Sacrifice to the River gods

Howard Wallace

Howard Wallace

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I just got back from a week in eastern Oregon with the family. We had a lot of fun.

I did lose a S-30V plainedge Gunting in the Deschutes river while rafting. Don't tell the Duck, as he will be diving in dangerous waters for it. I'm down to only one spare on this discontinued gem now.

I had to fall back on an old Gerber multi-tool for a small blade after I lost the Gunting. Did you know that you shouldn't put your hand in front of a multi-tool blade when harvesting pitch from pine trees? It is indeed possible to cut both hands with a single stroke in one instant. I'm still not sure exactly how it's done though.

The old 15" AK, the first one I ever bought from Bill, was in the back of my truck and was pressed into duty creating kindling. It just sits and waits, and comes out ready to serve when I call.

In any case, the family had a great time, the river gods were satiated, and a HI khukuri once again proved its value.
 
I know you didn't do it on purpose but there is a very old tradition of sacrificing blades to the river. I was watching some show on the history chanel about a causeway (forget the name of it) archeologists had unearthed in the UK. They found quite a few swords where the river had been. Not thrown in haphazardly but carefully laid down in a certain direction. Maybe the powers that be will remember your sacrifice the next time you're in the river.

I know that any words aren't going to take the sting out of losing something that can't easily be replaced. That sucks, and I'm sorry. My brain is filled with useless trivia and sometimes it spills out. Don't mind me.

Frank
 
Wonderful imagery- more, more!!

Sorry about the loss. Bet you had a good time though.


munk
 
There's a tradition in some maritime circles to toss a penny into the water on the way out. It's a bribe to ensure that there are no problems on the way back.

My father taught me to throw in a quarter instead. He reasoned that it was still a fair price for a good trip and what with inflation and all, you never knew whether that penny would still be worth a penny when it was time to return home...and really, while there's no policy in place for tipping Neptune Rex, I'm sure that it doesn't hurt. It worked well enough for me.

I'd expect a Gunting to provide you with a lifetime of safe passage, if that's any consolation.
 
In some splinter universe, perhaps a less-wise Howard Wallace held on to the Gunting too tightly and angered the River Gods.
 
The votive offering was appreciated- unless.... :confused: losing it doesn't count as a sacrifice.... nah.

Hair-splitting philosophers are what should be sacrificed.


Mike
 
Dave Rishar said:
There's a tradition in some maritime circles to toss a penny into the water on the way out. It's a bribe to ensure that there are no problems on the way back.

My father taught me to throw in a quarter instead. He reasoned that it was still a fair price for a good trip and what with inflation and all, you never knew whether that penny would still be worth a penny when it was time to return home...and really, while there's no policy in place for tipping Neptune Rex, I'm sure that it doesn't hurt. It worked well enough for me.

I'd expect a Gunting to provide you with a lifetime of safe passage, if that's any consolation.
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Dave? Have you SEEN Neptune's castle? The property tax alone would sink me (no pun intended). I also heard through the grapevine that ol' Nep is on his 5th wife (still no Pre-Nup). The dude is obviously in over his head. Next time, just fashion a fiver into a little boat and set it out to sea;)
Now Cthulhu, on the other hand...well there are some people that just can't be bought. Yeah, yeah, yeah...universal blubbering-gibbering madness for all man-kind. However, his principles are noteworthy.

Jake
 
I do a lot of fishing in a river. The river has claimed many lures and some tackle in my time there. But it also gives up what it has taken from others. I pulled up a complete spinning combo a few months ago. The next outing I lost a small tackle box full of jigheads. It all evens out if you spend enough time in the river.
 
At first I felt bad about losing something. Then I figured if the universe wanted the knife back, it could have it. I made it an offering, and there is no point in regretting an offering.

I do love the rivers, so it's not a trouble to give to what you love.
 
I've made many such unplanned sacrifices. .410 shotguns, machetes, hatchets, Birkenstock shoes, tackle boxes, etc.

I reckon it's all well and good though, since my canoeing buddy and I are still here to gripe about it.

Since then the rivers let me get by with quite a bit of foolishness, infact.

Must have needed more though. Same river closed off the highway last week and taken at least four homes in recent flooding.:(

And we thought we'd been overtaxed....
 
Howard, the fact that you made it safely back shows that the sacrifice was warranted.
 
wenger_264.jpg


Does it still count as a sacrifice to the river gods if you tie a rope to the offering, and use it as a boat anchor?
 
Don't tell the Duck? Ha, that's funny, when it comes to Guntings or Durbas, the Duck knows. He sits there in his cave, staring into his kiddie pool full of floaty toys, and he knows. . . . . . . .

By the way, wouldn't happen to have a grid coordinate on the site of the "sacrifice" would you? Nothing too precise, six digits will get him down to a hundred meter search box, wouldn't want to make it too easy on the old quacker. ;)

Sarge
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
Don't tell the Duck? Ha, that's funny, when it comes to Guntings or Durbas, the Duck knows. He sits there in his cave, staring into his kiddie pool full of floaty toys, and he knows. . . . . . . .

By the way, wouldn't happen to have a grid coordinate on the site of the "sacrifice" would you? Nothing too precise, six digits will get him down to a hundred meter search box, wouldn't want to make it too easy on the old quacker. ;)

Sarge
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I think it's in the pool by the big rock, where I did some diving and clambering back into the raft.

I do not know if even the Duck would dare to retreive a sacrifice from the very belly of the River God though.
 
Sounds like a great trip. We went fishing in the Chahoochee recently. I had no idea it was so full of trout.
 
aproy1101 said:
Sounds like a great trip. We went fishing in the Chahoochee recently. I had no idea it was so full of trout.
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Musta really cleaned that sucker up since I was in Georgia. Most of the Trout I'd heard of bein' in the Chattahoochee were of the sewer variety.
 
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