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Pirate Fest, June 2011 - Put-in-Bay, OH
Photo: Mission
Maybe not top-billing, but something
(What, remains to be seen.)
Chapter 4th. Speaking of what happened on Saturday up to the point where the surgeon ran out of room to write in this chapter. (Although you probably will doubt his word, he has a maximum length for these chapters. See if you can guess what it is.) Including: getting up, setting up and then setting down to try and recover from...er, that is to try and refresh himself; a description of the display site in DeRivera Park; speaking of the presentations that the crew engaged in; things leading up to the battle.
Morning. I could tell by the light leaking through the many (far too many) slats in the white shutters. Ugh. What time was it? What time did I get in? I rolled out of bed and looked for my phone, which would have a large clock that could almost be seen without my cheaters. No phone. I wondered where that was. My blood-testing kit would also be able to tell me the time, although that would definitely require my glasses. No blood-testing kit. No glasses. Hmm. I hunted for something else that might be able to tell me the time. My camera wouldn't, maybe Mary's camera would. (She actually insisted I keep it last night, despite the very real
Photo: Margarita
George...dude...I know just how you feel.
possibility that I would drop, damage or drool on it.) Ah, the time. Five twenty- something. That was no kind of time to get up! I rolled back into bed...but it was no use. Bleh. So I got up. (I would like to note here that this search for a clock was quite absurd given that I wear one on me at all times - the insulin pump relies on the time to know how much basal insulin to give me throughout the day. Why I didn't think of this...well it's probably obvious.) This morning was like trying to think while wading through mud. Thick mud. I definitely needed a shower, what with all that mud.
I arrived in camp within an hour or two...or so... OK, it wasn't my best morning ever. I am lucky in one
Photo: 'Borrowed'
...at the junction.regard; I don't get hangover headaches or sensitivity to the sun or any of that other nonsense. But, like Uncle Joe, I was moving kinda' slow. The day after such a night, I get sluggish. In camp, I was shocked to learn that it was ten thirty and the site needed to be set up by eleven. What happened to five twenty-ish? "Is your camera clock set correctly?" I asked Mary Diamond. "It has a clock?" Oh... Fortunately, Connie had made crepes and crepe stuffings before arriving in Put-in-Bay and warmed them up for this morning. Since it was so late, there was only one left, which she had specifically saved for me. I wish she would have saved me more than one because it was really good.
Photo: Lisa
Kate's Cartage Service. That's Dan, Kate, Jennie Gist and Lisa.
Since it was so close to the opening bell, people were busily getting things ready to take over to DeRivera Park for our display. The campsite is a bit of a distance from the display, so we have to cart everything over and set it up each morning.
Believe it or not, I was once again useful in doing some amount of manual labor. I helped set up at least two canvas flies. I think. (Yes, I know, you regular readers will doubt me. Unfortunately, I was also the only one taking photos, so there is no proof.) I also helped to build furniture. This was necessary because the furniture had been dropped harum-scarum all over the campsite. If we were going for the shipwrecked look, we had achieved that quite handily as you can see in the photos. One of the first things to be off-loaded was the land-bound Green Black Sheep. It had been such a great feature in the site last year that Mark set it up again so people could repeatedly ask us if they could sit in it for a photo and we could tell them, and I quote, "No." The only trouble with the Sheep was: Where to place her? After shifting her around twelve or thirteen times, the Donner Crew...er... the men of the Blitzen finally decided to walk away. Fortunately for me, Richard arrived in his Model A after I had finished helping with the second canvas fly, giving me an excuse to walk away as well.
 Photo: Mission Bryan and Michael set up amidst the wreckage. |
Photo: Mission"Say, let's move it again!" |
 Photo: Mission Richard arrives to save the day. |
Now I want to give you a few shots that will establish the "lay of the land" in our site. Actually, looking them over, they are really more confusing than helpful, as often happens when you take individual photos of several things that really belong together, but no one seems to have taken a good shot of the entire display, so this is what you get. (If it bothers you, come next year and take your own "lay of the land" photos. Then email them to me so I can use them in the Journal. Edit and color adjust them too. Give them nice descriptive names. Thanks.)
