Building a Wigwam - Part Two - Putting On a Covering

      Now it's time to put a shell over your framework.  It's time to turn this from something that looks like a piece of impractical playground equipment into a very viable and reliable shelter.  What you use as your sheltering cover will depend again entirely upon your needs.  I'll start here with the classic wiigwaas (birch bark).  

 

A modern birch bark wigwam

 

A picture of a wigwam from the mid-1800's

 
      Birch bark is hard to collect for a number of reasons, and there are also reasons that it's hard to work with, but its pluses far outweigh its detriments.  It is absolutely impervious to water.  for that reason it makes great water buckets (for keeping the water on the inside), and makes a great, lightweight, yet flexible canoe (keeping water on the outside).  For that reason it makes a great shelter. 
      Birch bark isn't easy to collect though.  It must be collected when the sap is running well through the tree, otherwise you will fight it trying to get it off the tree.  Also, trying to find sections that aren't full of woodpecker holes, or damage from moss or shelf mushrooms is also difficult.  Birch bark has the tendency to curl up when it dries too - and I'm talking about some serious curling.  It can curl itself right off of your wigwam.
      Trying to use the bark from deadfall will work for fire starting, but won't work for anything else, including making a shelter.    It has to be taken from a standing tree at least, and from a living tree if you don't want it full of holes.  A birch tree has two different layers of two different kinds of bark.  There is the outer skin that is white on the outside and orange on the inside and has a definite horizontal grain, and there is the softer, orangey, inner bark that has an almost cork-like texture.  As long as you only remove the skin bark layer, and leave the inner bark alone, the tree will live and continue to thrive (the inner bark can be dried up and ground to make a food for hard times - personally, I've never tried it though, because times have never been THAT hard for me).  The outer skin will never grow back though. 

      You will first need to select a tree that is wide enough to produce a decent enough size of bark, and has about a six foot section that is free of holes, branches, or damage (either that or one that has two lengths of about three good feet both below and above a branch).  Use a sharp tomahawk (or rounded edge hatchet) to make your horizontal cuts, and one vertical cut for each piece. 

      Then use the edge of your tomahawk to gently pry the skin away from the inner bark (this is almost impossible if you try to do it too late in the summer - mid June is the best time - the sap is till running then - it gets too dry later on in the year).

      Keep on prying around in both directions away from the cut.  Eventually it will just "pop" off (it will often make a popping noise too). 
      You will need a lot of bark to cover your wigwam.  Each chunk of bark will be only about three feet long.  Figure that out while you are collecting it.  You will basically need one piece for each square of the framework.  You will need to scour the woods to find trees thick enough to get some much longer pieces for the top covering.  If you will primarily be using your wigwam during the hottest weather it is okay to use bark with holes in it for the sides of the wigwam, especially along the bottom layer.  This will allow air to flow inside, and keep things cooler inside.  The light air flow will also help to feed the fire and draw the smoke upward through the smoke hole.  (note: just like for a tipi, the smoke will never draw right if the door/blanket is open.  You have to keep the door closed for the smoke to draw properly)
      When you see how long it takes to gather the bark you will understand why they took it and brought it with them to their next camp.  It can take several days to get enough bark collected, especially if you have to work all day first (just like they had to hunt and fish all day first).  
      After you think you have enough bark you can start tying the pieces on.  To do this you will need a bark drill, and of course something to tie it with.

        This picture is just about actual size.  The drill is made from 1/4" stock

      This is a bark drill.  I needed to make the modifications to it because after drilling a bunch of holes I ended up with a blister.  Taping two broken pencils (2nd picture) to the side of it gave me better leverage to spin the drill easier. 

