Three Skeleton Key

"Three Skeleton Key" is a short story by the French author George G. Toudouze.
George G. Toudouze (1877-1972) was born in Paris, France. Today he is remembered for a single work: "Three Skeleton Key".


The plot involves three men tending a lighthouse on an island off the coast of French Guiana. An abandoned ship, overrun by thousands of ferocious rats, makes landfall. A life-and-death struggle ensues as the men seek to save themselves from the hungry horde.

Vincent Price is the actor most associated with the play, performing it in 1950 for the radio show, Escape and in 1958 for the show, Suspense.
You can listen to the 1950 radio show by clicking on the link above.



 

But now, in real life, the Russian cruse ship, Lyubov Orlova, named after a somewhat psychotic looking Russian actress,

 has been missing in the North Atlantic since last January. 

The cruse ship was abandoned in Newfoundland in 2010 when the owners went bankrupt, and failed to pay the crew. So they docked the ship and left for parts unknown.


The Canadian government decided, last year to tow the ship to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped
 
Two problems.

1) the ship is infested with thousands of rats. The rats ate anything eatable some time ago, so now they are cannibalistic rats. The larger ones eating the small and weak.

2) The tow line snapped during a storm and the tug lost sight of the ship in the storm.

So.
So, now the ship is drifting towards England/Ireland with thousands of giant, cannibalistic rats as crew and complement. If it makes landfall the rats will disembark, looking for a meal.

 Belgian-based searcher Pim de Rhoodes said: 'She is floating around there somewhere. There will be a lot of rats and they eat each other.'

Irish coastguard Chris Reynolds said: 'We must stay vigilant.
'We don’t want rats from foreign ships coming onto Irish soil. If it came and broke up on shore, I’m sure local people wouldn’t be very happy about it.’

When asked what can be done, Pim de Rhoodes said: Try tucking your pant legs into your socks, for starters, boys.

Good call, guys. Let's see, locals not happy, pants in socks, hungry rats. what could go wrong?

 

 

My Brother

My brother made this staff for me last year, when I got out of the hospital, and was a bit wobbly on my legs.  I carried it every time I left the house for months and months.

 I still carry it from time to time. And when people ask, "why do you carry that staff?"

My answer is

"Have you seen any goblins in Freeland in the last year? No? You're welcome."

Thinking about driving again.

Oliver Cromwell Ogilvie: I dunno about this, That goon has a gun!
Mark Stiggs: It's OK! He's crazy!

Mark Stiggs: Number 1, we want zero miles to the gallon.
Oliver Cromwell Ogilvie: Right. No MPGs. It has to be a vulgarlay inefficient mode of trasnportation.
Mark Stiggs: Loud, real loud. It has to generate a terrifyingly seismic field of noise. If we could combine really loud noise with the ugliness of poverty, we'd have the ideal car.
Mark Stiggs: ...making people think that you're poor, so they know you've got nothing to loose if they crash into your car....
Mark Stiggs: Here's a list of places I want this car to be totally unwelcome. Number one: funerals. Number two: affairs of state, you know, real formal ones...ones with...chamber music. Number three: wet golf greens. Number four: the acropolis.
Oliver Cromwell Ogilvie: Ah, yes. Driving this car right in the acropolis should be completely horrifying to every civilized guy on earth.


So, here it is, my (hopefully) next car, the 1987 Yugo:

I am going to guess, if something broke, or fell off, I could 3-D print a replacement part.

The shocking case of the SS Ourang Medan

October being the season of hob-goblins, Spooks, Ghouls and nose-goblins, I will attempt to post one truly bizarre and almost unbelievable tale per week, until Halloween.

We will start with,

the shocking case of the SS Ourang Medan

In June of 1947 multiple ships traversing the straits of Malacca, which is located between Sumatra and Malaysia, claimed to have picked up a series of SOS distress signals. The unknown ship’s message was simple, and somewhat disturbing:

 •—  •—••  •—••    — — — ••—•  ••—• •• — •—• •• —• • •—• •••  —•—•  •—•• ••—

 ••—••  •—••    ••—•  ••—• •• —•—• •• —• • •—• •••  —•—•  •—•• ••—
 •—  •—••  •—••    — — —  ••—•  ••—• •• —•—• •• —• • •—• •••  —•—•  •—•• ••—




••
I
—••    ••    •
  D      I     E

“All officers including captain are dead, lying in chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead.”  This communication was followed by a burst of indecipherable Morse code, then a final, grim message: “I die.” 

