An update from Ringulf
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:08 pm
Hello all! I wanted to give a little update on things and let you know what your Naugothrain has been up to. Well, ...What can I tell you? Life in the wide world goes on much as it has this past age, full of its own comings and goings...oh wait, wrong story! Well almost. Several things have been occupying my time of late, during Hurricane Dorian I was put in the position of dealing with an immanent mandatory evacuation, due to our lovely low country vantage here in Coastal FL or as I like to say "Southern Ithilien".
I was not going to wait till the last minute to extricate myself, my lovely wife, and aged mother from what we believed was the landfall of a category 5 storm right on top of us. So we hitched up the team and drove our wagon hastily to the farm of my wife's parents a bit farther into the interior of the continent.
Well, you know the story of Dorian, so after a relaxing week of walking in the woods and fields, practicing my throwing and eating the fresh homegrown goods of the Shire, we decided to travel back…â€But before we go, just one more walk through the freshly mown hay pasture.†A last-minute decision and ill-prepared were we to deal with the local flora stirred up by the cutting, lying in the hot late summer sun.
15 hours later we arrived home to find they had made a meal of old Ringulf and I was covered from head to toes with horrible red welts that formed into boyles and made my legs swell to the size of a cave troll's. Thus giving me ample time to sit and write this missive.
As I mentioned, the evacuation made me take stock of all that I had and did not wish to lose and it reaffirmed what I consider precious among my possessions. I pulled out the best of my thrown weapons chest and of course my Dane and walking axes (two of which are for sale if anyone is interested) a few project knives and seaxes to work on while away, including a pair made for me by Ichthean Forge, many of my leatherworks and some of my most valuable books. One copy, a very fine leather-bound Lord of the Rings edition gifted to me by a member of this forum. (Who will remain anonymous, but for whom I have great regard) was carefully wrapped and secreted in my large portmanteau.
Many pieces of my Ranger kit were included along with some of my newer Bushcraft (Viking and modern) gear for obvious practical reasons. My favorite mug was front and center and was filled many times, along the way, with that unsurpassed beverage made of the ground beans of Java ( I think that is somewhere near Umbar….) tweaked to perfection with the addition of ground Hazelnut.
So here I sit, somewhat uncomfortably, renewed in spirit and purpose to continue the things I have been pursuing, and grateful in the realization that this group, and a few others, weigh heavily enough in my life to find myself running out the door with no walking stick and no pocket-handkerchiefs…, but my Ranger kit safely stowed!
And I wanted to direct your attention to my new signature poem. It was written during the trip and I will write it in full here, though the Signature will not allow it in full.
I am Ringulf the Dwarven Ranger,
I craft leather, wood, metal, and clay,
I throw axes, seaxes, and pointy sticks,
And I fire my bow through the day.
The bear is my brother, the wolf, my friend,
the badger my comrade, the raven my end.
I glide through the forest, I surf on the wave,
I hunt in the marshes, explore in the cave.
Come be my ally, lift up your mead!
We’ll search out our foes and the Eagles we'll feed!
I was not going to wait till the last minute to extricate myself, my lovely wife, and aged mother from what we believed was the landfall of a category 5 storm right on top of us. So we hitched up the team and drove our wagon hastily to the farm of my wife's parents a bit farther into the interior of the continent.
Well, you know the story of Dorian, so after a relaxing week of walking in the woods and fields, practicing my throwing and eating the fresh homegrown goods of the Shire, we decided to travel back…â€But before we go, just one more walk through the freshly mown hay pasture.†A last-minute decision and ill-prepared were we to deal with the local flora stirred up by the cutting, lying in the hot late summer sun.
15 hours later we arrived home to find they had made a meal of old Ringulf and I was covered from head to toes with horrible red welts that formed into boyles and made my legs swell to the size of a cave troll's. Thus giving me ample time to sit and write this missive.
As I mentioned, the evacuation made me take stock of all that I had and did not wish to lose and it reaffirmed what I consider precious among my possessions. I pulled out the best of my thrown weapons chest and of course my Dane and walking axes (two of which are for sale if anyone is interested) a few project knives and seaxes to work on while away, including a pair made for me by Ichthean Forge, many of my leatherworks and some of my most valuable books. One copy, a very fine leather-bound Lord of the Rings edition gifted to me by a member of this forum. (Who will remain anonymous, but for whom I have great regard) was carefully wrapped and secreted in my large portmanteau.
Many pieces of my Ranger kit were included along with some of my newer Bushcraft (Viking and modern) gear for obvious practical reasons. My favorite mug was front and center and was filled many times, along the way, with that unsurpassed beverage made of the ground beans of Java ( I think that is somewhere near Umbar….) tweaked to perfection with the addition of ground Hazelnut.
So here I sit, somewhat uncomfortably, renewed in spirit and purpose to continue the things I have been pursuing, and grateful in the realization that this group, and a few others, weigh heavily enough in my life to find myself running out the door with no walking stick and no pocket-handkerchiefs…, but my Ranger kit safely stowed!
And I wanted to direct your attention to my new signature poem. It was written during the trip and I will write it in full here, though the Signature will not allow it in full.
I am Ringulf the Dwarven Ranger,
I craft leather, wood, metal, and clay,
I throw axes, seaxes, and pointy sticks,
And I fire my bow through the day.
The bear is my brother, the wolf, my friend,
the badger my comrade, the raven my end.
I glide through the forest, I surf on the wave,
I hunt in the marshes, explore in the cave.
Come be my ally, lift up your mead!
We’ll search out our foes and the Eagles we'll feed!