      Start at the door and work your way around, starting with the bottom layer.  You will be putting the pieces on like shingling the roof of a house.  To make the bark more workable first of all when you harvest it you should roll it into a tube inside-out, with the white on the inside, and roll it with the direction of the grain.  Tie it up and store it that way.  Another thing you can do then is before you are ready to use it, you can lay it flat with something heavy on top of (put boards over it and rocks on the boards).  Lay the stack of flattened bark on very damp soil.  It will flatten out and even be bendable.  When it dries it will harden again and start to curl again too.
      Sometimes for the top you can use a different material  Occasionally heavily greased deer hides (tanned) were sewn together for a top covering.  Later on in history pieces of canvass were used sometimes for the top covering. 
      Even though the traditional summer wigwam was made of birch bark, and was intended to be moved from place to place, it takes many hours to get all the bark tied on.  It will take most of a day, and that's if you have help doing it.  The thing is though, they would stay in one of these for anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months.
      The one I made out of bark I left set up for several years till the frame finally rotted at the bottom, and as too brittle to repair.  The bark was still usable though so I made a new frame and tied it all on again.  To set one up for just a weekend event, or even a week long event though, is very impractical to use bark.  This is where other materials come in.  These "other" materials are still traditional materials, so don't worry about your historical integrity.
      The sewn together canvass cover really isn't historically correct, as the government didn't give them to the Ojibwe.  It is correct for the Tipis because all the buffalo had been slaughtered, and buffalo is what the Lakota and other Plains peoples used for their tipis.  The Ojibwe used birch bark and other coverings till into the late 1930's and even into the 1940's. Using pieces of canvass however, that is acceptable.  That's what I use for setting up at historical events.  For the top pieces I use some oil cloth (canvass soaked in linseed oil).  That's what you can see in my background image (right click - view background image - left click).  And I use a wool blanket for my door.
      You can also minimize you bark use with reed mats.  They roll up nice and will fit in your car (good luck getting any actual gear in with you if you have to carry enough stacks or rolls of birch bark to cover a wigwam).

      You can either make your own reed mats with a type of a loom (how much time do you have?), or buy them at a store.  I'm not sure what they are sold as, but the rolls are pretty long; like 20 feet long.  Reed mats also allow enough air to get in for your fire and smoke drafting, as well as cooling in the hot summer months.  Canvass blocks all the air.  I find that I have to lift the canvass around the edges in order to get enough draft.  Otherwise it gets way too smokey in there.

           Wigwams with reed mats for siding - the black and white photos are from the 1800's, except for the last one which is from the 1940's.

      As I said above the birch bark will try to curl - right off of your wigwam if you let it.  To combat this, as you can see from the many pictures already, a series of ropes were thrown across the whole thing, this way and that way, as many as you need to make the bark behave, and stay in place.  Sometimes, heavy branches were laid across the sides.

      If you want a wigwam to go out to (and maybe bring the kids out there) in the middle of winter, you need a much heavier bark.  Elm bark was traditionally used, but due to Dutch Elm Disease, it is very hard to find today.  You need an inner liner too (Birch, reed mat, or even canvass), and you should stuff grass between the layers for insulation.  Connected tubes of birch bark need to be shoved under the walls to the outside (and cleared of snow) to bring in air for the fire, and you may want to close down the smoke hole so it's smaller, as long as it still draws the smoke.

                               A winter wigwam made of elm bark

     And then there is the tipi shaped wigwams.  I;m not giving directions for them here, but have uploaded several pictures of them below. 

Globular Clusters 

Science Fridays

      As I've said in the past, the universe is an amazing place.  There are things out there that are truly remarkable.  There are novas, and quasars, black holes and neutron stars, and nebulae everywhere you can turn a telescope.  Also, no matter where you look there are other galaxies - like the sand on the seashore they are so numerous.
      Surrounding most of the galaxies are dwarf galaxies that orbit the bigger galaxy.  Did you know that surrounding our own Milky Way Galaxy are fourteen dwarf galaxies in orbit around us?  The largest one is the Large Magellanic Cloud.  And found all over the place in every galaxy; regular or dwarf are globular clusters.

      Globular clusters are areas packed with stars in unimaginable numbers, gravitationally attracted to each other into a small space.  Above is one of the largest ever observed, Omega Centauri.  Omega Centauri is a cluster stuffed with over ten million stars, packed into an area of 150 light years.  That would make the star density of that area be about 66,000 plus stars per light year.
      Lets put that into a little perspective.  Our nearest neighboring stars are Alpha Centauri, and Barnard's Star, each sitting about 4 light years away.  That seems to be the normal distance for stars to be separated from each other.
      Each planet within our solar system has an orbit about twice the distance of the orbit of the previous planet's orbit (or more specifically each planet's orbit is about two thirds the distance of the orbit of the next planet's orbit).  The asteroid belt is located in an area that should house a planet according to this mathematical configuration.  Neptune is the farthest planet with an orbit about twice the distance of Uranus' orbit.  At twice the distance of Neptune's orbit is the Kuiper Belt. Planetary orbits are not evenly spaced from each other but get progressively larger as they go out from the sun. 

 

      Beyond the Kuiper Belt is the Oort Cloud.  This area is filled with comets, asteroids, and planetoids, and covers a huge area.  The Oort cloud basically doubles the size of our solar system.  The Oort Cloud contains the farthest objects orbiting our sun.  From the Sun to the outer edges of the Oort Cloud is a distance of about 50,000 AU (Astronomical Units).  A light year is 63,000 AU.  If you consider that other stars have Oort Clouds of their own the distance between star systems is closer.  If we were much closer to Alpha Centauri, for instance, objects in the Oort Cloud would have a figure eight orbit, as they would orbit around both systems.

