Capn Bob

I briefly wondered about your mention of the Haunted Mansion being returned to the "classic way", but then I noted your location is in Southern California. The Haunted Mansion I'm hauntingly familiar with is the one in Disney World, which has been redone slightly to having the bride not as victim, but as a believer and practitioner in the sudden and very sharp termination of marriages.

Oh no! Is the rum okay?

Oooo, I'm shakin' in me boots! (hee hee). Course, thats cuz its 20 degrees out there (9 degrees wi' the bleedin' wind chill facotred in), snowing (hard...could barely see on me drive in to work), and I ain't wearin' boots anyway! I'll have to try them Lime and Chili almonds...

<Capn Bob waves a slice of chocolate rum cake in front of RedJessi, fanning it so the aromas waft her way...> Oh come on...you *know* you want this...go ahead...relent...there's not really *that* many calories in it...

Scupper me, this be a trend! Bein' a moderator can be injurious to yer health, belike! Anyway, don't we have pirates here skilled in the arts of medicine...17th and 18th century style? Why cater to temporary modern tastes in surgery? Anyway, I hope things go well for you, and you get hot looking nurses to help you along in the recovery process. (Hot being, of course, open to interpretation). I was about to insert a bad pun about Anesthesia being a Russian princess, but I'll pass over that for now...

Know what I'm gonna be eating when I get off work (in 30 minutes time)? Choc...wiat for it...Chocolate Rum Cake. Had some earlier and it's pretty bleedin' incredible. I think the rum really brings out the chocolate, cuz the chocolate taste is pretty intense. Good eats! And where might ye be getting it, sez ye? Cast yer deadlights over this here link: http://www.bacardirumcake.com/chocolate.php Note: I got no idea just how good a quality rum is Nassau Royale Rum...I need to get an order out for some 50 ml bottles of rum after I get me next credit card bill, along wi' ordering some breeches. If there's any opinions on Nassau Royale (Bacardi), throw them my way.

I got me a parade coming up in May...I'd be quite interested in the vending of some cheesy comestables...oops, wrong thread. I mean, I wanna buy one.

Okay, I know it's late and all that, and the surgery's done with and Syren's recovering, but: Good luck wi' your surgery, Syren, and make sure the scalpel's sharp. Strange you didn't elect for the doc to use a cutlass... You know...obsidian flakes make excellent scalpels, and there's some knappers that specialize in surgical knapping. I'm not one of them, but I can still bash you out some obsidian flakes that are incredibly sharp. It'd be up to you to sterilize them, tho...

As someone once said, you gotta watch where them huskies go...

About a week or so earlier, we had some "balmy" temps...well, balmy for NE Ohio in Feb...even got up to 60-62 one day (gasp!). Had some rain too...had a real toad-strangler Weds, but it means that most all the snow we had piled up has gone bye-bye. I can only hope it'll stay that way. I really don't mind snow, as long as it happens to *other* people, in other places. Like, say, Patrick Hand.

"Are you suggesting...*eating* my mother?!" "Yeah...not raw...cooked!"

*Not* read Treasure Island before?! Gasp, there is a *heretic* among us! Roll on the Soft Cushion and the Comfy Chair, and beardy guys wearing big red hats!

I found me some online sources of 50 ml sample bottles, with a great variety of labels, so now all I have to do is figure out which labels I want to try first. I been thinking about rum too much...had a dream about it a few nights ago. Luckily, it was good rum.

Oh, I don't know about that...Golden Age isn't that far off from when Mark Catesby (a noted early naturalist) was active in the Southern colonies...and of course, ol' Billy Dampier was something of a naturalist himself.

As I am new to the wonderful world of rum, I'm searching for a label that suits my tastes. And since I don't wish to blow near $20.00 (or more) on a full size bottle, I am wondering if the company may know of sources wherein I might obtain sample bottles of rum. I already have a couple of Myers Dark, and would like to find some Appleton and Mount Gay. Can anyone help?

Well, I got nothing much to add but this: I grew up in the US Army, me father being Sarge First Class, and I remember him a-polishing all *his* brass (with Brasso). So if it were me, I'd be a-polishing, but that's just me childhood talking... And when I get home tonight, its some Tortuga Rum Cake for me...

