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Pirate Fest, June 2011 - Put-in-Bay, OH
Photo: Jessica Bagley
Mission and his Parents (Not hatched.) Chapter 8th. Speaking of Sunday afternoon and early evening. Of dogs and flies, the most curious car parade your author has yet seen; the Surgeon's Parents who came to visit (What? Did you think I was hatched in a lab? Well, that might have been sort of cool...) and the Sunday battle
Put-in-Bay is an island of different moods and today it seemed to be a more kids and parents mood. Saturday had more people browsing and stopping briefly, although there were definitely some knowledgeable folks I mentioned previously.
Photo: Mission
What do dogs think of pirate scarves?
Sunday was more like a family day than Saturday was. Well, it was a family and dogs day. There were a lot of dogs on the island. Some of them were in the pirate spirit, like the two at left, who are sporting skull and cross bone scarves. Many of them were engaged in regular dog-like things, such as checking each and every single fire hydrant they passed - probably to see who had been there before - and dragging their owner bodily in whatever direction the dog wanted to go. (I think that dog below center-left must have heard about the shrimp soup because it is intent on reaching The Crescent Tavern.) Jennie Gist even got a chance to hang out with a trio of dogs, one of which you see below center.
The dog prize goes to the guy with the Pocket Pomeranian, though. It's so small that I suspect it might actually be part rodent or possibly a wind-up toy. The owner actually carried the thing around in his pocket some of the time! Whatever else it did, it attracted women, as you can see in the photo below right. So if you're looking for a chick magnet, my advise is to get a Pocket Pom and wander around Put-in-Bay with it for a day.
 Photo: Mission Oboy! A bathroom! |
 Photo: Mission Let's go HERE |
 Photo: ThatchersThatchers Jennie petting a local |
 Photo: Mission Does it come with a key? |
 Photo: Mission Wanna see my dog? |
Photo: ThatchersThatchers
Enjoying the pubic rest room window .
Photo: Mission
Moulting on George Speaking Speaking of animals, it must surely be time for another Fish Fly report! The flies were at least as plentiful as they had been on Saturday during the day, and probably worse as you can see at the photo at left. They were certainly having a grand time of it on the underside of the surgeon's canvas fly. They had even invaded the surgeon's table on Sunday. Saturday they had pretty much stayed off the table, but today I had to keep plucking the stupid things off by their wings. (Others were plucked by mad people using the dental forceps as you have already seen.)
One thing I learned was that they moulted as you can see in the photograph at right. (Disgusting, isn't it? That's why I made sure it was so big!) I also found several like this dead on my table, so I'm guess they moult after they have sex because Wiki said that's what they do right before they die. Wiki didn't mention moulting as I recall. Huh. Could Wiki possibly be wrong?
This brings us to early Saturday afternoon, when there was a car parade as part of the Pirate Fest. Now you may be wondering how there happened to be a car parade in the middle of the Pirate Festival. I know I was. My thought was that it was just an excuse to give folks with cars a way to be involved with the festival. Whatever the reason, I figured I better include them here, so I have a sample of the twenty or so cars in the parade.
 Photo: Mission The oldest car? |
 Photo: Mission Make love! |
 Photo: Mission Or make war! |
 Photo: Mission A red convertible land yacht |
I had heard that people were supposed to decorate their cars in a pirate theme, but I didn't really notice a lot of decoration as such. In fact, if I had to pick a word to describe the theme of this car parade, it would
Photo: Mission
A nice antique fire engine. Everyone loves fire engines.
have been 'eclectic.' You will probably notice in the photos here that there were all sorts of different kinds of cars and trucks from many eras in this parade. In fact,
Photo: Mission
Our pal Richard in his Model A,
I suspect some of them thought they were just going with the flow of island traffic. They saved the best vehicle for last: the one giving out candy (the white truck, below right.) Because, as every kid will tell you, the only good part of a parade is when people are giving away candy.
If I had to pick another word to describe the theme of this parade, it would have been 'fast.' Leading the parade was an antique police car. He apparently believed that if you were going to drive a car with an engine like his in it, you should reveal that particular ability to the public. So the parade proceeded at the leisurely rate of about 25 miles per hour. I know that doesn't seem fast, but for a parade it's something. I'm surprised some of these photos didn't have little blur lines behind them.
