Funny

[IanC]

I just ran into the blog of a guy I was camped next to a few months back.  I was there during some events that occurred and his report was nothing like what actually happened.  Made me chuckle. I guess it makes for boring reading if you're posting adventures from the road and the reality isn't as dramatic as what you're looking to portray.

Although this bear that's been calling in the woods not far from me has gotten me a bit spooked. I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to wildlife. Coyotes howling back and forth really give me the willies, and rattlesnakes....forget about it. But, If I had a blog, I could have wrestled my sandwich away from this bear and sent him packing.

Going to take a drive around these dirt roads and going to see if I can spot him, maybe get a picture from the safety of the truck.

 

[ArtW]

Lol
I've seen people dress up events when they weren't blogging, not surprised

 

[Almost There]

Doesn't even need a blog writer to dramatize something although it helps!

I have a campground owner here who is both a total wuss and absolutely dramatic.

3 days ago the elderly border collie next door decided that the campground owner needed to be herded...she managed to leave a teensy (1") red mark (no blood, no torn pants) on the back of his leg because he wouldn't do what she was telling him to do... He was in 'her yard'!

So far it's been an emergency visit to the doctors, no first aid required. He was told that if it hurt him to put ice on it. So far he's still icing it down...sigh!

Oh and he's been around to all the rest of us to a)warn us about the dog and b) dramatize it a whole lot...you'd have thought it was a 350 lb bear that got him from his telling of it.

She (the dog) is the sweetest thing you'd ever want to meet!

I couldn't restrain myself from laughing at him and came l l this close to telling him not to be such a wimp! I did ask him what would happen if he ever hit his thumb with a hammer...

 

[Gunny]

Guilty of the same thing. Years ago while in my truck camper I was awakened by something rocking the camper. I yelled HEY while I looked for my shotgun. As I cautiously looked out my window I saw the rump of the biggest damn grizzly in the state of Montana running away at a high speed.

That afternoon I went into Cascade for supplies and was having breakfast when the realtor I bought the land from came in. He joined me and I regaled him with my giant grizzly story. He asked if there were scratches on the camper, something I hadn't thought of, and when I told him I didn't know, he and i plus a couple of other locals went out to look.

To a man they all started laughing which kind of pissed me off and I asked why.. Between snickers, I was told at most it was a yearling and a small one at that.

I still say it was the biggest griz in Montana.

Rob

 

[TrainChaser]

IanC, Don't worry about the coyotes, they're just 'musical'. They're smart enough to take off if you yell 'scat!'. It might be a different story if you were bleeding bad and surrounded by a pack of them. Rattlers, now.... they don't always rattle.

Gunny, the locals always say that. It's never a BIG griz unless it was after THEM.

AlmostThere: "I did ask him what would happen if he ever hit his thumb with a hammer..."

He did. That's why his head still hurts.

 

[IanC]

  Rattlers, now.... they don't always rattle.

A guy in Sweetwater told me that the rattlers in that part of Texas have learned not to rattle because wild hogs eat them so they stay stealth. Told me he stepped on one once and thought he was on a cow pie until he looked down- had to make the decision whether to step down harder or make a leap for it - he leaped.

 

[Dennis]

**snicker** I bet you are right, Rob. Probably the biggest griz in that spot in Montana anyway.

 

[mayble]

To a man they all started laughing which kind of pissed me off and I asked why.. Between snickers, I was told at most it was a yearling and a small one at that.

I still say it was the biggest griz in Montana.

Rob

Does it really matter?  I say hell no!  It's a bear!
Is there a difference between being run over by the big school bus or the short bus?

 

[Ballenxj]

My Border Collie was as nice as they come, but if he sensed something about you he didn't like, he would you and me both know about it.
He had a good sense of character, and didn't like druggies. I swear he could tell if you were on something. He let me know about that multiples of times about certain people.
Another thing, as friendly as he was, if there was something about you he didn't like, he would "not" back down. He raised heck with you until either you left, I told him to back off, or I told you to leave. If I told him to back off, he would still hang around and growl under his breath.
He had a heart of Gold, and I miss him.

 

[IanC]

My Border Collie was as nice as they come, but if he sensed something about you he didn't like, he would you and me both know about it.

Had a little terrier mix who was the same way. With some people he'd lie with his head on his paws never taking his eye off them, but if they went to shake my hand to say goodbye or approach me too closely, he'd turn into a raging demon. Loved that little guy and still miss him 10 years later. I was going to bring his bones with me - I felt like I was betraying him when I left him behind.