      This makes the diameter of the Solar System about 200,000 AU - almost two light years across.  At this size compared to the density of the Omega Centauri globular cluster, the Solar System would contain 120,000 stars.  That means there would be a star sitting roughly at about the orbit of the earth – four of them, and there would be about eight stars just beyond the orbit of mars, 16 out into the asteroid belt and so forth.  In the picture below there would be roughly one star at every cross point in the grid pattern.  

      To say that nothing could live in a globular cluster would be an understatement.  Besides being burnt to cinders, you would be pulled apart by competing gravitational forces.  

 

Building a Wigwam  - Part One - The Frame

      With reenactment season fast approaching it is time to get things ready.  If you want a wigwam it's not a real hard task, as long as you have the right materials.  Personally I need a few more pieces to get ready for the season, because I want to expand the wigwam I already have to be a little bigger.  
      Wigwams were the traditional style shelter for portable, temporary use by the Ojibwe.   They were used much the same as we use a tent.  The word is actually "wiigwaaswi-gamig."  Wiiwaaswi means made out of birch bark, and gamig means shelter or house.  The "wi" suffix means made out of.  Since all houses or shelters are made out of something they are all some kind of "-wi-gamig", hence "wigam" or "wigwam."    Setting up a camp is "gibeshiwe" (gi-BAY-shi-way) and the camp itself is "gibeshiwin." (gi-BAY-shi-win)
      The first thing you need is the sticks for the framework.  You want these to be between about an inch ti a half inch in diameter.  Also the wood must be of a kind that will bend without breaking.  Willow works good, but if it's diamond willow it will break at any point a diamond has formed.  Of course you are looking for pieces that are long and straight, or have a slight natural curve in them.  Poplar (aspen) grows straight, but will break if you try to bend it too far.  These should be cut to lengths of about six or seven feet.  

      After gathering sticks you will need to mark out the ground where the frame will go, and put holes in the ground into which you will insert the upright sticks.  to make the holes an iron stent stake pounded about four to six inches into the ground works well.  after putting the stake into the ground a few inches, spin it around in circles in order to widen the hole enough for the uprights.  These holes should be spaced about 2 1/2 to 3 feet apart all along the circumference of your wigwam.  

 

      Next you will put in the upright sticks.  You should choose the ones that are stouter for this.  Obviously the stoutest end of the stick is the end you will put into the ground.  The other end will tend to bend more easily, which you will need it to do.  You can sharpen the end going into the ground with a swift stroke from a tomahawk. Each stick should have a matching stick on the opposite side.  Yes, you need an even number of upright sticks. 

      You will then take a third (or more for a bigger wigwam) stick for each upright pair, and use it to tie the two uprights together.  You will need at least two ties for each connection, and many times you may need a third tie (you will know when you run across it).  

      As you start to work your way around you will start tying the hoop assemblies together where they cross.  This will firm up your framework.  You will choose your layout based upon your needs for size.  You might fit just one or two people (if they like each other) in the small one, you could fit a small family of three in the center one, and more in the longhouse style.  With the longhouse style you can keep going as large as you need.  For the longhouse style your top sticks need to be sturdier too. 

      Next you will start tying in the horizontal hoops.  They will go around at about every 2 1/2 to 3 feet high.  You will tie one piece of hoop to the next one as you go around the wigwam.  If you need to be told to stop at the door frame for the lower hoops, so that you can have a door, then you don't deserve to have a wigwam.  You should stop reading this immediately, and please never build a wigwam.  In fact if that's the case please don't drive or operate heavy machinery either. 

      Now you have a finished frame.  Traditionally we used to leave the frames up where they were and take the covering with us as we traveled along to the next gibeshiwin.  We had them set up in areas for harvesting the various berries, nuts, and for ricing, fishing, and there was one for each family at the summer gathering camp.  If you nkew that a certain area was bountiful for bleuberries, or raspberries, you'd be coming back there again, so it was easier to just leave the frame there.  It makes it easier to set up camp, and is much quicker.  
      If you are using your "wam" to take along to historical reenactments, then you will be setting it up from scratch every time.  To make that task a little bit easier You can bundle your framing sticks together by type.  I also have my hoop sticks labeled.  
      There is a very wide variety of coverings that can be used for your wigwam.  I'll write about that in a couple days. 

