Author
Not that this is important at all, but just in case someone has an unhealthy interest, here is some info about the author, who is generally reclusive but harmless, often found snuffling around quietly on the forest floor or slithering over boulders near a foaming stream, and who very rarely if ever howls at the moon or anything else in the sky.
Birth date: No. I have been on a date or two since, technically speaking, by accident, some woman having made a miscalculation, but not on that particular day. I was way too immature for it then. (Still am.)
Place of birth: Very near my mother, whom I immediately began to suck on, a habit I eventually overcame. In a hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota. And you thought I was just being snotty with all that North Dakota stuff.
Education: Yes. I am a Certified High School Graduate. Much later I spent 10 years of calendar time completing four years of college and surfaced with a B.A. in English.
Then I went back later for a B.S. in physics and computer science. This took another 10 years. Still a slow learner.
Work: Some weird stuff, some not. But mostly weird.
Outdoor experience: Backpacking since 1980. Read “The Complete Walker” by Colin Fletcher, then asked an experienced friend how to start. Three easy steps, he said: forward, backward, and sideways. That’s about all you need to know.
Discovered long distance and ultralight backpacking in 2001, and later joined ALDHA-West and served as newsletter editor for one year. Began making most of my own gear about then.
Have seen a water shrew running on top of a stream, and a mountain beaver’s butt (as it ran away). I’d like to see mice mud wrestle.
Current interests: Kitty tickling, noodle racing, snorpulence, truth decay, bio schmetz, restless driving, pudgecasting, budgie jumping, Düsseldorf diesel dorks, mud tongs, intravenous interviews, toggle wommy, near-depth experiences, ballet parking, monkey noodles, the Home Shouting Channel, watching it all go bust in a hail of mice, dire weasels, angry beef, crotch rocks, pornithology, rat sass, year-end Clarence sales, hooch maloo, waffle doctors, snooble hoopy, breath cancer, following fish, fuzzy nut rolls, barking lots, abyss lists, toad nodes, horrid porridge, snow chewing.
Personality type: Goofy.
What others say: “Weird.” “Spooky.” “Creepy.” “Boring.” “Truly a strange dude.” “Who?” “Kinda cute in a road accident sort of way, but I just couldn’t stand all the flies.” “A genuine, through and through butthead.” “Totally, uniquely bad news.”
(But I don’t care about them. Ha! I have my sock puppet.)
Contact: Try https://ultralighter.blogspot.com/ while it lasts if you find problems with this book, or if you have something to teach me (which is likely), or especially if you are a wood nymph and like to talk dirty, and want to show me that daisy chain thing sometime.
Last seen near: Sunrise.