Well, if I actually had a ship, or even a sloop (a fond wish, and what keeps me playing the local lottery), I think I'd name it, maybe, the Lady Rose...named after me ould mivver, d'ye see? I got me 8 ft inflatable pontoon boat named the Henry Crun, but that doesn't work for a *proper* vessel. Nor does the Minnie Bannister, for that matter...it might take up sinful saxophone playing.

Just started on "Admiral Sir Henry Morgan-King of the Buccaneers" by Terry Breverton...and I'm waiting for the arrival of "The Science of Discworld" and "Carpe Jugulum"...

I'm surprised this favorite food hasn't really made it here yet...I ate it all the time, growing up in the Army...not the Lobster Thermidor, obviously... spam spam spam egg and spam; spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam .or Lobster Thermidor au Crevettes with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam. What, no C-Ration crackers and cheese spread with that?

I think I've been "accused" of all of those...and now a new one...Swedish!

All I can be sayin' to that is, Blackbeard supported the Stuarts and what was good enuff fer Neddy Teach be good enuff fer me! And so I say both Ni! and Ying Tong Iddle I Po to the Windsors...anyone with a brown soup named after them can't be all good...

Since no one objected to my posting of a Goon Show quote (you silly twisted boys), I present and inflict upon the readership... The Ying Tong Song! Tenor: There's a song that I recall My mother sang to me. Spriggs (off): Oh! (a sigh) Tenor: She sang it as she tucked me in When I was ninety-three. (harp plays a rising chord...) Spriggs: I diddle, I. Who was that bum? Bluebottle + Spriggs: Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po, Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong (bluebottle drops behind) Ying tong iddle I po Spriggs: Keep lad up. Keep. Bluebottle: Keep up lad up. Both: Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Spriggs: lad Both: Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po (lad) Iddle I po (lad) Ying tong ying tong Ying tong (Spriggs: iddle) (Bluebottle: ying tong) Ying tong iddle I po Ying tong ying tong iddle Bluebottle (spoken): Ying tong iddle I po! (short raspberry, Secombe) Both: Oh! Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Iddle I po! (trumpet bit) Bluebottle: Ying. Ying tongy tongy. Ying tong iddle I po. Ying tong iddle I po. (Secombe under this: What a lovely lovely boy!) (or Secombe under this: What a lovely melody devine!) Ying ying ying tongy tongy. (Milligan: Get out the rifle, sir.) (or Milligan: Get off the record.) Yeeeng. Ying tong ying tong d'gy-n'o. Ying tong d'ga. (Secombe: Get away.) D'g d'g d'ga. Ying tong iddle I po. Seagoon:Hear that crazy rhythm Driving me insane. Strike your partner on the bonce (bonk?). (thump) Eccles: Ooh. I felt no pain. (Seagoon screeches) Seagoon, Bluebottle and Eccles: Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying... (harp chord rises) Soprano: Take me back to Vienna.... (Raspberry section, probably Milligan) Bloodnok: Ohhhhh! Eccles: Oh! (harp chord) Soprano: Take me back to Vienna, where the.... (crash!) Seagoon, Spriggs and Bluebottle (far off): Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po (mad dash to foreground) Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po (Spriggs: where's he going lad?) (BB: I don't know) Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Seagoon: LOOK OUT! (cry from Bluebottle) (mad dash to distance) (hastily) Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po (dash to foreground) Ying tong... (whine of bomb dropping, explosion) Double speed, but same tempo, Goons: Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Iddle I po. Ying tong ying tong Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Iddle I po. One: Ying! Tongy tongy tongy. Yiddy diddy diddy da daaa. Ying diddy. Ying tong diddle. Yiddada boo. (rhythmic thigh slapping, raspberry) All Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle Ying tong iddle I po Ying tong ying tong Ying tong iddle I po Iddle I po. Eccles: Whoooooh!

Where's this here Global Warming thing when you really need it? Been dealing with yet more of the Evil (I refuse to use the "S" word). Good thing I got a snowthrower. During the last big Evilfall, the auger control cable snapped, so I had to figure out how to fix it. My first mechanical repair job. This morning dealt with the stuff the city snowplows tossed up into the driveway and sidewalk. Not fun. I've had fun before, and this isn't it.

Maybe ye can name that dent Arthur?

Thank'ee for posting the pix! I be meanin' the top one...that's generally called a globe and shaft bottle. The bottom one is called an onion bottle, and gobs of them have been found at Port Royal. I also have me a case bottle...all hand blown and from Jamestown VA.