Story behind your screen name?

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Charlycuervo - I have a Swedish straight razor that is marked with an Argentinian importer's name, and I bought it at a garage sale in Las Vegas NV.  I have a friend whose folks are from Argentina. You have some beautiful country down there.

[Charlycuervo]

BIGGUNDOCTOR - Argentina is a beautiful country, I came for vacations and stayed 36 years...

[Frosty]

That sounds like Me and Alaska. I came here in 1972 on vacation and stayed. I only take a vacation down south often enough to remind myself why I live here.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

We came up to Arkansas on vacation from south Florida in the late 70s and fell in love with the area. Bought 60 acres in 1980 and moved up after selling our place in 1982. Never looked back and have no intention on visiting that insane place again.

[Dawiid]

I'm just a big fan of Nintendo Wii and my name can be transcribed interestingly, so here it is.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Nice play on words 

[TryingLobster]

When I first signed up for an Xbox Live account I needed a screen name, and they had an autogenerator in case you have no imagination like me. "TryingLobster" came up and I really liked the ambiguity of the name. Does it mean a lobster that's trying really hard? Or a lobster that's really getting on your nerves? Both were appropriate for me so I stuck with the name. Uh, except the lobster part, I'm not actually a lobster.

[Scott NC]

   Perfect!  Thanks.  Oh, I like your avatar too.....

[ThomasPowers]

I seem to recall a Try Works being used on whaling ships; so trying lobster would be possible but not much fun for the lobster!

[Goods]

Here I though you were going for a change in diet…

[SHC]

SHC = Steel Horse Cowboy. 
I was a biker once upon a time, until some fateful day. Very first day of a 5 day ride, a drunken lady on a cell phone “didn’t see the biker” until she realized she’d knocked me into oncoming traffic. A cop happened to be part of the oncoming traffic and saw the whole thing. He said he just knew I was dead. So he was a little surprised when he made a quick uturn and found me up and walking around in a daze. 
My bike did not survive. The rear wheel was somewhere up around where the gas tank used to be, the front wheel was where the rear wheel was supposed to be, the gas tank was relocated where the headlight should have been and I ain’t got a clue where the headlight went. 
Broke my right ankle and it was undiagnosed. I didn’t realize it was hurt until I got off the pain meds, so I walked around on a broken ankle for a month wondering where the crunchy sounds were coming from. 
Most of my back was road rash as well as both arms. My left hand and elbow looked like burger. Can’t play guitar anymore and round doorknobs are the bane of my existence. Because I can’t reliably hold things in my left hand, it leaves me fighting with doorknobs with my left hand. Or switching hands, fumbling cellphones and laptops and iPads. I have lost my temper and kicked my own front door off its hinges because of this. 
It’s gotten better over time, but I do have a very hard time with tongs. 
HELMETS SAVE LIVES. My helmet is on display at a motorsports store/garage in West Monroe. 

I was also a cowboy once upon a time. Grew up riding horses, working ranches and farms as the need arose, mending fences and keeping heifers from finding new ways to hurt themselves. That ended when I joined the Corps.
 

Side Note: I HATE COWS. Always have, but the real clincher was one day as I was opening a gate, I turned around to find one backed into the open door of my truck and relieving itself all over the seat, floor, steering wheel, dashboard, instrument cluster, inside of the windshield, ceiling… it did #s 1&2. 
That cow fed me and my family and it paid for the cleanup of my truck.

 My horse pushed a giant dent in the side of the same truck while scratching his rump. That didn’t bother me none, I popped it out with a toilet plunger. 

[lary]

Jeez Steel Horse, that's quite a story I'm glad your around to tell it. Tried to sign up with my first name, wouldn't let me so I dropped an r.

[Frosty]

Crimeny! I think I'll remember what SHC stands for, maybe not TBI can do that to you. While I don't hate cattle I've never wanted to make friends, even milk cows aren't particularly friendly. Nor smart.

Out of curiosity, did you leave your truck door open after that? I sometimes thought excretion was cattle's main form of expression. We raised horses and I spent time on a family friend's cattle ranch alfalfa farm. Our folks swapped Rex and I a couple few weeks per summer. I'd live on the ranch and Rex would live with us in the burbs. 

One of my favorite cow excreting in an interesting way experiences was on a feed lot in Arizona. Rexs father was the vet and I spent my ranch time on the lot. I was old enough I was driving and owned a 62 Vette. The local boys gave me as much respect as a city kid might deserve though I wasn't really. I only lived in the burbs.

Anyway one of them was explaining what a cow was in a theatrically sarcastic way and actually lifted it's tail to show me. So of course the cow, not steer, COW gave him both barrels. Direct hit, chin to crotch in rich liquid manure. Her pee was just a dribble, certainly not enough for a rinse. I would've made a remark but was laughing too hard.

Maybe the only time I genuinely appreciated a cow not medium rare on a plate. I do so love Kodak moments that don't involve pain.

Horses I loved, even the rank ones were okay given a little time. They bribe easily and respond well to good treatment.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

We raised cattle when i was a yungin. I did not mind them at all. A little flick of the switch and they did what i wanted them to, which was mostly move out of the way, move from the barn to the pasture, move along into the truck for market. 

The horses on the other hand, we had 2 at one time, were the absolute dumbest animals ever put on this Earth. It may have been we just had stupid horses but they kind of left a bad impression on me. 

