Spring Madness
March 2011
A friend sent us this photo of the notorious barrel boat and our new aluminum canoe, both loaded up and ready to head out on another crazy adventure. This was taken
at Washington State College in Pullman, WA in 1960.
Here’s what Pat had to say about it:
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The wife of one of Pat's friends, trying out our "hot tub", circa 1960.
In retrospect, my boating career started with the basics; a few sticks lashed together with barbwire, upgraded to a leaky (and rotten) row boat found on the bottom of a creek, then back to some serious log rafts in rivers, and then the fine craft on the left; a canoe I welded up from 55 gallon drums. This vessel had a design flaw —a round bottom— that made it somewhat of a balancing act to keep it right side up. Unfortunately, I was also unfamiliar with the concept of internal floatation at the time. This boat made several runs down the Palouse River (Paradise Creek) between Pullman and Colfax during the spring high water with me and a couple friends. Bridges were our downfall. I don’t think we ever made it through without hitting a piling. That boat would tilt, fill with water and sink in two seconds, leaving us clinging (if we were lucky) to a piling in ice water, far from our car.
It didn’t take much of this before we bought the aluminum canoe on the right. It had conveniences like floatation and seats and life jackets and was somewhat less inclined to dump us in the drink. With this upgrade, our wives even rode in the new boat; although reluctantly.
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The barrel boat ended up as a hot tub in the backyard that summer. Finally, my wife would get in it.
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Back to Bun...
Pat and his friends had many “boating” adventures living near Sand Creek and Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho. You might even know some of the stories Pat wrote about those mishaps. I don’t think Pat wrote about this particular boat because it was one of those adventures that isn’t funny for him even to this day.
Don’t forget to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your favorite Irish food. I’ve found many great recipes online, like Irish Boiled Dinner, Soda Bread, Barmbrack, Boxty, Dublin Coddle, Potato Farl, Fadge and Black Pudding. But I think we’ll stick to corned beef and cabbage with soda bread.
Some years ago one of our friends invited a couple from Ireland to dinner and served them corned beef and cabbage. The Irish visitors said, “What is this? It’s delicious.”
Come to find out, corned beef is an Americanized version of the classic Irish dinner. In Ireland, in the poorer years, what was most likely used was an old chicken, mutton, pork or bacon. Only the wealthy could afford beef. Who knew?!
Happy St. Pat’s Day!