A Glimpse Into the Past

      It's time once again to post some art work.  And once again the art work is photography.  You might think after this that photography is my favorite medium, but in reality my favorites are oil paintings, and various forms of sculpture, and various media of drawing - all equally.  Then comes using different printing processes for the sake of art, and oftentimes utilized in abstract compositions.  For me photography falls somewhere after that. 
      This art work today is from a collection of photos that is very special to me.  They were taken by my grandma's brother.  Uncle Chuck had always wanted to get into professional photography, but a lack of funds prevented him from going to school for it.  Nevertheless he created a dark room in their house and started to practice.  He was seld taught in the basics, and he proved that he did have "the eye" for it. 
      Then WWII broke out, first in Europe, and then its rages finally reached America.  Uncle Chuck signed up.  This was both for patriotic reasons, and because he wanted to choose his branch of service, rather than wait to be drafted and leave it all up to chance.  He chose the Army, and specifically the Army Air Force. 
      His self taught photography skills were just enough to get a formal education in the subject for free.  I think it was a poster on base that he answered after his basic training that said something like "Photographers Needed."  He went in and applied.  As I have been kind of appointed as the "family historian and records keeper" (unofficially - I'm not sure how that happened, but when a family member dies, I end up with a lot of his or her stuff), After Uncle Chuck died I ended up with a huge box of his old photos - complete with negatives.  Having to wait to get this stuff till after they die is a bugger though, as I find so many things then that I would love to ask them questions about.  I end up looking through their artifacts, and am then forced to play "History Detective." 
      During the war, Uncle Chuck was assigned to a reconnaissance unit that ended up being based in the Indian Ocean, and specifically on the Irrawaddy River in what was then called Burma (Myanmar).  I have hundreds of these pictures he took while on assignment.  There are some pictures of downed US aircraft, such as a series from the smoking remains of a "Flying Fortress."  There are others he took while still on base in Tennessee of a field full of the gliders that were used on D-Day.  Another interesting series was when his unit was out in the jungle on assignment with an "Aussie" unit (ANZAC's).  And since he was their base's best photographer he was assigned to take a ton of pictures of a USO show that came there.  There are pictures of stars and starlets whom I have no idea who they are.  If people would actually start commenting on this blog I would post some of them some day, so that I could get feedback from you all as to who these people might be.  Unfortunately, the people who would recognize them are becoming more and more scarce every day. 
      While a regular soldier would have had his letters intercepted, and the photos confiscated, Uncle Chuck had high level security clearance, and was able to send many photos home, along with their negatives.  That fact blesses me with an awesome collection today. 
      I have only chosen to post a few of the pictures here.  If you like what you see and/or want to see more of these you will have to ask for them in a comment.  I'm not sure what kind of camera he used, but the negatives are almost as big as the photos themselves.  That and his skill makes them absolutely crystal clear. 

This picture and the next one was taken while still on base in Lebanon Tennessee.  Note: you can even see the pilot's face in the cockpit of the other plane.  The same goes for the next picture. 

This picture is absolutely awesome.  I know that some Military history painter (not Don Troiani, but someone like him) has painted this picture and sells prints of it for a hundred bucks or so.  I think I have also seen it as an official poster for the Army Air Force (which became the USAF after the War).  But,... I have the negative.  I saw that someone has given this picture a title of some kind that I can't remember.  We just call it "The Picture Uncle Chuck Took of All the the Planes Flying in Formation." 

Reconnaissance units often had to go out behind enemy lines over enemy held territory.  Armed with only a camera, they had fighter escorts that went with them, just in case something happened.  One night something did happen, and Uncle Chuck took this picture of the event. 

                             This picture is just plain great. 

      This is enough for now.  If you want to see more of these you will have to ask for them in a comment below. 

Visiting the Homeland

      I was listening to an extended news report about people wanting to go visit the land of their ancestors.  They saved up a lot of money, so they could spend the extra time it would take to look up long lost relatives, and maybe even see the houses their grandparents or great grandparents were born or raised in, and things like that.  Then I smiled.  Being part Native American, if I want to visit the land of my ancestors all I have to do is step out the back door.  
      I would, however like to see the place where my German (or rather Pomorski - a race of Prussian German-Polish half breeds in northwest Germany)  Great-Grandfather was born.  I have seen the place in plenty of pictures in encyclopedias, history books, and on the internet, but I would like to see the building in person someday.  
      I've also read plenty of the history from that side of the family, especially in German history books and German encyclopedias.  I also heard tales from my German professor about that branch of the family.  For instance, I heard that during his terms of office, President Hindenburg had people searching all through America looking for us.  When my family came here though, they did such a good job of hiding and blending in, that Hindenburg's people never found us. 
      I am descended of warriors, it turns out.  On my white side, from people who had been soldiers and were recorded as such as far back as the early middle ages.  On my Ojibwe side I am descended of the warriors (ogichidaag) who chased the Iroquois all the way back to New York after the battle of Ashland and Bayfield in the late 1680's.  They ended up settling in the western side of the Ottawa River region and took Ottawa wives.  The Ojibwe branch of my family also has a very thin strain of Scottish running through it (from one Dr. Samuel Adams [not the brewer-revolutionary, but a loyalist relative of his who went to Canada and took an Ojibwe wife] whose line can be traced all the way back to knight named Adam of Gordon).  

