Sometimes I see an avatar or read a signature and wonder what is the story behind it.

To get this moving, I'll start. The avatars I have been using are of Fleda Claes Johansson, more commonly known as Claes, from Gunslinger Girl. I am not a big fan of the series but I love the character. The signature I have been using is one of her pearls of wisdom.

Jeanette Isabelle

I worked on BUFFs - Big Ugly Fat F$#^&*%S - during my first few years (out of almost 26) in the Air Force. I have loved them to this day. My signature is something I made up.

My avatar is my dog Fergie. He's a Schutzhund German Shepherd. BTW Izzy, I find your avatar disturbing. Dog looks like its unhappy and struggling to get those fake teeth out of it's mouth. Not cool.

You are a gentleman and a scholar.

Izzy?! We need the big-eyed, shocked looking smiley face.

<---Blast, coming home from lasik surgery.

Ah, that's what that is. I had been dying to ask but didn't want to intrude.

My avatar is me. I'm on a backpack from last September in the San Gorgonio Wilderness in Southern California.

HJ

This is why I wanted to start this thread.

Jeanette Isabelle

A kinda pudgy fireworks with a slightly manic grin and an armful of fireworks... yeah, no, that doesn't describe me at all. *laughs*

As for the signature, it's from Ruroni Kenshin, and it describes (a) a large part of my perspective as a prepper, and (b) what I expect from others who I'd consider my peers. Like the people here.

The avatar is a pic of me. Right now it's one from a winter camping trip last year.

My signature is something that my grandmother (Gertrude Lillie a.k.a. Gertie) used to always say. It was her way of saying "Be prepared." She was a religious woman but also a practical one. She was a nurse and a good old fashioned prepper. She knitted, grew a subsistance garden, fished, hunted, snowshoed, canoed, camped, canned, fixed stuff, etc. She believed that "The good Lord will help us but he also gave us the good sense to be able to help ourselves and he expects us to do just that."

Somehow, I've never managed to get an avatar. I probably will one of these days. But first I need to get a round tuit.

My signature is inspired by Alaska, which has always seemed like a very different place to me. But somehow I seem to fit in here. I like quotes, here is another of my favorites:
"Alaska is a foreign country significantly populated with Americans. Its languages extend to English. It's nature is its own." - John McPhee (from 'Coming Into The Country'.)