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I'd love to have one of your walking sticks! I've actually considered buying one, but my diabetic cat (who also has IBD and FLUTD) consumes my paycheck. I love animals, have 7 inside cats, 5 outside cats, and 1 dog. I drive an 88 Caravan that's been in desperate need of a brake job for the last 3 weeks, just waiting for payday to have that done. I've even made 2 walking sticks using closet dowel, but I'm giving one to my friend and one to my husband! If I were to win one of your sticks, it would be treated with TLC, used as much as possible, and cherished for a lifetime!

 

Note: I sure could have used a hiking stick today! I was out caching today, found the first one, signed the log and rehide it. As I was returning to my van, I came upon this very steep hill. (Nope, I didn't go out the same way I went in.) If I had took a running start and jumped over the tiny creek I'd have been ok, but I've somehow injured my back a bit and running is definitely out of the question. So, I thought that I'd be able to just plant my left foot well enough to enable me to grab a small tree......yeah, right! My left foot slid out from under me, my right foot said what the heck and joined the left, and I ended up going down on my face. :rolleyes: Thankfully I held my gsp out in front of me, and my shoulder pack I carry landed beside of me. Whew! What a day! :lol:

Edited by WolfWalker
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Mom uses a hiking staff when hiking to help her out and I know that she would cherish one of yours. Sure, she has a nice staff that she found somewhere, but if she had an El-Diablo staff, she would cherish it so much. Especially if she knew that what I wrote led to it. I would love to think that in some small way I could give back to my Mom the things that she gave to me. :lol:

That's so sweet! :rolleyes:

She didn't even have to talk about freaky cat issues either.

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I say give it to the next newbie who creates an account here at GC.com and make him/her feel welcome....

Great idea...but I cringe to think of the number of sockpuppet accounts that would be created.

 

So many great pleas so far. This is going to be tough.

 

El Diablo

I am NOT a sock puppet, I am a human being! :P And I would love one of these staffs! You do awesome work El Diablo!

 

Steve

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First let me say thanks to all of you that have complimented my work.

 

There have been some great replies...keep them coming. It's still up for grabs. Although there are going to be a few that are going to be hard to beat, but I'm sure if you put your minds to it, you can surpass all others!

 

El Diablo

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I am putting in a request on behalf of my grandmother. She is a (rather loopy) 87-year old lady, and the best grandmother I could ever ask for. She is a widow, and my grandfather was the one who had all the interest in technology, so she is consistently over half a decade behind the times as far as that goes. Through some miracle, a friend of hers introduced her recently to geocaching, and she loves it. She loves exercising and being outdoors (provided it's warm enough, of course! :P ), but she doesn't see that she's not in the shape required for caching. Her right foot has been getting pretty bad over the last 2 years, despite 4 minor operations, and she is recovering from two slipped discs in her spine (OUCH). I can't stand to see her put her health on the line like this, and a good sturdy walking staff would help her SO much. I was about to buy one for her from Target, but I saw your post here. She's not registered here (yet- I'm working on it :o ), so she won't know what the GC.com logo is right away, but she'd love a staff with "such beautiful designery on it!!" (a University of Iowa "Hawkeye" logo, since she's a very supportive fan). My grandma is one of my best friends, and I'd be proud to give her the best walking staff anywhere as a sign of that friendship. Thanks!

 

 

EDIT- finished an incomplete sentence

Edited by ornryactor
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I would like to be the recipient of your hiking staff, not for me, but for my husband, who is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf. We've been married 18 years, and during that time, he's probably been away from home half of it.

 

He's been out to sea since January of this year. He's been in the Navy for almost 20 years and is retiring this July. They should be sending him back home before then, hopefully, so he can get back to caching other places besides Malta and Bahrain which had maybe three caches total! (check out his profile at Cacheola, he uses that one when the kids and I are not with him).

 

On the geocaching front, let me tell you a little about our family, Cacheola Crew.

We started Geocaching in October of 2002. My boys and I actually found our first cache without a GPS while my husband was out at sea. But when he got home, he was into it immediately and we've been caching slowly but surely ever since. We are all involved in scouting and like to do things outdoors (camping, hiking, rapelling).

 

In April of 2003, we sponsored the first Geocaching Hampton Roads CITO event. In July of 2003, we started a yahoo group for cachers of Hampton Roads and had our first event cache in September of 2003. There are now almost 90 members in the group, and the group is planning a second CITO event. Our family has attended many geocaching events, in other areas, and always enjoy meeting other cachers. Feel free to check out our profile, glance at our photos and get to know our family.

