Squirrels & Messy Campers

Warren Mary Ellen

Warren Mary Ellen

Ranger
Currently camping and the dog kept wanting to go down the ravine behind our site. On the other side is another loop in the state park we are camping in. I could hear something running around in the leaves on the ground & finally saw it was 2 squirrels fighting over something. Looked like some trash and then I realized they were trying to open it. I got my binoculars to see it better & saw that it was plastic container for a pound cake that you can buy at most grocery store bakeries. They were were 30 feet away from a campsite. Campers were gone, but I could see all the food they had left out along with dirty dishes too. So far the package has held and the squirrels have not gotten into the pound cake, but they’ve all over the place chirping at each other.
 
I personally find it a lovely enhancement, when I get to my camp site, to have the firepit full of beer cans and cigarette buts...

I am becoming more and more cynical of campers the older I get -- If I ever find a plot of land where I can set up my own private camp site --- I'll be thrilled ....

Florida at least clean out the firepits and blows off the light debris between campers, which I found to be very welcoming.
 
Sweeney said:
I personally find it a lovely enhancement, when I get to my camp site, to have the firepit full of beer cans and cigarette buts...

I am becoming more and more cynical of campers the older I get -- If I ever find a plot of land where I can set up my own private camp site --- I'll be thrilled ....

Florida at least clean out the firepits and blows off the light debris between campers, which I found to be very welcoming.
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He’s retired now, but the greatest ranger was Ranger Jack at Balsam Mountain Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains NP. People loved or hated him, most loved him. He made keep clean campsites. The place is 10 miles from town & he was keeping the bears out which he did. He would walk the campground 4-5 times a day. Speak to everyone & he gauge how new you were to camping, but if he had to keep talking to you about, you weren’t going to like the outcome. You’d go to another campground in the park & they’d start telling you about being in bear country. We’d tell them we camp at Balsam. They would stop and say “ You were one of Jack’s people so you don’t need to hear this. You already know what to do.” Makes it hard for us to go other places, because nobody is like him. People who camped with him were as loyal to him as we are to being in this Camp Inn club. Read more about Jack Campbell at this link.

The Hidden Road | Our State
 
G
Warren Mary Ellen said:
He’s retired now, but the greatest ranger was Ranger Jack at Balsam Mountain Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains NP. People loved or hated him, most loved him. He made keep clean campsites. The place is 10 miles from town & he was keeping the bears out which he did. He would walk the campground 4-5 times a day. Speak to everyone & he gauge how new you were to camping, but if he had to keep talking to you about, you weren’t going to like the outcome. You’d go to another campground in the park & they’d start telling you about being in bear country. We’d tell them we camp at Balsam. They would stop and say “ You were one of Jack’s people so you don’t need to hear this. You already know what to do.” Makes it hard for us to go other places, because nobody is like him. People who camped with him were as loyal to him as we are to being in this Camp Inn club. Read more about Jack Campbell at this link.

The Hidden Road | Our State
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Great article. I have subscribed to Our State Magazine for many years.
 
Can't wait to read the article -- but I got to get to work!!!

I think I like that camp host --- I'd definately be on his good side. I have little tollerance for rudeness, and the "you do you" attitude that became so pervasive in the past couple years....
 
Sweeney said:
I personally find it a lovely enhancement, when I get to my camp site, to have the firepit full of beer cans and cigarette buts...

I am becoming more and more cynical of campers the older I get -- If I ever find a plot of land where I can set up my own private camp site --- I'll be thrilled ....

Florida at least clean out the firepits and blows off the light debris between campers, which I found to be very welcoming.
Click to expand...

I bought a place here in Wisconsin and can camp in my own backyard. My teardrop gets used almost everyday. I like how I have it set up in the garage where I can be under cover yet also can walk ten feet and be outside. I listen to the Brewers on the radio and use it’s sink while I watch the steaks cook on the barbie. I seldom sleep in it although I do take naps.
 
Tour 931 said:
I bought a place here in Wisconsin and can camp in my own backyard. My teardrop gets used almost everyday. I like how I have it set up in the garage where I can be under cover yet also can walk ten feet and be outside. I listen to the Brewers on the radio and use it’s sink while I watch the steaks cook on the barbie. I seldom sleep in it although I do take naps.
Click to expand...
The ultimate glamping accessory is your own parking spot.
 
Warren Mary Ellen said:
Currently camping and the dog kept wanting to go down the ravine behind our site. On the other side is another loop in the state park we are camping in. I could hear something running around in the leaves on the ground & finally saw it was 2 squirrels fighting over something. Looked like some trash and then I realized they were trying to open it. I got my binoculars to see it better & saw that it was plastic container for a pound cake that you can buy at most grocery store bakeries. They were were 30 feet away from a campsite. Campers were gone, but I could see all the food they had left out along with dirty dishes too. So far the package has held and the squirrels have not gotten into the pound cake, but they’ve all over the place chirping at each other.
Click to expand...