[arkie]

I hope the mods don't censor this...

When I was somewhere around 4 or 5 yrs. old, my dad had a cow lot out behind the house.  He had a Jersey milk cow and her fairly large calf.  I had watched him milk the mother cow on many occasions, so I decided it was time for me to learn to milk as well.  I got my small toy bucket and milk stool, tied the calf to the fence and commenced to start milking.  The calf immediately kicked the living _____ out of me and I went rolling across the lot.  I yelled at the calf and my dad responded quietly, "Son, you can't milk that calf; it's a bull calf...."

OH! Screen name...self explanatory.

 

[SHC]

I did have another bad experience with a cow after I quit cowboying and started riding a steel horse. Got boxed in behind a stock trailer on the interstate. I saw the cow at the rear of the trailer “prepare to fire” so I swerved into the breakdown lane and gunned it, passed the truck from the shoulder. Dangerous maneuver, not one I’d ever condone and it’s the only time I’ve pulled such a stunt, but I wasn’t about to have my day rained on like that.

Frosty, I don’t even leave my truck door open now when I unlock a gate at any of the water wells I service. Won’t be a cow around for miles but that left a lasting impression on me. 

I’d also like to start a petition to change Arkie’s name to Kingpin. Just seems to fit ya know?

[Chimaera]

I've always been fascinated with marine biology, and I think that the Chimaeriformes are some of the best animals ever. They are the little known relatives of sharks and rays- also called ghost sharks or ratfish, they mostly live in deep, cold waters, where they use their wide pectoral fins to glide across the substrate. I think these animals are just incredible, and more people need to know about them. Also, the Chimaera of greek mythology- an enigmatic mixture, an abomination of parts scalped from other creatures. I think that we are all chimaeras in a way. Also the spelling is fun =).

[SHC]

Chimaera, Marine Biology has always fascinated me too. I’ve always felt a draw to aquatic environments and the life they hold. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a teenager and usually tracked down some volunteer work anytime I was near the beach for more than a few days, but that’s been years… 

My wife has several aquariums at home, and there’s a place in West Monroe that builds custom saltwater aquariums and we fully intend to contract their services someday. We already have a perfect place for a massive tank. 
 

You think we’ll ever fully understand the depths of our own oceans?

[Chimaera]

SHC- right now I’ve only got a 60 gal and a 10. Never tried saltwater, don’t plan too until I’ve got a bit more confidence and a lot more cash. Besides, I prefer freshwater fish for the most part- I think saltwater stuff can be a bit garish if you’re not careful. However, I’d love to some day keep cuttlefish or a mantis shrimp. I also definitely need some sharks and rays, though freshwater rays are lovely. I don’t know if our oceans will ever be fully known, but they are definitely making advances. Just the other day I heard about the scaly foot snail, or sea pangolin- it’s a type of snail that lives on hudrothermal vents and builds it’s shell out of iron coming from the vent. It lives in this tiny area and is threatened by the possibility of hydrothermal mining. It’s a crazy world.

[Frosty]

17 hours ago, SHC said:

I’d also like to start a petition to change Arkie’s name to Kingpin. Just seems to fit ya know?

Ahhh, we're not that formal here. If the gang likes your reasoning we'll just start calling him "Kingpin" till either he gives up and changes his web handle or the moderators do it for him or start belaying our pin jokes.

My sign off is the result of many versions I got tagged with because of how lucky I was to survive being attacked by the great white . . . Birch.

Frosty The Lucky.

[arkie]

Frosty and SHC, I "could" change it to something more appropriate, but I would be immediately banned!

[ChiefLittleBair]

I've always been into native Americans. Their history and lifestyle. When I worked at a machine shop with a good friend of mine, I had him laser engrave my name or initials on a lot of my tools, as many of us had the same exact tools. I had a dowel starter plate that I asked him to engrave for me, and when I got it back he had engraved "Chief Little Bair". Bair is my last name. That was right before he left for boot camp with the marines, so the name really stuck with me. Having a really close friend give me that name before going away for 5 years. 

 

Side story, we are the type of friends who work on cars late at night together, drinking beer and having nothing but a good time. Squirrel hunting trips, all the good stuff. Before he left for boot camp I got a new phone number and he asked me for it so we could stay in touch. I had him trying to call me for about 20 minutes before he realized xxx-xxx-xxxx wasn't my number lol. To this day, he has me as Keith Dumb*ss in his phone...

[Frosty]

That's a good story Chief, thanks. 

However with just a slight modification, "Keith Dumbss," would be perfectly acceptable to the forum rules. You seem a pretty regular guy so I'm sure there will be times your alter ego would be the better fit. 

Dang, now I have to figure out where to write it down I'll be able to find when I want it. (Yeah, RIGHT)

Frosty The Lucky.

[alexandr]

40 years ago, on February 16, 1982, a tragedy occurred in the North Atlantic. During a severe storm, the ship "Mechanic Tarasov" of the Baltic Shipping Company USSR sank. Only 5 people survived. Among the crew were graduates of our naval college , the guys with whom they studied together.

[George N. M.]

Alexandr, may they rest in peace.  If you are not familiar with it the words to the US Navy's hymn they are appropriate for all sailors: https://www.usna.edu/Chapel/navyhymn.php

Respectfully,

George