ½ pound of cubed …

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Big Game Cookery

With the hunting season upon us, it’s time for some special big game recipes. First of all, there is just about no part of a moose that you can’t eat and enjoy. What better to start with than Baked Moose Tongue. BAKED MOOSE TONGUE First prepare a special Raisin Sauce You will need: 1 cup …

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Apple Recipes

Apple Pandowdy, Apple Crisp, German Apple Cake recipes

Gone Fishing

As a Conservation Officer in Ontario in the late 1950s through the 1960s, I patrolled the St. Lawrence River to the Quebec border. I came upon a very strange group of people between five and 90 years old. They were in search of a specific species whose ancestors date back 100 millions years ago and …

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Desserts

Apple Crisp Cake: 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar   1 ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt 2 eggs 1 ½ cups sour milk* ⅓ cup vegetable oil                           Icing: 14 oz. pk. cream cheese, soften                  ¼ cup butter                                                      1 cup icing sugar                                        ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder ½ tsp …

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Fish

It will not surprise many that this little planet called  Earth is  covered by  seventy percent water. What may surprise many is that the water on this planet holds close to an estimated 17,000 different  species of fish.   Fish have been found in waters in altitudes of 15,000 feet and in waters 35,000 feet in …

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Golfers and Duck Hunters Have Something in Common

The golfing season and duck hunting season have something in common.  I am convinced  that if a person took up both sports their problems would be greatly magnified. I came to this monumental conclusion when I was chasing golf balls on the number six  fairway. It started to sprinkle rain, but undaunted, like a duck …

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Pizza, Ribs and Lasagna

Mini Biscuit Pizzas 1 lb ground beef                                                       ½ lb lasagna noodles                                               two 6 oz. cans of tomato paste                                                1½ cups hot water                                         1 medium white onion chopped                    2 garlic cloves, minced ¼ tsp pepper ½ tsp rosemary 1 Tbsp Minced parsley 2½ Tbsp salt 2 tsp oil 2 eggs 1 …

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Bison: From the Edge of Extinction

People driving down the highway may see a few bison, and never realize that this animal was at one time on the very edge of extinction. The bison made  some people extremely wealthy, others kept some people from starvation, some were shot for sport from a traveling railway cars, herds were driven over cliffs simply for …

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