Ever since my brother was a little kid he loved mainly two things in the world more than anything else, these are (1) animals, and (2) "cool stuff". Having literally his hands full of pets as a child, Nate has always and will be forever a sucker for every kind of animal, which I attribute to our mother who is the biggest softy for any animal on the planet, (which as a side note is maybe why we are all pretty wussy in that respect). For those of you who don't know my brother, lets define "cool stuff" as, the physical materials that most "domesticated" Americans don't think about on a daily basis. These could include, among many others,
camouflage suited for a room of mirrors, a miniature
Katana that turns into a dog collar, and most importantly high black leather boots. I attribute this mainly to the brilliant, psychologically
savvy marketeers of the Hasbro Toy Company who make G.I. Joe. My brother has never been a junk collector, he is a "cool stuff" collector, which is a big difference to such an elite animal rescuer/civilian ninja! Through his eyes, these dudes have it all figured out.
The real American Hero's
If I were the high school counselor sitting across the desk from a young boy dressed in camouflage, infamously known for possessing strange pets, whose list included Goats, Fighting Chickens, Iguanas, Snakes, Turtles, Ducks, Dogs and Cats, I probably would have either sent him to the United States Army Recruiting Office, or given him all three Ace Ventura movies and sent him on his way, case closed. Turns out his High school counselor didn't do his research, so Nate moved to California to play baseball in college. But what about all those underprivileged pets that need help, you ask, don't they need an undercover agent to protect their rights? In steps PETA, not Nathan Boyd Nelson, who has been known in the past to use those high profile skills turning friend into food. After a few years Nate considered being in the National Guard, and my family will never forget his excitement after completing his initial National Guard Recruit Pep-Rally, and how he wouldn't stop talking about how "cool" his new stuff was. Now if I remember correctly, which I almost always do, this consisted of a duffel bag and a pair of high black leather boots.
Hey Ty, look at how high they go, and they come with extra laces !
It even has one shoulder strap Dad, not two, cause that would be to practical, and subsequently not cool.
Turned out going for the weekend retreats were not as cool as the stuff that accompanied them, so he went to study Criminal Justice instead. After many years of hard work he now gets to incorporate his two favorite things into his job, and totally loves doing it. He is now on the K-9 Swat Team unit in the Kootenai County Sheriffs Department, where he gets to run around with cool stuff all day, and he gets to play with animals. After years of rigorous training, he is know prepared to receive his Ninja Psuedonym, AE TheK-9 Wizard, who's secret Ninja move is 'The Hungry Dog Avalanche Maneuver', because the dogs he has trained cannot be "whispered" at, or they will eat your face. I think the new nickname is pretty cool, like his stuff. These pictures are my brothers dream come true and I think they are so awesome I had to post about them. Its not too often that people know exactly what they want to do and make it happen, nice work bro.
That's not all of his cool stuff, there is more strapped to his back and hidden in the soles of his high black leather boots.
Would you try to whisper to his dog Iron?
This is no beat up car screeching into a perfectly parallel parking job with a crazy haired,
Hawaiian shirt wearing knucklehead, but still a pretty cool entrance.
