Red-Handed Jill

Today must be "Drive Like a Moron Day".

I just sent Pirateleather's book out today.

I don't have the words - they wouldn't be up to the situation you are currently facing anyway. Just know that you're around folks who care and are wishing you well.

My flask contains either Pyrat Pistol (as Ransom can attest) or XO, Cruzan Black Strap or Sailor Jerry's.

It does exist - but it's on the Canadian side. Actually, it's featured in a short-lived but very funny and intelligent television series (I'm guessing the intelligence was the factor behind its short lifespan...) called Wonder Falls. It's about a young woman who works in a tourist shop in Niagara Falls and one day inanimate objects start speaking to her. Check it out - and as a bonus, you'll see the statue.

I've always been fascinated by the very common misuse of words. For example, piracy. There's another topic here about the "don't talk like a pirate" day aimed at quelling "software pirates". And I see those public service messages all the time at the beginning of DVD's about video piracy (you know the ones - the person goes to a flea market and sees illegal copies of movies and finally decides to do the right thing and not buy one...) Piracy, by definition, occurs on the water. If it doesn't happen on the water, by definition, it isn't piracy. The other word is decimate. The literal translation of this word is kill one tenth (deci=1/10, mate=kill). This was a tactic used by the Romans when they were expanding their empire. They would arrive at a town and invite the townspeople to join the Roman Empire. If the inhabitants refused, the Romans would select one tenth of the townspeople and kill them. The remaining 90% were asked afterward if they had changed their minds about joining up. However, almost everyone uses the word "decimate" as if it meant the same as "obliterate". There are certainly other misused words, but these stick out the most to me.

Heh - I used to work for Scantron Corporation (as in use a number two pencil) and when I told people this they'd practically run away. I had to remind them at least they were multiple choice forms and not essay forms.

I taught at the college level, but can tell you a few things that I learned about basic human nature with regards to learning. I imagine this works for young folks as well (some of my students were quite young - even had some high school kids in my classes.) 1. People tend to rise to expectations. If you let them know that you expect them to operate at a certain level and give every indication that this is within their capabilities, they will endeavor to do so. It just goes without saying that they'll operate at this level and surprise! They do. 2. People like to be challenged. One of the things I did with some of my younger students was give them a challenge but made a sort of game out of it. They learned in spite of themselves. 3. Sometimes you have to trick them into believing that they really do know the subject. Showing confidence in them and allowing them to show off a little can go a long way. The best teachers I observed explained the "why" as well as the "who" and/or the "what". Putting things into some sort of perspective goes a long way towards making a subject meaningful.

I used to do more but since I've been doing longer sailing trips (and needing to accumulate more vacation days to do them) I've cut my events back to four a year. Wow - there seems to be a significant difference between those of us who do few events and folks who do a lot. 37 events??

Nothing wrong with honest emotions. Sounds like your friend lived his life exactly the way he wanted to; most of us should be so lucky - or brave.

Damn - cheap gas in my neck of the woods is a dollar a gallon more than that. And in most places it's still a lot closer to $4 a gallon - above that for premium.

I have Pyrateleather's

Hmmm.... what about taking some inspiration from the costumes of the movie Stardust? That featured some airship pyrates - and probably covers the era you're looking for.

Pat - check out Folkswear pattern #130 - that would work fairly well, I think. And you could make it of a lighter material.

It was on 4th Street in San Mateo, just south of San Francisco so definitely not the same box...

It was a Christmas gift from Jack a couple of years ago. He saw me salivating over it in an antique shop and surprised me with it.

^ Don't know about homemade, but I swear by Gypsy Cold Care tea by Traditional Medicinals. If you feel like you could be getting sick it stops you from getting sick and if you are already sick it reduces the symptoms and gets you better faster. Best thing since sliced bread, sez I! < Escaped two colds so far with that tea. v Pass the question.

I have a plethora of places where I keep my creative works supplies. Besides boxes of supplies and tools in the attic and garage, I have overflowing baskets above and beneath my worktable, a fishing tackle box, a small antique Chinese box, some antique spice boxes and this (the only thing I have a picture of): Woodworking tools, wood (lots), sewing and embroidery accoutrement (LOTS), paints (watercolour, gouache and acrylic), a plethora of brushes, coloured pencils, Rapidograph pens, pastels and found items, such as silver beads, ribbon and shark teeth I used to collect when I used to dive in a shark tank.

That's because we are an ATM for the rest of the country. Our state taxes have to be higher to make up for that.

Hmmm... Gas below $3.00? Wow. Around here it ranges - earlier this week I paid $3.75 a gallon. In some places it's actually below $3.50.