The distress call was picked up by two American ships as well as British and Dutch listening posts. The U.S. ship, the Silver Star was closest to the location of the Ourang Medan, and was dispatched.

As the Silver Star caught sight of the Ourang Medan in the waters of the Malacca Strait, the crew noticed that there was no sign of life on the deck, because they were all dead,  Jim.

 Every last stinking one of them, including a dog, dead with their arms outstretched, (not the dog, they don't have arms) and a look of terror on their faces. Oh, they all died with their eyes open, even the dog.

The dead were scattered around  the bridge, wheelhouse and chartroom, with the rest of the crew below deck, in the boiler room. Why the crew decided to all huddle in the boiler room we will never know.

At this point, the Captain of the Silver Star decided to recall the boarding party and tow the ship back to port for investigation and salvage.

No sooner had they attached a tow-line, someone noticed smoke coming from number 4 cargo hold. The Captain said, "That's that." and ordered the tow-line cut.

Good thing too. Almost as soon as the tow-line was cut, the ship exploded with such force it was blown out of the water and sunk within seconds. If they had not cut the tow-line the doomed ship would have pulled the Silver Star down with it.

Details about the Ourang Medan (Which is Sumatran for Man from Medan, the largest port city in Sumatra) are sketchy but it seems likely they were smuggling potassium cyanide and nitroglycerine  for the Japanese to kill a bunch of Chinese.

But what ever they were up to, they took that, and other answers to a watery grave.

Write a letter day

They don't have that here, as far as I know, but they should.
When I have to write a letter, I normally do not put Bic to paper, I use a bamboo quill I made about 25 years ago.
It looks a little like this:

Well, exactly like this. That is it. 

And then I put quill to paper. 

It's that time of the month again

I can't seem to get my hands on The Freeland Progress until after the first of the month.
Which means you have missed out on Vegetarian day, custodian worker day, Name your car day, Smile day, and so much more.


01) Vegetarian day
02)  Custodian worker day
03) Smile day
04) Name your car day
05) Do something nice day
06) Come and take it day
07) Bald and free day
08) Touch tag day
09) Egg day
10) Angel food cake day
11) It's my party day
12) Moment of frustration day
13) Skeptics day
14) Dessert day, take an extra helping or two
15) Paperboy day
16) Dictionary day
17) Wear something gaudy day
18)  No beard day
19) Evaluate your life day (this must suck. They should share this with Drink a whole bottle of wine in the kitchen by yourself day)
20) Brandied fruit day
21) Babbling day
22) Count your buttons day
23) Nut day
24) Bologna day
25) Punk for a day, day
26) Mincemeat day
27) Navy day
28) Plush animal lover's day
29) Hermit day
30) Candy corn day
31) Increase your psychic powers day

New hobbies

Well, fall is here, and soon winter. As I prepare to be ensconced, I need something to do. It's like I have nothing to do all day.
I thought about knapping.

Well, not the kind of napping I have been doing since January, I kind of want to get away from that.

Knapping is the art of chipping flint to make an arrowhead.

But what if you don't have flint?





Well, Thank you Budweiser.

 Start with a bottle of Bud light Platinum

Cut off the bottom,

Here is the blue glass,

Now, turn it into this:

And then turn that, into this:

Only problem I see, is you have to drink the Bud Light first, and eat the BBQ second.


Sometimes we all have to make sacrifices.


(I would have put more dry rub, and then more sauce on that hog, but the recipes for both are for a later blog)


Ok, Ok, I know grilling season is over, but you can still use this in the oven.

4 Tbs Paprika
1 Tbs Chili powder
2 Tbs Cumin
2 Tbs Brown sugar
2 Tbs Salt
1 Tbs Oregano
1 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Pepper
1 Tbs Cayenne Pepper

Mix that all up, put it in a mason jar, and sprinkle it through a sieve over meat, like a pork roast or something.


Then uncork something good.


Oh, you don't use the whole thing on one dinner, unless you are cooking a buffalo or something.

Save the rest in the mason jar in the spice rack for later.