I like rooikat armored vehicles.
I like rooikats.
I like the color red.
I am actually the king of all rooikats. Once a year, they all gather together to pay homage to me, and bring me small presents.
In my non-online real life, my wife calls me roo.

The first forum I signed up for there was a silly FBI show on in the background and they must have said the word "Unsub" about 30 times per scene and when it asked for a name it was right at the top of my brain. Several years ,dozens of forums and meeting thousands of people I am kindoff wishing I had maybe put a bit more thought into it. It seems like I use it more than my real name.

The show was "Criminal Minds", it took me a while to remember.

I away knew I'd get a chance to tell this story some day. Thanks for starting this thead Knifeparty!

In 2000 I went to Tom Brown's Tracker school. I was really into Native American philosophy and The Tracker School really seamed to reinforce a lot of what I had read and learned up to that point. It may seam crazy to some but Tom's books and teachings had a very deep and lasting affect on me. Not too long after coming back from Tom's school my father became very ill and had to be hospitalized and required very serious surgery, things did not look too good. He was in intensive care and I tried to spend as much time as I could at the hospital, but I still had to work. The hospital was only about a mile away from my work so sometimes I would walk to the hospital on an extended lunch break. On one particularly nice early fall day I decided to make the walk to the hospital. I was about 1/3 to 1/2 way there when I was caught in a very unexpected and pretty intence rain shower. I was not prepaired having only warn a light wind breaker. But instead of finding cover, I was stuck with the most profound feeling of what I can only explain as an almost spiritual feeling. That may seam goofy but we've all had experiences like this at one time or another. So instead of getting wet I felt the rain on a much deeper level and began to laugh uncontrolably it must have looked quite strange to the people and cars that I passed. I made it to the hospital completely drenched but with the most profound feeling of comfort. At that point I knew my dad would be OK and that no matter what happened everthing would always find a way of working out. That walk had the most profound effect on me that has lasted to this very day i will never be the same. It's funny too because my father had always had a say that I grew up hearing, "some people just don't have since enough to get in out of the rain". From that day forward I had a new saying, "some people feel the rain, others just get wet". Now I find myself from time to time drawn to a good rain shower. There's just nothing like getting out and playing in the rain.

So anyway, shortly after that experience I needed a screen name for something and the answer was clear as a bell to me. You might even say the name picked me instead of me picking the name.

You might even say that "Rainwalker" has become my given name. It's not what my wife and kids call me but it's become a very close second to my birth name.

Sorry if this story seams too goofy or too sappy, I've alway wanted the opportunity to tell it though and I hope it has given some food for thought. Sometimes the most profound things can happen in the most mundane circumstances, sometimes they're obvious sometime their not.

So that's the story of my name hope you enjoyed it... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Toooooooooooom!

Your story resonates with me Rainwalker.

I lived in Oregon for 10 years and absolutely loved the rain. I always felt the rain cleansed the earth while replenishing it and has a deep spirtual value. I was a big fisherman when I lived in Oregon and on many mornings the smell of the cleansed air and the sound of the water running in the rapids made me really feel that spirtual connection to the earth and our ancestors. When you see the giant Douglas firs, the lush vegetation, the low fog over the river, the beaver heading out of their den, and the steelhead rolling on the surface...our connectedness with the earth and nature just seems obvious. It is very hard to describe...your description of calmness seems apt.

Very well said! Speaking of connection not to long after I told my story I had to get off the computer for a while because we suddenly and unexpectedly received a much needed and quite intense rain shower.........



I had to get off the computer and go outside for a few minutes........it felt great!

I away knew I'd get a chance to tell this story some day. Thanks for starting this thead Knifeparty!