 

Anyhow, I can't think of a better retirement gift for "Cacheola" than one of your hiking staffs. He suffers from a torn meniscus and we usually just pick up a suitable stick off the ground when caching. He would be very surprised and happy to get one. (crossing my fingers that he doesn't read this first!) What better symbol of being "retired" than a hiking staff?! I feel he truly deserves it.

 

But, the main reason I ask to be considered is this: I am a stay-at-home mom, so usually when I get him a gift, it just comes out of HIS money anyhow, and it isn't really a gift. But if I could somehow be the one chosen to receive the hiking staff, it would be a true gift for him from me. One he didn't ultimately have to pay for himself! I would love to be able to give him back something after all he's given to us over the years.

 

Sincerely,

Cacheola Crew Mom

 

81505_300.jpg

 

Edited for spelling, and to make sure I said STAFF and not STICK :P

Edited by Cacheola Crew
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I discovered geocaching while I was getting my strength back after being on chemotherapy for a year. The chemo was expensive; retail cost of the medication was $3000.00 every month. My insurance only covered 70% of the cost, which means that I had to pick up the other 30%. I have depleted my savings, and gone fairly deep into debt, but the chemo worked even better then the doctor expected, and I am now in complete remission. To celebrate I went a little deeper into debt and bought a 60c (hey, it was cheaper then 1 month of my co pay!) so I can take long hikes and enjoy life while I still satisfy the gadget freak in me. However I am reluctant to go deeper into debt I did not even get the City Select software. maybe in another year.

 

I would very much enjoy a walking stick, but if I don't get one that is fine too. Life is too short to spend much time worrying about it. BTW this is not a rant against drug companies either. The chemo saved my life and I hope they made a TON of profit.

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My post (aka "Why it should be me"):

 

Because you chose me to receive a walking staff. That may seem obvious, but that would be the best reason to give me a free walking staff. While your decision may be influenced by empathy or comedy for a particular post here, I still felt it worth the effort to put in my submission in the contest. I would use your walking stick on my numerous geocaching and other adventures throughout New England and wherever else I end up hiking for the next 50+ years or until it can no longer join me on my trips and will take up a decorative place in my house with the other mementos that I have collected from my trips.

 

Attempting to decide between whose post was the funniest or saddest may leave you looking for an alternative and I hope to provide you with a fair assessment of what a free hiking staff would mean to me. I often use "just a stick in the wood" and leave it to rot when I'm done for the day; preferring to find a new one the next time I go out rather than dress any specific one up for the long haul. Having my own crafted staff would give me a reliable, hand-fashioned tool to replace what the woods have been providing me so far.

 

Finally, unlike quite a few other people here on the forums asking to win this contest, I am unlikely to purchase a walking staff from you (I still have a viable alternative from the woods each time). These occasional contests for a free staff provide the only way I will likely receive on of your valued staffs.

 

Thanks for reading.

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I was going to tell you that you should give me the staff because I would take it to every NYGO function/gathering and loudly and eloquently sing its praises, thereby causing everyone to rush out to order one of their own from you.....then I saw the post by Cacheola Mom and decided that you should give the staff to her husband and I'd just order one for myself.

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Ankle hasn't been the same since I dropped my motorcycle on it last year! Haven't tried anything too hard yet since then. Yeah, poor me. :-) Summer is coming quick here in Colorado, just stationed back here. Looking forward to some good geocaching soon. Don't matter if I get it but pretty cool you are giving one away.

 

woffles

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I vote for Cacheola Crew's husband as thanks for his many years serving our country and allowing me the ability to sleep better at night for our safety!!

Me too.

 

I've met the whole Cacheola Crew, including Cacheola Dad and they're truly great people.

 

:P

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I don't deserve it, but my boyfriend and caching partner in crime probably does! Dudeface got me into the addiction and has consistently recruited other people in as well. Together we have placed 26 caches in 3 months in our area and found just about all existing caches in a 30 mile radius.

 

Dudeface rocks because he's all about making it better for others. He trades up, stocks caches, scouts out new locations, etc. Everytime we go on a hiking cache, I see him pick up a stick to carry along with us. He even swats the spider webs out of the way and picks them out of my hair when I'm not looking where I'm going.

 

So yeah, Dudeface is cool enough to get one!

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What a kind offer for such a great item. Love the sticks...