      Finally in the 1890's the Ojibwe branch of my family came back "home" to Northern Minnesota, at just about the same time that my Prussian branch came here.  I grew up here in these woods, as did my father (my Prussian descendency), and his father before him.  In fact, even my white family after being here for five generations has become as much a part of the forest as the deer we hunt.  
      Due to the complicated nature of my family's European history, visiting the "Heimatsland/home land" in the way other people do, and looking up relatives would be way too difficult.  We've been gone too long, and we destroyed our "paperwork," so our relatives there wouldn't really welcome us with open arms.  In fact, in many cases security staff would never let us near them.  I think that for the time being anyway, I will be content with visiting the land of my ancestors by going out the back door. 

Do You Know What a "Newman Bar" is, and How to Use One? 

      Here's a subject I haven't talked about yet on here, other than in passing reference.  I am a NASCAR fan.  Yes, I like watching rednecks turning left.  My blog is called the Journal of SUNDRY Wonderments, after all, and this is just one of many sundry subject matters.  I don't watch it for the crashes, as people would accuse NASCAR fans of doing.  I do however like watching how a good driver can thread his way through a crash when they do happen.
      One driver that seems to be good at threading though a crash unscathed is Ryan Newman.  He is one of the good drivers.  He doesn't start crashes.  Sometimes though, being caught up in a crash is unavoidable.  Being one of the better drivers he is often right up in the thick of the action.  This also means that sometimes he is right there within only a few car lengths of where a crash happens.  In the past he has had a car in front of him flip over and land right on top of his car.

         One of Newman's earlier crashes that caused the invention of the "Newman Bar"

      For the safety of all NASCAR drivers, NASCAR officials have required extra reinforcement on the roof of their cars, particularly around the windshield, because of this.  This is appropriately called the "Newman Bar."
      At today's race at Talledega Ryan Newman unfortunately got to see just how good his "Newman Bar" worked.  It started during the last few laps of the race when a rookie got anxious and tried to go out and pass at four wide.  With all the wind these cars create, going three wide isn't always a good idea, and going four wide is just plain reckless (and wreck-ful).  The drivers need that cushion around them for air flow.  As fellow racer, Denny Hamlin pointed out in the booth (he was covering for Michael Waltrip, who was on the track today), "these drivers aren't turning into each other, but are being pushed into each other by the air flow."  And at 190-210 mph when that happens all heck breaks loose.
      After the rookie bumped another driver, that driver spun out of control, and into another, who in turn caused another to go sideways and flip through the air, landing right on top of Ryan Newman.  And poor Ryan, who is ranked 12th for the season, was doing so good at weaving through today's crashes and avoiding trouble.  He was right up in the top ten for a good finish, along with his team mate Danica Patrick who was also due for a good finish, maybe also in the top ten.  As a  result of the crash, he didn't even get to finish, and Danica, who was also involved in the crash, ended up at 33rd place.  At least she got to get another finish on her points record.  By the way, she is doing real good this year, and proving that she is a good driver, and not just a pretty face (but she does have that pretty down pretty good).  I didn't see how their benevolent overlord, leader, and owner of their team, Tony Stewart did through all this.  Oh, and Michael Waltrip - he was far enough back in all this, that he was able to thread himself through the carnage like the pro he is.

In this video of the crash, Ryan Newman is being interviewed, and he is NOT happy.  You can see the rookie on the left of the screen causing the whole domino effect.  He crosses the track infront of everybody, hitting Kurt Bush, who flips on top of Ryan Newman.  In the resulting chain reaction, you can see Danica Patrick's (green Go-Daddy #10) car being pushed sideways through the mess.  I'm sure that by the time many of you read this post, there will be other videos uploaded and available to watch.  

      Because the crash turned the whole race upside down a couple people not normally considered front runners took first and second.  It was David Ragan followed by David Gilliland
      Now you know what a "Newman Bar" is, and you don't want to use one.