I really lucked out finding that particular chest - although I find similar items from time to time. I've picked up several wooden chests via eBay. Seriously - keep a weather eye out for wooden chests at eBay and you'll find one a lot like this.

Check on eBay - they often have wooden carpenter's chests that are perfect for this sort of thing. They can even have layers of sliding trays inside. I have one like that and I got it for a REALLY reasonable price. Here's a couple of pics of it: Gotta love eBay!

The black powder rendezvous was a blast - figuratively AND literally - as usual. We got there early Friday afternoon and met with the event managers. They asked us if we had brought a cannon - of course we did (one of them anyway...) They were happy to hear that because the owner of the land on which the event was held was away, so our cannon was it for the morning salute. We were also told that the primitive camping area had been moved due to crowding at the Spring rendezvous (it's always busier during the Spring one.) The old camping area was still available, so we headed down the hill to scout out a place to set up camp. Happily, there were only two camps in that area and our favourite camping spot was available. It's a small clearing, hidden away from the other camping areas and reached by a narrow, winding trail amidst manzanita bushes. After setting up our camp and signing up for events, we spent some quality time in the tomahawk and knife throwing area. Once I got warmed up, I was able to stick all of my tomahawk throws within a six inch radius. Then I started thinking too much and my throwing got really crappy. It took awhile, but I was able to get back into my groove and did pretty well for my last few throws. Then it was time for dinner. We departed from the more period cuisine that evening - soft tacos were on the menu. But they were pretty darn tasty. After relaxing a bit, we found it getting a bit chilly so we retreated to our tent. (I should mention that after a couple of miserable nights during our first trips to this rendezvous, we have made a number of improvements to our camp setup. We have an extra layer on our tent, flaps that extend underneath and beds so that we're not lying on the ground. And I've been buying up heavy wool blankets from military surplus stores so we were pretty set for inclement weather.) It was UBER cold. At one point we had to get up to use the "facilities", a chore that involved getting bundled up and walking about a third of a mile in total darkness to the closest porta-potty (they frown on the attendees digging pits - the primitive camping only goes so far...) It was bitter cold outside and we moved as quickly as possible to get back to our relatively warm tent. The next morning, Jack got up to fire the morning salute and I started a fire in one of the braziers for breakfast and washing up. The leftover water in one of my pots had frozen over and a cloth I had set out to dry was frozen stiff. So, it was definitely below freezing. (I later found out that when the folks went over to the registry tent that morning the thermometer read 29 degrees! Did I mention how happy I was with our camp improvements?) I listened as Wee Babbette performed wonderfully, her voice echoing throughout the valley. After breakfast, cleanup and a morning hike, we headed over to do our rifle trail walk. Apparently a lot of other people got the same idea when we did so we ended up waiting in line, where we were joined by a young lady I had talked to earlier. Eventually we made it to the front of the line and set up our first shot. We had brought a friend's gun to try out so I took it along rather than use mine - and discovered that it's pretty darn accurate once it was sighted in. It shoots a bit to the left so my first shot was a couple of inches from the bulls-eye. For my second shot, the target was a crossed line - I concentrated on the right/left rather than up or down sighting and I hit the target line exactly in the middle. WOO HOO! We continued on and I hit the target on every shot. However, the gun became harder and harder to load. It had been fired a lot without being cleaned and than spent uncountable amounts of time in storage. We had cleaned it, but it would require a lot more firing and cleaning before it was back to its old self. Eventually, I couldn't get the ball all the way down and needed assistance from Jack (I know there's a joke in there somewhere...) So we continued on, me starting the loading sequence, forcing the ball halfway down the muzzle and Jack muscling the ball the rest of the way, firing, hearing a satisfying "ping!" that indicated that I had hit the target and then starting all over again. Then the unthinkable happened. I was muscling the ball down the muzzle and snapped my short-starter (I'm sure there's a joke in there too...) So that was it for me - the gun had a smaller bore size than Jack's so his short starter wouldn't have worked. Jack barely managed to get the ball the rest of the way down the muzzle and I fired my last round. We had already been shooting all afternoon so we decided to call it a day. Even with the loading difficulties, I was pretty satisfied with that gun's performance. My next stop was to one of the sutlers to pick up a new short starter. Since Jack had business travel the next day, we had to cut our adventure short. So we packed up our camp, said goodbye to our fellow adventurers and made our way home. If you are interested in getting away from it all and if black powder implementia interests you, I really recommend going to one of these. You don't need to camp - if you just want to walk a trail and fire your gun you can visit for the day.

Happy birthday!! Hope you get to make lots of noise of the bang and boom variety!

You can if you'd like - Ransom posted pics once of some really cool stuff she did. Patt is posting his comix by request since they are just so clever and funny.