 

Well, I don't know that I "deserve" one but I can offer you something unique. I am an archaeologist gearing up for yet another long field season in a remote area of central Mongolia. We live in our tents, eat sheep purchased from the local nomads and crap in a hole for several months.

 

I would love to have one of your great walking sticks to take with me. I would be happy to bring back some unique photos of the local nomads showing off your walking sticks during their daily duties. They still use wood-wheeled carts, herd goats and sheep, ride camels and round up wild horses, this all taking place daily all around us.

 

That's what I humbly offer...

 

Thanks for the consideration.

 

Mark

{ArchaeologyMan}

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I'd love to have one of the famous El Diablo hiking staffs... I don't have a sob story, but I think my frog would look VERY cool on a staff! In fact, I almost bought a neat frog staff at the Zoo yesterday... but I fought temtation, since I'd much rather KNOW the staff artist.

 

I've also got a recommendation -- "Tribalized" is a starving student and has a very cool avatar that would look good on a staff!

 

Joel

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Crying out loud, how the heck can I compete at all ? None of my relatives are sick, my grandparents have already passed away. This means I can't get them a staff and steal it while they sleep.

 

My pets are healthy, except for when I beat them. That, paired with me being mean to my wife and son rules out the "nice guy" plea.

 

I'm not stationed over seas, visiting nomadic sheep-eaters, leading scout troops, or setting up shelters for ugly wet cats, banished smurfs, or vain geckos.

 

My legs are good enough to carry me to all the micro-caches I'm finding lately, and, when I do stray into the woods, theres usually a perfectly good stick lying around to pick up.

 

My avatar would probably suck on a staff, and the most use I'd put it to would probably be poking my wifes kid sister with it.

 

I'm no good at begging, except for se.., uh, SEXONDS at the dinner table, yea thats it.

 

My forum posts are rude, sarcastic, nonsensical, and rambling. In short, I guess I'll give up and go mug some orphans and senior citizens.

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I would like to add just a little more to my plea. I'm now even more financially challenged.

 

A couple weeks ago, my neighbor ran his truck into my Blazer, knocking off the mirror (it's was just hanging there by it's wires and needed to be taped up to get it driven to the repair shop without further damage. I'm still waiting get get my $200 back on that. Today, on the way to work, my Blazer dies. One tow and a total of $475 later, it is drivable, but I was told that the water pump will need to be replaced shortly as well (which will cost another arm & a leg.)

 

At this rate, I will not be able to afford a hiking staff for about 6 years!

 

And to prove how much I need a little support on my adventures...I can guarantee that I will fall or somehow wipe out about every third cache. My very first cache had me doing the splits down a slippery wintery slope, and most recently, I slipped going up a gravely rocky incline. I will never again have pretty summer legs at this rate.

 

I have had two knee repairs and anticipate at least two more. I have nearly no cartilige in my knees, and lots of tears in the cartilige in the right knee. My left knee has been operated on twice -- once to repair a torn ACL, and a second time to piece together a shattered kneecap and reattach the quadriceps muscle to the knee after I ripped it loose after a fall. An El Diablo staff would be a big help.

 

That's all the pathetic-ness I can come up with at this time (added to my pet health stuff I wrote about previously.)

 

 

I volunteer any free time I have to a number of causes -- American Cancer Society and Greyhound rescue being my biggest causes (but pet welfare in general). I have worked for the past 15 years (or maybe it's more than that!) with disabled populations and helping them acheive their goals (currently, community employment based). So I'm a nice person too....

 

Maybe I'm not the most needy of your staff (although looking at my checkbook would lead me to think that!), but it was just nice to share my woes with you.

 

Oh, and have a nice day!

Bec

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I won't post in the forums for a whole week if you send me a hiking staff....... :P

Make it 6 months, take uperdooper, wildearth, GPSax, and anyone with a "ringbone" reference in their signature with you and I'll buy you one. :D

Et tu, Brute'?

 

Hey, El Diablo, could ya make one with a ringbone design for me? :D:o;):P:P:D:P:o:P

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I would like to tell you about our Daughter...one of the 'desert sailors'...SHE IS PREGNANT!!!! :o Hoorah!!! She is expecting our first grandbaby boy on Aug. 13 (Friday) :P She is our only child & this is our only chance to be grandparents & they have waited a while to finanlly start a family--30 something...she loves geocaching when they have time. She grabs Yucca stalks to use as hilking staffs--they live in Tuscon, AZ. All of the caches she loves to go to are up in the hills in rough areas, with one of your staffs...I would not worry so much about her going caching into these areas.

