William Blydes

Time to put the insurance back on the fun car (other than the fire and theft always on) and get ready for the racing season again! The snow is finally gone, and this weekends heavy rain will wash the residual salt away!

My outdoor cat we nick named "Steve McQueen". He always made the great escapes. Being part Norwegian Forest cat with the long black fur, it was easy for him to hide in the shadows and make a break for it. So we let him out. I had to weigh his unhappiness at being shut indoors with the chance his life would be shorter being let outside. He is a smart one though. He is a survivor. I’ve seen him in the fields. He runs from shrub to shrub to limit exposure. He also looks both ways when crossing the road, and scoots across when he goes. At 20+ summers of age, he still brings back at least one mouse or bird a day. I guess he doesn’t think my father is taking care of himself well enough. His name is Nefarious Purpose. He has brilliant gold eyes that look like he has an alternate agenda. The long fur gives him that Nerf ball look, so he is ‘Nerf’ for short.

Thank ye LadyBarbossa and Merrydeath. From me and m'Lady. M'lady's hat always gets the attention. And she wears it rather well m' thinks She says it was a real pain finding the ostridge of the right colours was the hardest part The coat is from Potomac Leather. It’s from the Red Doge collection. Normally with red trim and brass buttons. They made it with blue trim and silver buttons for me to match my crew’s colours (‘cause that’s the colour you’ll be when we be done with ya). Potomac Leather - Red Doge It’s easy to fight in. Moves so well. However it is very heavy. But as I alway say... it's better to look cool than to be cool

A pic of the GF and I from our last Pirate Stage Combat show. Obviously, we do the Hollywood Pirate thing.

I was hoping to be able to go this year as well. A few weeks ago, just as I was about to arrange flights, etc., my Pirate stage combat group was offered a job as part of a show that weekend. Called "A Night of Jolly Rogering", it's a mature audience only show. Bawdy jokes and songs a plenty. Won't be able to go next year either as I've been told I'll be deployed from Nov 08 to Jun09. But the year after that for sure I was looking forward to putting faces to names.

I find that most house cats (kittypets) are not out to eat the birds, but to play. Cats love selfpropelled toys. One of my cats lives with my Dad in the country. This cat used to be a stray and loves the outdoors. My other cats are lounge-cats. Like the soft carpet under their paws. My outdoor cat is 20years old and still hunts like a champ. Catchs birds and keeps the neibours garages clear of mice. A real working cat. He doesn't let a bird outsmart him.

I missed it live as well.... have to download the pod cast Had a fencing practice last night. I miss chatting in the chat room while listening to the show. ... now if we only had internet in the hall we practice in...

Bilgemunky's podcast from last week's show :) Always good to get you though the doldrums of the long afternoon.

I've got a pair of pirate boots from CABoots as well. Got them 4 or so years back, while there wasn't as much choice. Foot sizing worked out OK, but the design had a few problems. My boots were not just for walking about, but to fence in as well. I custom ordered most of the boot from heel type (wider for more stability), bucket top length, to toe type. The drawings of the toes didn’t really turn out the way they looked or were described. I wanted a flat end tip, but it ended up much narrower than I wanted. From BidgeMunky’s review I noticed he had a similar problem The boots are great. Excellent to wear all day, walking or fencing. Just the ends aren’t exactly what I wanted.

Norrington was a tragic character right from the start. His values didn’t match those around him and when he went against those values (Letting Jack go at the end of the 1st movie) the repercussions almost destroyed him. His compass lost its direction, like Jack’s. He attempted to regain that direction, doing what he thought was right (giving DJ’s heart to Becket). Once again the repercussions were not what he expected, causing conflict to those values that were really still inside him, and were all along. When the situation presented itself he realized the only truism that was constant was his love for Elizabeth. With all that was occurring around them, Elizabeth still cared and respected him. Reflected in her eyes was what he really was. That gave him the strength to do what was right. He sacrificed himself to help them. And while dieing Davy Jones presented him with the choice of death or joining the crew he game JD the old “Screw you with nobs on.” A tragic character who found some redemption.

Waaaaay back when I did my Ordinary Seaman Qualification to Able Seaman (OSQAB for the acronym – all the best Officers come from the ranks I always say) we were all given a 3foot length of line and told to name it and always have it tied around your waist. During the day you were never to be without it. It became a contest who had the oddest name for our lines. Mine was ‘Sidney the Snake’. It seemed funny at the time. I wish I remembered some of the other names. It was 20years ago.