 

[rvpopeye]

My Dalmatian was like that too.

The breed was created for stamina and killer instinct to run along with horse drawn coaches and to protect the horses from wolf attacks.

I spent many hours training her to get the breeding out of her personality 99% of the time she was as gentle as a baby and people always asked if she was one of those dogs that didn't bark ,,,,
but sometimes someone would just send her into override mode and it was all chomping teeth and snarling !
Even scared me the first time it happened at about 3 years old..

And Ian + Gunny.
Bears are a common sight up in the county as we call northern Maine where I spent a lot of time hiking and canoeing as a 20 something.
A year old bear ,grizzly or any other variety still has very sharp teeth and claws with large amounts of strength to make use of them. Not a joke to deal with even if an older bear has more of everything !!!!!!!!!
So anybody laughing at you was ignorant and never really had to deal with that reality.
Montana natives rarely travel away from home without a large caliber equalizer because of this fact.

You guys aren't wussies , just smart !
Heyyyy Boo Boo , smarter than the average bear !


Oh yeah , this is the funny thread..
A pirate and a seagull walked into a barrrrr.
The bartender just said nothing and gave them a bottle of rum !
(It's funny because there's no punchline)
I Ain't Right............. Skuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh

 

[lenny flank]

A guy in Sweetwater told me that the rattlers in that part of Texas have learned not to rattle because wild hogs eat them so they stay stealth. Told me he stepped on one once and thought he was on a cow pie until he looked down- had to make the decision whether to step down harder or make a leap for it - he leaped.

Several populations of rattlesnakes in the northeast have also learned to not rattle--it allows them to hide from people with shovels.

The Catalina Island rattlers have gone this one step further--they no longer have any rattles. It is not certain if this is simply a response to living in an environment where there are no large animals to give a warning to.

 

[IanC]

Several populations of rattlesnakes in the northeast have also learned to not rattle--it allows them to hide from people with shovels.

It boggles my mind.  That is not regular evolution, it's passing knowledge from one snake to the next. The snake who escaped the shovel would have to be able to realize that it was his rattle that make him stand out and make a conscious decision not to follow instinctual behavior and pass the information on until it becomes the normal behavior. Or, would it be that only the snakes who never used their rattles remained alive to continue breeding until most never rattled? Just amazing, isn't it?

 

[lenny flank]

Nah, it's just natural selection at work: the ones who rattle, get killed and don't pass on their genes: the ones who stay silent, get to reproduce and pass on their genes. So eventually the genes for "don't rattle" spread through the population.

Snakes are indeed capable of learning and are not totally stoopid, but they still run mostly on instinct.

 

[IanC]

Back to the bear. Had me going inside again a half hour ago when I heard him going through the woods and the dog's hair stood on end and he became rigid. I've seen a few in neighborhoods in Mass and they used to walk right through the campground when I stayed in Old Forge, NY for a summer, but being out here miles from another living soul and it's pitch dark is another thing altogether. Friggin eerie. I'm going to try and get a sound recording of him in the morning when he's vocal - it's LOUD

There is a vault toilet here. It doesn't stink, but I bet it puts out enough human smell to act as a deterrent to a bear who isn't used to human interaction. Just a theory.

 

[TrainChaser]

IanC: "There is a vault toilet here. It doesn't stink, but I bet it puts out enough human smell to act as a deterrent to a bear who isn't used to human interaction."

Or.... it smells like a meat market and he can't find the plastic-wrapped trays.

 

[XFILE36]

Does it really matter?  I say hell no!  It's a bear!
Is there a difference between being run over by the big school bus or the short bus?

Yeah, and the mamma bear was probably close by!   :s

 

[XFILE36]

The Catalina Island rattlers have gone this one step further--they no longer have any rattles. It is not certain if this is simply a response to living in an environment where there are no large animals to give a warning to.

Maybe from Fukushima?

 

[lenny flank]

Maybe from Fukushima?

They were that way hundreds of thousands of years.  

(As an aside, I happen to know one of the marine scientists who is monitoring the Pacific Coast for radiation levels. The data shows that the level of radiation reaching the US from Fukushima is barely measurable above background rate. Nearly all of the released radiation has stayed in Japan.)

 

[Gunny]

A short 30 second video... Why the guys stop is a mystery to me.

http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/html5/htm...ry_id=0_6o98dk66&flashvars[streamerType]=auto