 

She is a fantastic daughter...loving, thoughtful (most of the time), very kind to elderly people. OH, That's us :P

 

I know she would love & cherish one of your hiking staffs, if you choose her...she will cry...It's a pregnant thing! :D

 

So, this would be a 'happy staff'! Your favorite thing that you have ever carved into a staff would be great...or a lizard? or a baby? or not.

 

WE ARE EXPECTING!!!!! YAAAAAAA!!!!!!

 

Shirley of the 2oldfarts

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Here's the deal, El D. If you send it to me I won't post what you did last summer. (You know what I'm talking about.) ;)

 

I think we have a winner!

 

Seriously, if you decide that more than one is deserving I would gladly chip in to help purchase staffs for the others.

Edited by geospotter
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Here's why I think I should get a free hiking staff from El Diablo:

 

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have

been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more

efficient in the area of heat retention. I write award-winning operas,

I manage time efficiently and occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

 

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot

bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty Minute

Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and

an outlaw in Peru.

 

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended

a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I

play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets. I am the subject of

numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in

my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair

electrical appliances free of charge.

 

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics

worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't

perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. Last summer

I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral

arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children

trust me.

 

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I

once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and

still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the

exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed

covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep

in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a

group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do

not apply to me.

 

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On

weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago

I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made

extraordinary four-course meals using only a Mouli and a toaster oven. I

breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving

competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played

Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

 

But I have not yet won a free staff from El Diablo.

 

;)

 

 

(copied from the web...)

Edited by bradtal
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Here's why I think I should get a free hiking staff from El Diablo:

 

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have

been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more

efficient in the area of heat retention. I write award-winning operas,

I manage time efficiently and occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

 

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot

bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty Minute

Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and

an outlaw in Peru.

 

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended

a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I

play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets. I am the subject of

numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in

my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair

electrical appliances free of charge.

 

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics

worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't

perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. Last summer

I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral

arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children

trust me.

 

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I

once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and

still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the

exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed

covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep

in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a

group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do

not apply to me.

 

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On

weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago

I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made

extraordinary four-course meals using only a Mouli and a toaster oven. I

breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving

competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played

Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

 

But I have not yet won a free staff from El Diablo.

 

:D

OMG!!!!! ;););):D:D

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Amazing craftsmanship on the staff's El Diablo!!! I checked out your web page and the detailing on the staff's are really well done.

I am not going to give a sob story about injuries, sickness or old hockey incidents. The reason that I would like to win one of your staff's is that my wife is due any day now with our first babie(s) :D Twins to be exact. So we are going to be some pretty proud parents for the first time. We both love the outdoors and are active campers, hikers and especially geocachers. I have purchased two snugglies so we can take them on their first hike and cache. I will have to be extra careful because of the slippery/muddy/snowy conditions here in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. I have been looking into the idea of a staff to help with the footing, so as not to fall. I would never forgive myself if something happend(neither would my wife) ;)

I have actually been waiting for my new 60c for way too long. I sold my legend a couple months back thinking that I could get the new one in a week. What a mistake. I am going geocrazy without a gps. (Word is that I will have the new one by friday) ;)

 

Can't wait to be a dad, Can't wait to take them on their first hike, Can't wait to get my new 60c......now that's priorities :D

 

Fire Eater

 

P.S. Being a firefighter and soon to be dad I have some neat ideas for a design on the staff...whether I win or look into placing an order!!! ;)

 

P.S.S. Could be some good exposure up here in Canada. Lot's of cachers on the trails as well as hikers that have not been introduced to this past time.

Edited by Fire Eater
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I gave up not 1 BUT 2 days of caching to drive to Omaha so the wife could go to her Clay Aiken concert!!!

That just put Weasel in first place in my book. You poor, poor man. Forget the staff, this qualifies you for Sainthood. ;)

AND....If going to the concert wasn't bad enough, I had to go to the pre-concert get together where a bunch of-50-60 year old women were talking about what they would like to do to him!!! <SHIVERS> These women were old enough to be his grandma!

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a clay aiken concert????? ouch, that's gotta hurt. are you well yet?

I don't I will ever be right again!!(not that I was all right to begin with ;) ).

 

Frankly, I would rather do nude log rolls all day in a field of poison oak and stinging nettles than endure that pain again!

Your wife is lucky to have you, and you can tell her I said so. ;)

 

And I do think you deserve a staff for being so accommodating by giving up two days of caching for her.

 

GPSKitty

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