They are really well organized! I wish our local tall ship was that well organized. Your group has something for everyone. Good luck to you Silkie. You have a fantastic opportunity there :) And the social part will be good too. Not just kids.

Wow...that sounds great! How many people stick around for the full training? How long is the training? Sounds like a well organized group.

I have an electric snowblower now. My father got himself a huge self propelled JohnDeere snowblower when he moved out to the country. He gave me the small electric I got him a few years earlier. Didn't want him shoveling the snow at over 60. We have had lots of snow up here in Ontario Canada over the last few weeks. It's great to sit in the hot tub with a warm wide brim hat and a hot drink (with lots of rum) and watch the snow fall... very seasonal.

I think that be makin ye Canadian, eh? Of, course there could be Canadian pyrates of course. They'd just be so polite, flyin their Maple Leaf and Cross Bones! -Greydog Of course there were Canadian Pirates. Real and fictional. Had to remind some American friends that Barrett's Privateers is originally CAN vs. US, not against Spain (I've sailed out of Halifax - Spain is really far away) And there were many real pirates on the east coast. A friend's family is from Newfoundland. They have a sea chest with some interesting items from a long ago member of the family I was the Sr. Vice Prez for a Navy mess dinner we had a few weeks back. The Jr. Vice was not well prepared. No contest at all. I had taped eye patches and plastic swords under my tables seats. Near the end of the night the Jr. Vice was asked to give the classic toast of the day he started with saying that he was going to give a 'salty dip'(a story). I called for 'On patches!' and my table went nuts. The Jr. Vice couldn't get a word in edgeways with all the "Arrrs" being yelled. And when the swords came out, it was completely a made house. Did I say the swords made clanging noise when you pressed a button? Bought from the dollar store. Wonderfull China products

When is it due out anyway?

After my time at Operations Officer for one of Her Majesty’s Canadian warships, I’m now back in a shore billet. And an army one at that. I’m an instructor at our Peace Support Training Center. This is where we prepare the troops for deployment around the world. Mostly Afghanistan and Sudan. But we have in total 16 operations around the world. The courses we do include: Basic Predeployment Course - Everyone that deploys takes this course. Includes, Laws of armed conflict, Rules of Engagement (ROE), Security and most importantly Cultural Awareness training Military Observer Course – The course to teach you how to be a UN Military Observer CIMIC Course - Establishing and maintaining coordination and cooperation between the military force and civil organization. This is training the reconstruction teams we have in Afghanistan. And a few other courses.

I've been getting stuff from Oriental Trading Company for a few years. Great party supplies. In my Naval units Wardroom, I host a huge Hawaiian party in Feb. I get hundreds of dollars worth of stuff each year to make it better each time. Big palm trees hanging from the ceiling (it’s a shore building, not a ship or I’d say deckhead), and tons of other stuff. And now its much easier shipping to Canada

Curses, I should have waited to subscribe and just bought! Our dollar has gone up close to 20% since I paid my subscription Are you ajusting your price according to the dollar difference? Only the shipping ought to be more. I'll just be behind that wall over there... this is a very hot topic these days in the retail area

We had about 200 kids. The reputation has spread and they are coming from all over to see the Pirate Cove garage I've got pics to download as well. There was alot of wind unfortunately, so the fog didn't pool as well as I hoped. Also, I've already started to modify the design to add an old computer fan to help stop the fog backing up in the system. Lots of little pirates this year. It was a shame that none had a Pirate name to give. So the group of us (there were 7 this year) would give each pirate their own name. One rememberd the name we gave them the year before.

Almost finished making the fog chiller. Easy to do and there were about 8 different designs on that web site to choose from.

Closing weekend ought to be a blast. Guess lots of advertising went into the gay pride areas of the city. It's going to be a 'Swish-buckling' event. The party saturday night is now refered to as 'Under a rainbow flag' My friends and I are looking forward to seeing what happens :)

Some of our crew will be down to the festival for the Labour Day weekend. And staying for the Jolly Rogering party :) It was good last year, but unfortunately, Zoltan (who was the MC last year and the one who came up with the idea for the party) won't be there. This year the fest is weapons allowed. Peace tied of course. Still have to get the hotel rooms.

I've seen it a couple of times when I've been on the west coast, on the west side of Vancouver Island.

Some of my crew is thinking of finally coming down for the fest. We are going to Sterling Ren Faire the weekend before. We'll see what happens...