 Photo: Mission A hot rod |
 Photo: Mission How did THIS qualify? |
 Photo: Mission A home-made boat car |
 Photo: Mission The candy truck can |
Photo: Jessica Bagley
Mission and his Parents (Not hatched.)On Sunday morning I was surprised to receive a call. Mostly I was surprised that my phone battery hadn't died and I was actually close enough to the phone to hear it ring. Usually I try not to be around my phone on the weekends. It was my folks, who wanted to come out and see what I did at all these pirate events. I advised them to take the Jet Express, which is faster and puts you right near our display when you reach the island. They showed up in our display camp shortly after the car parade. Kate insisted that she get a photos of me with them, which you can see here. Actually, it was a good thing Kate did this. For as much as I try to get good photos, the obvious ones seem to always escape me. While Kate had been thinking to get a photo of them with me, I was thinking how to get a photo of them with
Photo: Mission
Mary and d'Dogge meeting my folks
Mary Diamond and M.A. d'Dogge. I cannot think of one good reason for this.
As it happened, when they showed up I had a group who were asking particularly good questions about my surgical display, so I was able to show off a little. My mom stayed and watched me present. She used to be a teacher so this interested her. My dad wandered off to find someone to talk to. My dad loves to talk. He found Ed Rembert, who used to be in the Coast Guard. So my parents were both pretty happy.
Speaking of Ed, I wanted to mention something that happened in the Pirate Weekend in Columbus a few weeks before this event. Here seems like as good a place as any. Ed had come out to the Santa Maria in May of this year for his first pirate re-enactment. When I write these journals, I am forever asking others for people's names. Facebook photo tagging has actually been a huge help with this. Rather than bug someone (usually Michael Bagley,
Photo: Margarita
Corey Ed looking grim and determined
who knows everyone), I can usually find a tagged photo in the albums people post allowing me to just get their names that way. Usually, but not this time.
Enter M.A. d'Dogge's stalker. (Of course M.A. d'Dogge has a stalker.) Someone on the Pyracy Pub decided that M.A. d'Dogge's persona was cool, so he started attaching his name to photos of Md'D that he liked. In one such photo, Ed was right next to M.A. d'Dogge. Yep, you guessed it, when I rolled over Ed's photo, the name 'Corey Lefkowicz' popped up. While I knew that wasn't Ed's real name, I thought it might be his character name. So I put that in the Columbus Journal where it remained until Michael laughingly corrected me. I still want to call him Corey in the Journals because I've associated his face with that name. (I've had to correct myself a couple times in this Journal.)
This brings us to the Sunday Afternoon Battle. A group of us had gathered to watch the battle on the sidelines. M.A. d'Dogge came over to give us an explanation of how a black powder weapon was prepared, loaded and fired. He said that if people wanted to know more about this and other everyday 18th century activities, they could head over to our site. It was a nice time-filler while the battle was being set up.
 Photo: Mission M'dD explains loading his gun |
 Photo: Mission Showing how the gun works. |
 Photo: Mission How the powder is stored and loaded. |
 Photo: Mission M.A. d'Dogge explaining the flint and how it works. |
 Photo: Mission Finally the good part: Firing the weapon. |
The battle plan itself was pretty much a repeat of Saturday's battle, so I'll skip any further strategic explanation and proceed right to my own commentary. (If you want to see the battle plan, go back and read Chapter 3.)
 Photo: Mission They were firing from the left... |
 Photo: Mission ...they were firing from the right... |
 Photo: Mission ...the gazebo in the middle was the victim. |
During a battle, there are all sorts of different 'mini-battles' going on as various people squabble over who shot who and so forth. Some of these are serious, some of them are not, many of them are completely made up by me. We begin with one such vignette. It all started when Thomas and the pirates were firing at the defenders. Thomas blasted them with his blunderbuss. George is hit! Oh, no! Not George! He didn't even have a firing weapon. (Which is probably why he was hit so fast, actually. No sense is standing there if your weapon doesn't work when you can lie on the comfy grass.) Jay readied his weapon to take revenge! But Bryan fires first at the pirates who... all line up behind Sam. Thomas probably figures with those orange pumpkin pants, he makes an easy target.
 Photo: Mission Thomas fires at the defenders. |
 Photo: Mission George is killed by gunfire! It must be Thomas! Jay Babcock readies his weapon for revenge. |
 Photo: Jessica Bagley Bryan is ready first and fires at the offenders. |
 Photo: Jessica Bagley Thomas (and Lisa) take cover behind Sam's pants |
Photo: Mission
Someone behind us? Should we shoot them?
