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I have a blog (The Locust Blossom) that I started back when we didn't put our real names on the internet. Have used the same alias a long time. My name is unusual so not sure about putting it "out there" anyhow.
 
I came upon mine in a rather circuitous route, so forgive the long rundown.
I hope it's at least entertaining...

I used to be a Disc Jockey for clubs and mobile events in my youth.
I had a partner who went by "JDJ" (for John DJ), so I went by "DJD" (for DJ Dave).
We ended up performing at clubs and lounges for several years, even going as far as Wyoming, Montana, and a cruise ship to Alaska.
It was fun, but eventually ended.
When I signed up for my first email, DJD was already taken so I used another amalgamation and ended up using that (minus the "@____.___" of course) as a username for the message boards I was on.

Several years later, working for an industrial plastics company, I became an Electrical Designer, laying out control circuits and panels, power and communication runs, etc...
We had an old piece of equipment from Europe that we were refurbishing and the 3 phase transformer had a neutral leg (common there, not so much here). Since our (single phase) Neutral is typically tied with Ground at the last junction, I made the assumption to do the same (remember, I was a designer, not an engineer).
Wrong answer. Big shower of sparks, big cloud of smoke.
So naturally, I got stuck with the nickname "Sparky".

When I got back into the DJ world a few years later, I became DJ Sparky D.

I have since retired completely from my DJ life, so for forums, I now just use the Sparky D...
 
A “Sourdough” is an old time Alaskan – someone who has learned the ways of this beautiful and at times harsh land. The name comes from the fact the the first trappers and then miners would carry sourdough starters against their bodies wherever they went. Keeping the delicate culture alive in the harsh winter landscapes. New comers to the state are referred to as “cheechakos” denoting someone green behind the ears who has much to learn about navigating the harsh winters and customs of Alaska.

Alaska Terms To Know and Love

  • Outside – any travel out of the State – and it does have a capital O.
  • Lower 48 – referring to the contiguous 48 United States – you know the ones that are actually on a map of the U.S. as opposed to dangling somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean next to the other step-child state of Hawaii.
  • Break-up – refers to the season before the snow melts, but the frost line still exists just below the surface. It is a muddy, mucky time of year as the snow melt finds its easiest purchase creating epic mud puddles on its path to the rivers. Trails become inaccessable and dogs become caked in mud. The ground is literally “breaking up” and Alaskans are eager for the drying out to begin to get back on the trails.
  • Arctic Entry – that special little room between the outside door and actually coming inside the house where either snowy or muddy footwear can be deposited, and coats and other outerwear can also be stored. A very useful room in Alaska it saves on heating and keeps floors cleaner and snow-puddle free.
  • “Please remove your shoes at the door” – This is a sign that can be seen at the arctic entries of many houses. Pavement, and clean surfaces are becoming more common as Alaska grows, but most times the surfaces are dirt and gravel and shoes are too dirty to travel past the front door.
  • Cabin Fever – the time of winter when the four walls of the house might feel like they are squeezing in a bit too tight on one from all the time spent inside. This period can hit anytime in the winter, but many festive activities were started years ago in January and February as a way to get folks out and relieve the “cabin fever.”
  • Bug Dope – or more commonly know as mosquito repellant.
  • The Bush – villages in outlying areas of Alaska that are not accessible by road, and often can only be reached by a small “bush” plane.
  • The Valley – the area around Wasilla and Palmer, just north of Anchorage, the fastest growing location in the State.
  • Dip-netting – the sport for Alaska residents that consists of a huge fishing net that one holds in Cook Inlet, the Kenai, Kasilof or Copper Rivers to take home the favorite red or sockeye salmon.
 
Well, with four kids (3 married) 8 grand kids and a great grandson and my life as a minister I am a guard dog but mostly for the kids so I took "sheepdog" because I didn't want to be associated with THE SHEPHERD. My feet are too small to fill those shoes.. er sandals.
 
Grimm is short for the screen name I have been using since my dad brought home our first home computer close to 25 years ago.

My real name is unusual and I am very easy to find via online searches so I go by my SN for privacy. I even have an IMDB profile/bio page if that tells you anything about why I want privacy.
 
I will never own a level wind fishing reel again.
I did that so many times when I was younger I kind of got stuck with the name.
The pic is not mine but I have done worse.

backlash.jpg
 
backlash said:
I will never own a level wind fishing reel again.
backlash.jpg
Click to expand...
Aggghhh. That's why I like fly fishing. The reel plays no part in casting. Nor in retrieving (unless the fish has run really far out there or is super large - I just strip the line/fish in by hand). In fly fishing, the reel is a place to store your line when you're not using it. At least up here in mountain stream fly fishing. Ocean fly fishing may be a totally different animal - I've never done that. Funny though, I have some pretty expensive fly reels. I don't know why. You could do just about as well wrapping your fly line around a soup can.
 
Sourdough said:
A “Sourdough” is an old time Alaskan – someone who has learned the ways of this beautiful and at times harsh land. The name comes from the fact the the first trappers and then miners would carry sourdough starters against their bodies wherever they went. Keeping the delicate culture alive in the harsh winter landscapes. New comers to the state are referred to as “cheechakos” denoting someone green behind the ears who has much to learn about navigating the harsh winters and customs of Alaska.