In 2000 I went to Tom Brown's Tracker school. I was really into Native American philosophy and The Tracker School really seamed to reinforce a lot of what I had read and learned up to that point. It may seam crazy to some but Tom's books and teachings had a very deep and lasting affect on me. Not too long after coming back from Tom's school my father became very ill and had to be hospitalized and required very serious surgery, things did not look too good. He was in intensive care and I tried to spend as much time as I could at the hospital, but I still had to work. The hospital was only about a mile away from my work so sometimes I would walk to the hospital on an extended lunch break. On one particularly nice early fall day I decided to make the walk to the hospital. I was about 1/3 to 1/2 way there when I was caught in a very unexpected and pretty intence rain shower. I was not prepaired having only warn a light wind breaker. But instead of finding cover, I was stuck with the most profound feeling of what I can only explain as an almost spiritual feeling. That may seam goofy but we've all had experiences like this at one time or another. So instead of getting wet I felt the rain on a much deeper level and began to laugh uncontrolably it must have looked quite strange to the people and cars that I passed. I made it to the hospital completely drenched but with the most profound feeling of comfort. At that point I knew my dad would be OK and that no matter what happened everthing would always find a way of working out. That walk had the most profound effect on me that has lasted to this very day i will never be the same. It's funny too because my father had always had a say that I grew up hearing, "some people just don't have since enough to get in out of the rain". From that day forward I had a new saying, "some people feel the rain, others just get wet". Now I find myself from time to time drawn to a good rain shower. There's just nothing like getting out and playing in the rain.

So anyway, shortly after that experience I needed a screen name for something and the answer was clear as a bell to me. You might even say the name picked me instead of me picking the name.

You might even say that "Rainwalker" has become my given name. It's not what my wife and kids call me but it's become a very close second to my birth name.

Sorry if this story seams too goofy or too sappy, I've alway wanted the opportunity to tell it though and I hope it has given some food for thought. Sometimes the most profound things can happen in the most mundane circumstances, sometimes they're obvious sometime their not.

So that's the story of my name hope you enjoyed it... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Dmelone,
I have meandered thru hood's woods a couple of times. very interesting stuff.

My name is pretty simple- my name is Stan, and I brew beer, combine the 2 and you don't remember what happened the next day! Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I'm drinking a Deschutes Brewery Inversion IPA right now...amazing coincidence <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Mine is pretty much self expanatory. Kept it from other forums, including backpacking and hiking. I am a lightweight gear geek. I could not find gear light enough to hike with so I made my own tent, stove, sleeping bag, and shirt. Now lightweight gear is more common. However, if I purchase equipment at the store for hiking, I take a scale with me. Told ya I was a geek.

Rainwalker - nice story. I know several people that have taken the Tom Brown courses. All have liked the experience.

So I am not the only one with a titanium spork and a hanlde shaved tooth brush. Cool.

My minimalist emergency kit is a bic lighter or firesteel,mora and some water purification tablets. I sealed one in a foodsaver bag and duct taped it to my life jacket. They are cheap enough to stash everywhere.

I knew my wife's family since I was in grade 3, one of her brothers and I went to school together.
When we started going out one of her natural brothers and one of her foster brothers were my best friends (I was 18 at the time)
Her dad was a big old ex-cowboy who when he found out we were going out said.
"All these years I've been baring the front door against those wolves and you sneak in the back door with the yard dogs like a dirty coyote" of course he pronounced it Ki-yote.
For many of my close friends it is the name they know my by.
On some forums I am known as coyote but most of the forums I joined in the last two years it is coyotebc, because many of them already had a coyote on there so I added BC because I live in British Columbia (BC)

By the way just turned 42 last month and the wife and I have been married for over 19 years

Wow another great story congrats on the 19yrs of marrage.

That is a good story! Congrats on 19 years too. I've been married for going on 26 years I fear we are in the minority these days, a lot of marriages just don't last that long these days. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

It's always good to here of more that are. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Congrats on the 26 years.
It takes work, but nothing worth having comes easy, and I've found the more you work at it the easier it becomes.
you can't make a knife in 5 minutes and expect it to last a lifetime, so it shouldn't be a suprise that it is the same with other things.