Of course the truly amazing thing wasn't that made up that bit of nonsense for the previous series of photos. No, the truly amazing thing can be seen in the photograph at left. Yes, the boys were so busy engaging in black powder weapon firing, even though they didn't have any bullets, that they completely failed to notice their surroundings. Astonishing isn't it? The same thing happens when fire engines go by.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, M.A. d'Dogge, the noble and bedraggled leader of the defenders, brought his troops into the fray with a dramatic charge and a forward push. (I am still baffled as to why, strategically, someone would rush into battle while the cannons still worked.) He fought bravely for about 20 second and then he was surround by and taken down by the pirates! Michael Bagley (who is off-screen in that photo due to my poor photography skills) and Ed Rembert dealt the crushing blow as seen below center left. Having accomplished his mission, Ed leaves to find someone else to fight. Michael stands there to make sure his quarry was finished. For quite a while. Hmm.
 Photo: Jessica Bagley d'Dogge approaches dramatically! |
 Photo: Mission But is taken down by Michael & Ed |
 Photo: MissionMichael watches d'Dogge go agonizingly! |
 Photo: Jessica Bagley Michael victorious! "Was that it?" . |
 Photo: Jessica Bagley Michael looks around. "Anyone else?" |
And now I have a real treat for you all. It is a song which I have written, called "The Ballad of Jay." It is based on the song Falling In and Out of Love With You by the Pure Prairie League, a song which I chose because 1) It is short and repetitive, 2) It has no discernible rhythm and 3) It doesn't even attempt to rhyme. OK, so are you ready? It goes like this. *Ahem-em-em* (That's not the start, I'm just clearing my throat to sing it.)
Photo: Mission
Defender Jay into the
breach!
Photo: Mission
Jay attacks a pirate.
"More than I can stand... you're on the other side
Oh my mind is reelin' round as I knock you till your down
Today...
Racing by around this falllll-en dude
Racing by around this falllll-en dude
Don't know what I'm gonna dooo-ooo. I just keep
Racing by around this falllll-en dude
Oh I tried to find... a way 'round Lisa's big spoon
Something that would ease her grip... somethin' that I could do quick... To her
Fallin' down on the gazeeeebo floor
Fallin' down on the gazeeeebo floor
Don't know how to stop from hittin' it... I keep
Fallin' down on the gazee-ee-hee-bo floor
I think I... will lie down here, for a while, maybe longer if I do..."
 Photo: Mission After taking Thomas down, Jay runs toward the gazebo |
 Photo: MissionAt the gazebo, Jay is met by Mark Gist and Lisa who attack! |
 Photo: MissionMark quickly moves on, Lisa pounds him |
 Photo: Mission Causing Jay to slump to the ground. *sniff* |
Photo: stolen
Sad Luke says my song gives
PPL a black eye.
There! Some hot stuff, hey? Can you believe I made that whole thing up all by myself? Now if you know the original song, that might have gotten you ready for the second part of the song. (Pure Prairie League's Fallin' In and Out of Love with You and Aime should always go together. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. This is also true for Journey's Feelin' That Way and Anytime.) (And Yes's Your Move and Seen All Good People) See how well that goes with the "Ballad of Jay"? Oh, like I really care what you think! (Also Soft Cell's Tainted Love and Where Did Our Love Go?)
This also gives you an interesting new twist on the Things Jay Does feature I put in here regularly, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. In fact, I have no idea how most of these regular features get going, but once they're going, people occasionally ask me about them when I don't include them, if you can imagine.
Back at the battle (remember it?) They eventually fired the huge round from the cannon and everyone went down like they had on Saturday. There was mass carnage once again. I must say that the pirates are pretty good at creating mass carnage as you can see in the photos below. I had been sitting on the sidelines taking pictures with two cameras (mine and Mary Diamond's). Several women who were sitting with me seemed appreciative of the way the pirates portrayed carnage. Of course, no one wanted to be dead, so they all started getting up, which meant they must be zombies. (Wouldn't that be a cool battle?)
 Photo: Jessica Bagley OK, everyone play dead! |
 Photo: Mission The girls watch appreciatively |
 Photo: Mission The dead start to arise. |