Oops. Just found this.
Those pound cake packages are difficult for humans to open. Props to the packaging department. AND those messy campers are why I had a squirrel in my galley today. However , probably 30 years ago, on a camping trip with a friend, in Illinois, I happened to leave our coffee fixings out at the end of the day and during the night we heard the raccoons having a coffee party at our camp table. We had a good bit of a laugh about raccoons not sleeping for a week.
 
Jenn said:
Oops. Just found this.
Those pound cake packages are difficult for humans to open. Props to the packaging department. AND those messy campers are why I had a squirrel in my galley today. However , probably 30 years ago, on a camping trip with a friend, in Illinois, I happened to leave our coffee fixings out at the end of the day and during the night we heard the raccoons having a coffee party at our camp table. We had a good bit of a laugh about raccoons not sleeping for a week.
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Our daughter got a degree in packaging science, so we always asking her questions about it or complaining about certain types of packaging. She is our go to about packaging questions.
 
Warren Mary Ellen said:
Our daughter got a degree in packaging science, so we always asking her questions about it or complaining about certain types of packaging. She is our go to about packaging questions.
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How fun is that!

Can she explain the hotdog/bun quantity packaging question? A friend and I were discussing that this past weekend over the ever popular campfire while roasting dogs. And keeping an eye on lurking squirrels.
 
The goal is to keep you buying them. Eight buns, and 5 or 6 dogs. When you run out of one, and still have some of the other, then you feel the need to go buy more of the one you are out of, so you can finish the other. So if you are lucky, 5 or 6 pks of buns, and 8pks of dogs later you will have had your fill for awhile....or, as they hope, maybe you've made them such a part of your diet by then that you'll just start over.:D
 
Jenn said:
How fun is that!

Can she explain the hotdog/bun quantity packaging question? A friend and I were discussing that this past weekend over the ever popular campfire while roasting dogs. And keeping an eye on lurking squirrels.
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She said that’s marketing, she just designs the size package they ask for. She doesn’t like food packaging. When you go in a store and see those fold out temporary displays, that is what she designs mostly.
 
Warren Mary Ellen said:
She said that’s marketing, she just designs the size package they ask for. She doesn’t like food packaging. When you go in a store and see those fold out temporary displays, that is what she designs mostly.
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GOOD ANSWER! LOL!!!

Dont need the tricks though --- a pack of Vienna Beef Hot Dogs is calling my name right now, Hebrew National in a pinch. The armor, and Oscar Meyer brands...not so much. They have all started using too much of something that doesn't taste very good.
 
Sweeney said:
GOOD ANSWER! LOL!!!

Dont need the tricks though --- a pack of Vienna Beef Hot Dogs is calling my name right now, Hebrew National in a pinch. The armor, and Oscar Meyer brands...not so much. They have all started using too much of something that doesn't taste very good.
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Agree. Hebrew National!

And I used the left over buns for a couple of PBJ.
 
Jenn said:
Agree. Hebrew National!

And I used the left over buns for a couple of PBJ.
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You got to get aquinted with Vienna Beef -- I've visited their factory, on the manufacturing floor, while in operation. It is super clean, and not a single filler is used in their process. Just meat, and they hire real live butchers to process it. Not very automated. Vienna Beef of course is from Chicago, and the Chicago dog is the propery way to enjoy them.

Visit your cart and say "Hot dog, drag it through the garden..." well, thats the old school way of ordering them.


  • 1 Vienna Beef hot dog - simmered, not boiled. Never grilled.
  • 1 poppy seed hot dog bun (S. Rosen Bakery, also a chicago staple)
  • A good ribbon of classic yellow mustard
  • Neon Relish (its bright green, not the dark green)
  • chopped onion
  • 2 tomato wedges
  • 1 dill pickle spear (optional --- I hate pickles!)
  • 2 sport peppers --- pro tip. Bite the "stem" end off, and squeeze the juices into the dog, replacing the pepper. You're welcome.
  • 1 good couple shakes of celery salt.
WARNING: Katchup, Ketchup, Catsup - however you spell it NEVER goes on a Chicago dog. If you visit superdawg in chicago the red bottles contain mustard. Ketchup is only for fries and is found in packets. I believe there is a statutory exception for persons who have not yet attained the age of reason (7). Older than that and you risk bodily harm.

Leftover buns? I make tubular hamburgers for 'em. I think ketchup is permissable, but to be honest I'm not even going to take the chance, a native chicagoan may see it and I'd hate to be injured accidentally.
 
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