Like I tell my wife, she should never argue with me because we both know I have better taste.
She picked me
I picked her
nuff said <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Mine came from a father/son bonding activity: playing World of Warcraft online. I made up the screen name Kraznog (my son's comment: sounds like Krazy EggNog) and have stuck with it for several years. Now I just shorten it to Kraz even though I don't get to play WoW much anymore.

wonderful stories.
Mine is not so inspiring.

My last name is Wolf. Lupa means alpha female of the pack.
There is another well known term for it that I am affectionately called by my dear brother, but I like to keep it clean.

What I did find however was snook - A gesture of derision or defiance.

My name originates in a philosopher joke. That sounds like a contradiction in terms. Philosophers are not known for a lively sense of humor.

It happened this way. One day in the agora, Plato was discussing the whichness of why with his disciples. Somebody asked, “What is a man?” Plato replied “Man is a featherless biped.” That sounds silly, but it’s not the joke.

The joker was Diogenes. Personally I wouldn’t look to Diogenes for a sense of humor. He was a sour and embittered sort, even for a philosopher. But he was the original Cynic, so what can you expect? The next day Diogenes replied to Plato's definition by bringing a living plucked [censored] to the Academy. Diogenes threw the naked – and thoroughly irritated - bird in front of Plato and asked "Is this a man, then?"

Now you know why professors of philosophy don't make good stand-up comics. Plato amended his definition to “Man is a featherless biped with broad nails.”

If you tell this story in Latin, "featherless biped" is animal bipes implume .

great story, mr. bill. did you ever find out how many willies there were? I know that SOUNDS bad, but I don't mean it bad.

Din, there are innumerable Willies on the South Side.

Cool name and avatar Tim! I watched Kill Bill again last week! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I was never given to hard core faith or going to church since I was 12 and got confirmed. After that I started staying home on Sundays.
Mom and Dad would toddle off every Sunday like clockwork to do their Christian duty at church.Dad sang in the choir and Mom was in every garden Club, or womens Circle that ever was. She was always willing to take a meal to a sick member or visit someone in the hospital.
She was just plain good. Big heart my Mom had. Never made a person able to say a bad word about her ever.
She got Cancer of the cervix several years ago. Hospice was her only option.
As I would visit my Sisters home and talk with Mom I realized she was dying.
Silly right? One day it just hit me. I was holding her hand as she lay in bed. looking up her ashen skin cool to the touch. Her bright hazel eyes had gone dim and grey. She held me hand and said to me "I've always loved hummingbirds.And when I am gone if I have a choice...I'll come back as one for a while."
I stroked her hair back from her face and told her thank you for sharing that with me. I never knew you like Hummingbirds.
I finished my visit soon after.
She turned for the worse a few days later and she went to sleep and died a few days after that.

I loved my Mother.

I was born on September 9th 1957 at 9:09 a.m. Mom always liked that unique sequence of 9's and so did I .She would ALWAYS wish me a Happy Birthday on 9-9 at 9:09 a.m. my entire adult life. At home,work, on the road traveling it didn't matter. She'd call like clockwork and sing me Happy Birthday.
Little things mean everything.
She died on April 6th and was buried on the 9th. My 9.
On that September 9th at about 8:55 I came from the bedroom into the living room of our home tears streaming down my face.
I realized that Mom wouldn't be calling ever again.
I cried in my wifes arms till my face hurt from the contortions of pain.
As the minuets went by she kept reassuring me that Mom was watching down on me and that I would always be her baby boy.As I saw it turn into 9:09 on the cable box I began to sob uncontrollably. My wife held me and wept too.
All of the sudden she screamed OH GOD!
I said what through my wrenching pain. Look was all she could say.
There in front of our living room window on September 9th at 9:09 a.m. was a
Hummingbird.
Not just a hummingbird,but the most beautiful Hummingbird I had ever seen in my life.It was bright green with a bright red chest. It floated in front of the window as if held on a string.
Motionless she watched us through the window.
As if from God himself my mouth opened and I screamed Mom.
Shaking from head to toe and in hysterics I began to praise God and thank Jesus for sending my Mother to me one more time. I praised God and Jesus over and over again. I called to my mother and told her we were alright, and I loved her so much. I thanked her over and over again for loving me and being my mother.
After floating in mid air for all my thanks to be given,she finally turned and flew straight up and away.