 Photo: Trish A confusing view across the surgeon & cooking flies. Note the cannon in the foreground and Sheep in the back. |
 Photo: Trish The Forsaken Crew Tent. The true meaning of this descriptor is better understood when you see... |
 Photo: Mission ...M.A. d'Dogge's side of it. |
We were in the front corner of the park. Last year we had had two flies set up. Someone, I suspect it was Kate, had announced that one of them would be the 'girl's tent' and the other would be the 'boy's tent.' This year a third fly was
Photo: Shannon
Some of the 2011 Shananigen line.
added, totally messing up that plan. The Forsaken Crew had their own fly, set up away from the pirates. (They are pirate hunters, you know.) Mary Diamond was doing a display on writing while M.A. d'Dogge had his barrel o' weapons.
Photo: Mission
A customer at Shenanigen's
Trish and Shannon had brought their leather working products and set up Shenanigan in Leather. They peddled their wares to the public. It was nice that they were there because the vendor area was a lot smaller this year than last. Shenanigans was the only store offering something other than costumey knock-off stuff and I'm told they did a fairly brisk trade. Apparently the demand for reasonably good stuff at Put-in-Bay was pretty good. The Smoke and Fire Company was supposed to be there as well, but something came up at the last minute and they couldn't make it to the even.. (For which I was powerfully sorry - I was hoping to get a new head scarf that would match my new Michael Bagley red waistcoat better than the blue one does. What do you mean, "Why start trying now?")
On the pirate side of the site was the cooking tent and what turned out to be the surgeon's tent. Yes, I got my own tent this year! Who would have thought it rated that? Of course, the fact that I keep buying new stuff may have had something to do with it. Actually, if I keep it up I may need an off site storage tent next year which I can rent by the month.
As we were setting up the cooking tent, Kate said that no boys were allowed in the girl's tent after it was erected. As you can see below right, that didn't work out very well at all. All the food was in the girl's tent. When you put the food and girls in one place, the boys are going to go there, rules or no.
 Photo: Mission Mark Gist in your Surgeon's Tent. He probably has a splinter. |
 Photo: Trish Kate working in the cook tent while all the guys avoid eye contact. |
With such an expanded display this year, we also needed to expand our presentations. I commented last year that this event has tremendously good involvement in the living history displays and this year was no different than last. In fact, I'd have to say it was better. Of course, there was my surgical display, by since I overdosed on talking about myself in the last chapter (And I can't even imagine how you feel), we're going to skip it for now.
There was quite the period weapons display at our site. M.A. d'Dogge had his barrel o' weapons, out of which he would draw various pieces to explain, showcase and give to the tourists to try, as you can see below left. Shannon had created himself a new prosthetic hook, which he used during a sword fighting session with a young lad seen below center. ("Moms and Dads! Bring your kids to Put-in-Bay so we can place large, bladed weapons in their hands and unleash them on other unsuspecting tourists. It'll be fun!") Mark Gist did a very nice presentation on how to fire a cannon using his latest addition to his personal arsenal. ("Why does he need a cannon in his personal arsenal?" you ask. Home security.)
Photo: Mission
Victory is mine! |
Photo: Trish
Shannon blocking a parry or something |
 Photo: Mission Mark Gist teaching a cannon crew to load his new toy. |
On the more gentle side of the campsite activities, we had Mary Diamond finishing and sealing Letters of Marque for the
Photo: Ah, umm...
Gummy road kill frog? OK. Gummy seals? No.
tourists. Letters of Marque were documents given to sailing vessels by a kingdom. This allowed their ship to take ships of nations with whom the kingdom was at war. That way if you were caught taking a ship by a friendly nation's navy, they would consider you a privateer - a good thing. This meant you would not be hung as a pirate. (Now if you were caught by an unfriendly nation's navy - sorry about your luck. Pirate.) Mary was using her calligraphy skills to fill in people's names and then sealing the letter with period wax and her own seal. She later explained that the seal was quite expensive and was gumming up on her, much to her disappointment. Nobody likes gummy seals.
Over at the Shenanigan's in Leather booth, Trish and Shannon had recruited George go do some leather work. Or maybe he volunteered. He claimed he had a really good time doing it, so I guess we'd have to call that mutually beneficial. You may recall that George was last seen carving a rose at the Santa Maria Pirate weekend. Who knew he had such a creative streak?
