Capn Bob

I'm planning on taking my copy with me on the long bus trip I'm planning to Disney World at the end of the year. Anderson Coach and Tour be the bus company...good outfit, I've travelled with them before. I'm looking forward to it...anything that gets me *out* of NE Ohio in the winter is a *good* thing...expecially if it means I go someplace tropical.

Sorry it took this long to reply... Now, if ye go onto Amazon.com and enter Dr Syn, select it, on the page that comes up, on the right under "Quanity", there should be a "Preorder" option. Or to make things easy, you should be able to follow this link, as below, which should bring up the Dr Syn page...just look where it sez "Preorder". Should be right there on upper right side...no need to scroll. http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Syn-Scarecrow-Rom...0408&sr=1-1

Okay...this is going to be...different. Favorite medium? Most likely obsidian, altho Flint Ridge flint is good too. Glass I will work with no hesitation. But there's just something about obsidian. Yes, I am...a flintknapper! And there's more types of obsidian than just the basic black. There's Silver Sheen, which is black with elements of silver color streaked thru...there's Tiger Stripe, which is brown with black stripes (the which, when thin enuff, you can see thru), there's even a green obsidian, altho I've never seen it. Tools? Things like copper boppers and Ishi Sticks, not to mention the standard pressure flakers. Abrading stones, to grind down your platforms. Notchers, which is just a small pressure flaker, to put the notches into your point. Leather or rubber pads for the hand. Other items in the box? Leather work gloves...which usually come off at some time, and a good box of bandaids. Because the Obsidian Spirit demands the occasional sacrifice, and if you are a flintknapper, you should be prepared to bleed. Sadly, I do not have any pictures of my work. Even the largest is just a few inches in length, and my camera just can't handle it. I'll see what I can do. As a side note, I am considering returning to scrimshaw next year. I've found a source of fossil ivory, some sailmakers needles (I've used steel phonograph needles in the past), and I'm sure to find some good illustrations of ships on the net. Have to have something to do over the long dreary winter. Flintknapping is decidedly not an indoor activity

This is my first time actually posting a pix within a Reply, so please don't scupper me hide or damn me deadlights if'n it don't turn out. If it does turn out, this is me, the dreaded NE Ohio pirate, Mad Capn Bob, revealing me stylish self at Cuyahoga Falls Library, Oct 30 2008

I just put some meat into the dehydrator to make jerky. Marinaded in lime juice, allspice, and liquid smoke...altho next time, I'll be adding brown sugar and maybe a bit of rum into the mix.

I do...each and every day...so far, mine are *not* the cats that laid the golden *beep!*

I'm bloody well at work right now, and going thru the newspapers, I discover an article on Pirate Reenacting in today's New York Times (10-26-08), in the Sunday Styles section. No Quarter Given is mentioned. I didn't have a chance to look at the article. I should also point out, as an item of side interest, my original hometown of Charlottesville VA is mentioned in the Travel section.

Given the family's trouble wi' Kill-Devil (by all accounts, my paternal grandfather was a nasty drunk), I keep my drink of choice to something...safe. Generally cold tea...I blend my own, using three regular size bags of decaf and two bags of Black Forest Berry, so it comes out strong but fruity. I should point out that while my drink is safe, *I* am not...

I have earlier this day acquired new booty...uh...personal order, thru the library wherein I work. This is the book "Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah", by Barry Clifford. The book is dedicated to John King. It's a children's book, to be sure, so there's little information in here that's new, for those in the know. However, there's some very good illustrations and photos between the covers (altho the audience, or "gloaters", at the pirate trial depicted appear to be more 19th century than early 18th...don't ask me why.) For those curious, here's a link to the Amazon page---> http://www.amazon.com/Real-Pirates-Untold-...8123&sr=1-1

Others have said it, so I'll just be tossing in me two cobs and say, Welcome to the pub! And since ye've so kindly supplied our prodigious thirsts... hic...

Ye say ye live in central Florida? Anywhere near Orlando, perchance? And can I marry you? I'm not looking forward to yet another NE Ohio winter... Odd thing...on my first trip down to Orlando, by way of Anderson Coach and Tour (tour bus company in these parts, and a good one), when I got off the bus, I was sharply reminded of San Antonio TX. Used to live in Fort Sam Houston. Ask me sometime about when I visited "Vietnam"...

Alaska...and here I am in NE Ohio, hoping to win a lottery or something so I can move down to, say, Florida, buy me a nice boat (and learn how to use it proper), and enjoy *not* having any winter to speak of. Alaska? Brrr! I *am* thinking of looking into growing a bit of sugarcane in my backyard next year, just to give a hint of the tropics. And no, I don't know if I *can* do it...need to research it a bit first. But I do have a source for sugarcane... And no, I'm not going to try to make me own rum. Need more than just me own backyard to grow enough cane for that...

Well, the people ye meet here. Might I take the liberty of asking where in NE Oklahoma ye are? I lived in Tulsa (Bell Park, Jubilee City, the Gilcrest Museum, etc...) in 1969, when it was still labeled "The Oil Capital of the World"...

Here in the wonderful seaside community of Cuyahoga Falls Ohio (seaside village? An example of wishful thinking...best we can do is the Cuyahoga River), I got gas(oline) for the price of $2.36. I just hope it keeps going down...

That's a lot of gas...

"They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man's mind wonderfully: unfortunately, what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that it is in a body that, in the morning, is going to be hanged." T. Pratchett, Going Postal

Secure in the knowledge of the distance between us, and not being able to see that cutlass in your hand, I ask...is it a very long drive?

I'm booking this, so I am...I'll be looking for a good looking pair of boots for next year. In the meantime, I'm saving up my instant lottery winnings for a bandgun...

There's one point that seems to be missed in this discussion, which is, such an instrument is cruelty to fellow pirates. Yes, I am making the claim, here and now, that cats are pirates. On what do I base this? On the daily observation that felines are always burying and digging up...ummm..."treasure". They are also natural con artists...after all, thats how Ship's Cat #1, aka Missy, got into this house from being a stray. And I suspect she somehow slips out, late at night and thru a locked door, to tell her cat friends how soft she's got it here...for there does seem to be an increase of feline visitors in the yard of late.

Oh dear...in that case, you got trouble. Maybe the door's made of ghostwood? (and if you give me enuff time, I'll spin you a tale about it...) Or maybe its from the infamous west wing of Collinwood?

Does it say, "Hooo haaaa...Hooo haaa..."?

Huzzah, for I am no longer a lowly bilge rat! I may now stomp and traverse the upper decks, for I am now...a deck swabber! In honor of this, I have created a gallery in no place other than the gallery section. It's small as yet, but look for Mad Capn Bob in the gallery, and admire me mighty pirate ship, the Henry Crun.

I suppose I should post some of my hardware here sometime. Only question is, should it be the incredibly destructive weapons, or the weapons that are *not* cats?

I'm looking to order this book at the end of the month, depending on various reader reviews...the which I look forward to seeing here. I'm particularly interested to see if there's anything at all regarding a certain Joseph Curtice in the book, who reputedly fell in defense of his captain, ship, and piracy in the battle off Ocracoke. Yes, I'm wondering if there's any relationship, however slender, between him and my family. Well, my father's side of it, anyway.

My turn? Well then, how's these? "Damn, that's sharp!" This is the flintknapper's favorite and much used exclamation (and I should know), altho it's also useful for pirates who, in the heat of action, forget which side of their cutlass goes outermost when they clamp it with their mouths (which is a bad idea, since Brasso tastes awful) "Just because a caveman can do it, doesn't mean it's simple...' Another flintknapper's quote... And here's one: "Since laws were made for every degree, to curb vice in others as well as me, I wonder we han't better company, On Tyburn's tree..." from Beggars Opera