Alaska Terms To Know and Love

  • Outside – any travel out of the State – and it does have a capital O.
  • Lower 48 – referring to the contiguous 48 United States – you know the ones that are actually on a map of the U.S. as opposed to dangling somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean next to the other step-child state of Hawaii.
  • Break-up – refers to the season before the snow melts, but the frost line still exists just below the surface. It is a muddy, mucky time of year as the snow melt finds its easiest purchase creating epic mud puddles on its path to the rivers. Trails become inaccessable and dogs become caked in mud. The ground is literally “breaking up” and Alaskans are eager for the drying out to begin to get back on the trails.
  • Arctic Entry – that special little room between the outside door and actually coming inside the house where either snowy or muddy footwear can be deposited, and coats and other outerwear can also be stored. A very useful room in Alaska it saves on heating and keeps floors cleaner and snow-puddle free.
  • “Please remove your shoes at the door” – This is a sign that can be seen at the arctic entries of many houses. Pavement, and clean surfaces are becoming more common as Alaska grows, but most times the surfaces are dirt and gravel and shoes are too dirty to travel past the front door.
  • Cabin Fever – the time of winter when the four walls of the house might feel like they are squeezing in a bit too tight on one from all the time spent inside. This period can hit anytime in the winter, but many festive activities were started years ago in January and February as a way to get folks out and relieve the “cabin fever.”
  • Bug Dope – or more commonly know as mosquito repellant.
  • The Bush – villages in outlying areas of Alaska that are not accessible by road, and often can only be reached by a small “bush” plane.
  • The Valley – the area around Wasilla and Palmer, just north of Anchorage, the fastest growing location in the State.
  • Dip-netting – the sport for Alaska residents that consists of a huge fishing net that one holds in Cook Inlet, the Kenai, Kasilof or Copper Rivers to take home the favorite red or sockeye salmon.
Click to expand...
That was fun and educational, thanks😊
 
I have been using this handle for over a decade on other sites before coming here. I love to hunt and grew up in the mostly in the Deserts of AZ and a few High School years (plus a couple years in CO springs when I was just out of college 15 years later) in the mountains of Colorado. In 1993, work moved me from Colorado Springs to a place right in between two large liberal cities, when I got here I was overwhelmed by the City Life (Like cabin fever only all the time), I missed the woods and the outdoors and found lots of nearby wooded properties that I could go in if I was hunting, so I hunt when ever I can (in season of course). I actually hunt more now than when I lived in Colorado. Thus the name came from living Urban and being a Hunter, seemed logical at the time UrbanHunter. Friends can call me Urban for short.....

This also explains why my gardening is compressed into a postage stamp sized space.....
 
Haertig said:
Aggghhh. That's why I like fly fishing. The reel plays no part in casting. Nor in retrieving (unless the fish has run really far out there or is super large - I just strip the line/fish in by hand). In fly fishing, the reel is a place to store your line when you're not using it. At least up here in mountain stream fly fishing. Ocean fly fishing may be a totally different animal - I've never done that. Funny though, I have some pretty expensive fly reels. I don't know why. You could do just about as well wrapping your fly line around a soup can.
Click to expand...
The first Christmas after I got married my new wife bought me a fly reel.
I still have it. The reel and the wife.
I like to fly fish but back then I was sturgeon fishing and I'm pretty sure it would be next to impossible to land my biggest 8' 4" sturgeon on a fly rod.
I did however land a 5' 6" sturgeon after spending 30 minutes untangling my reel. I had no idea it was hooked until I started reeling in the slack.
 
I am simply not very inventive, my first name is John and I live in Alaska. Not much more to the story!
 
Spikedriver comes from my job. I am a railroader. Back when I first started getting into forums, my job was Quality Control, which is a nice way of saying I walked the tracks behind the gang and fixed anything they didn't do right with the machines. This was all done with hand tools. So I spent a lot of time swinging a sledgehammer, driving spikes by hand... hence the name.
 
backlash said:
I like to fly fish but back then I was sturgeon fishing and I'm pretty sure it would be next to impossible to land my biggest 8' 4" sturgeon on a fly rod.
I did however land a 5' 6" sturgeon after spending 30 minutes untangling my reel. I had no idea it was hooked until I started reeling in the slack.
Click to expand...

There were some real "monster" sturgeon in the North West back in the long-long ago. Especially the Columbia River.
 
I contracted contaminated dirt hauls several years ago in Kansas and Oklahoma, we were working out of town and I would meet the truckers at a little cafe every morning. I would get a double order of hash browns with my breakfast and it was an obnoxious amount of potatoes. Truckers being truckers I was Hashbrown from then on.
 
This is what I made to use on other sites as a "signature line" to explain my strange name to the younger set who have no idea who Grizzly Adams was (as illustrated by popular movies, etc)


GrizzlyetteAdams.jpeg
 
backlash said:
I will never own a level wind fishing reel again.
I did that so many times when I was younger I kind of got stuck with the name.
The pic is not mine but I have done worse.

backlash.jpg
Click to expand...

Been there, done that and got the proverbial t-shirt.
 
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