Those in the would-be 'girl's tent' were busily working on cooking much of the day. Margarita Pulgar, Jennie Gist and Kate all took turns chopping, cooking and preparing the food. For lunch it was salmagundi, which I proposed as a period correct meal because it had worked so well at Pirates in Paradise in 2008. During that event, I had been involved in the whole process. During this trip... well... I had to man my surgical tent, right? I did help peel a couple of the hard-boiled eggs I brought and... er... well... Say, look! Jennie Gist noted that Kate looks like a woman from a Vermeer painting in the photo below center. Isn't that cool? (What? Just diverting your attention? Would I do that?)
Photo: Trish
Mary Diamond finishing and sealing "Letters of Marque" for tourists. |
 Photo: Shannon George aka. 'Smitty' over at Shenanigans working their leather for them. |
 Photo: Trish Margarita, Jennie and Kate making salmagundi for lunch. |
Speaking of Kate, there were a couple of photos taken of her that I wanted to stick in here. Kate repeated one of her favorite stories about me on Saturday, so I'll re-repeat it here.
When I first met them, Kate and Michael were engaged and soon to be married. As the wedding day approached, I decided I had to send them a wedding gift. (Why, I have no idea.
Photo: Margarita
♫♪ I believe I can fly... ♫
Photo: Clint Beach
Vermeer meets sultry
This is completely abnormal behavior for me.) Knowing Kate's love of the Harry Potter books and movies, I chose to get them - you guessed it - a large-scale doll of Dobby the house elf. It's what every newly married couple needs and I'm truly surprised not to see it on more registries.
Apparently when Michael and Kate received the box I sent, some confusion resulted. Kate wasn't even sure who it was from until she asked Michael. She opened the box and nearly fainted. Not because of my generosity and her love of Dobby. (She hated Dobby - I actually didn't know this.) No, she nearly fainted because there were two huge bulbous eyes staring out of the box at her. So that's the story. Now it is in print and maybe I never have to hear her tell it to anyone again. :) Note that Dobby redeemed himself in her eyes in the seventh Harry Potter movie in a way I won't tell you. I told everyone at the camp making some of the folks at camp upset because they had not seen the movie yet. Well, how was I to know? I had seen it!
Photo: Thatchers
A bunch of fish flies doing what they do best
Before I get into the next part of this chapter, which is basically something I didn't see and have to make up stories about to be able to include it, I want to give you the daily fish fly report. Today the fish flies seemed a little more populous than they had been on Friday. They still loved your surgeon's Patrick Hand Original Pilgrim's hat (and who doesn't besides those pesky members of the Anti-Pilgrim Militant Front), and I think they were actually taking turns getting to hang from it. "OK, Phred, you can affix yourself to the Patrick Hand Original Planter's Hat, but only for ten minutes! Then it's Jaques turn!" The fish flies seemed to like the undersides of the surgeon's fly as well. You sort of got used to them over time. Fish flies don't actually do anything, they just sort of hang around. They can't bite, what with their vestigial mouths and all, so they're basically harmless. In fact, for fun you can pick them up by their wings, which they extend invitingly to you by folding them straight up over their back. Then you can let them go and see where they flutter to. I can see a whole new sport involving targets and fish flies forming.
Photo: Trish
Thomas, Ed and Mark pull for Perry's
Now onto the the thing I didn't see. Mark Gist had brought his other boat, the Firefly, with him to the event. To make this worth the trouble of having brought, he, Thomas Alleman, Ed Rembert and Trish went out into Lake Erie in the boat at some unspecified time during the day. (Based on the angle of the sun in that photo, I'd say it was some time during the day.) Actually, they went on a mission for the secret government black-ops pirate re-enactor division. As you can see in the one top secret photo I managed to obtain, they were headed for Perry's Victory Monument. The double-ought spy crew of the Firefly paddled stealthily over to the monument in broad daylight avoiding ninjas and other floating hazards. The two-man team of Ed and Trish scaled the tower via the convenient scaffolding that had been erected by the park for the eternal monument repair project . Ed was wounded in a battle with snipers, but Trish manage to get to the top of the tower and get the MacGuffin which was...my fish mug. I knew I had lost it somewhere.
Story disclaimers: 1) Ed only received a flesh wound although he bravely avoided the cliched phrase, "It's merely a flesh wound." 2) Trish is a certified rock climber. You do not try to scale any Perry's Victory Monuments you happen to come across with out proper training and equipment. 3) Technically it was a two-person team and not a two-man team, but the extra syllable makes it sound kind of silly.