It was now 9:12 a.m.
She hovered there for three minuets.
It seemed like an hour.
I was never so emotionally drained ever before in my life.

We went to a local church that Sunday.
My wife Sherry and I now teach the 7th and 8th grade class for 5 years now. We are also the custodians there. And have found that there is more to this life of ours than we can see with our eyes.

There is a whole world we will only ever see with our hearts.

I have taken the name Prince of Peace on all knife forums as my way to bring some notice and thought to the one who opened my eyes when they were shut. And to his Father who had the keys to my heart and opened up a new world to me.

Eyes and heart wide open,

Peace.

Awesome.Very glad I got to read this.

I away knew I'd get a chance to tell this story some day. Thanks for starting this thead Knifeparty!

In 2000 I went to Tom Brown's Tracker school. I was really into Native American philosophy and The Tracker School really seamed to reinforce a lot of what I had read and learned up to that point. It may seam crazy to some but Tom's books and teachings had a very deep and lasting affect on me. Not too long after coming back from Tom's school my father became very ill and had to be hospitalized and required very serious surgery, things did not look too good. He was in intensive care and I tried to spend as much time as I could at the hospital, but I still had to work. The hospital was only about a mile away from my work so sometimes I would walk to the hospital on an extended lunch break. On one particularly nice early fall day I decided to make the walk to the hospital. I was about 1/3 to 1/2 way there when I was caught in a very unexpected and pretty intence rain shower. I was not prepaired having only warn a light wind breaker. But instead of finding cover, I was stuck with the most profound feeling of what I can only explain as an almost spiritual feeling. That may seam goofy but we've all had experiences like this at one time or another. So instead of getting wet I felt the rain on a much deeper level and began to laugh uncontrolably it must have looked quite strange to the people and cars that I passed. I made it to the hospital completely drenched but with the most profound feeling of comfort. At that point I knew my dad would be OK and that no matter what happened everthing would always find a way of working out. That walk had the most profound effect on me that has lasted to this very day i will never be the same. It's funny too because my father had always had a say that I grew up hearing, "some people just don't have since enough to get in out of the rain". From that day forward I had a new saying, "some people feel the rain, others just get wet". Now I find myself from time to time drawn to a good rain shower. There's just nothing like getting out and playing in the rain.

So anyway, shortly after that experience I needed a screen name for something and the answer was clear as a bell to me. You might even say the name picked me instead of me picking the name.

You might even say that "Rainwalker" has become my given name. It's not what my wife and kids call me but it's become a very close second to my birth name.

Sorry if this story seams too goofy or too sappy, I've alway wanted the opportunity to tell it though and I hope it has given some food for thought. Sometimes the most profound things can happen in the most mundane circumstances, sometimes they're obvious sometime their not.

So that's the story of my name hope you enjoyed it... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

<- see my avatar...

Oh man, I don't remember ever hearing POP's story and of course have never heard Jeff's.

They both brought tears to my eyes I am UNashamed to say. VERY nice, touching stories that are more than Just stories.

Thanks Guys, for the boost.

I've said it before, but for the new guys here it is again, the condensed version.

One summer we had a VERY bad Skunk problem in our little two block area. I killed a total of I think 9 skunks that year, summer into fall and 1 in early winter. It might have been 11 total, I don't remember. Anyway I used an RWS Diana model 45 .177 pellet rifle. One shot to the head and no more problem. Longest shot I made was about 20-25 yards.

Now you know about the SKUNKHUNTER <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />