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bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
15 years ago

Can’t say I’m too sorry about the termites!

Elaine
Guest
15 years ago

That does it. I’ve been brainwashed by Disney, because Balloo came to mind – you know, where he explains to Mowgli about finding food, etc. You see, I’m a city person. City of Willits.

Indie
Guest
15 years ago

Cool! Did you see it happen or do you just know how to recognize the signs?

When I used to live on Elk Ridge Road for a very brief time, a bear came and strewed my trash all over the place. The same winter there were stories of a bear coming into a neighbor’s cabin while they were asleep. While they watched from the loft, the bear messily and destructively raided their kitchen.

One late evening I was driving home and I saw a dog running beside the road, only it was running very strangely. Then I realized I was seeing a bear!

Later, when I moved to Shasta County, bear stories became fairly commonplace, but I’ll never forget those early experences.

silverstar98121
Guest
15 years ago

When I live in Colorado Springs, in Cheyenne Canyon, bears would come down occasionally. They would set the neighbors motion detector lights off. And that’s about as close as I want to get to a bear in the wild.

forkboy
Guest
15 years ago

Bears 1. Termites 0.

Toni
Guest
15 years ago

Yay bear! Poor tree.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

The tree was already dead so don’t feel sorry for it. The termites lost though and the bear has a tasty snack. I didn’t see it happen but the signs were there (my son pointed this out on our Christmas tree hunt yesterday.)

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

bear stories are still common on elk ridge indie…too many to relate. my last encounter occured early one summer morning a few years back. my landlord had been working on the waterline the night before, so, when i was awakened from a deep sleep by some loud banging outside i assumed he was back. displaying my usual early morning “slow-thinking” i quickly put a t-shirt on to go outside.
looking down the drive i saw a medium sized bear who froze in place. when i raised my arms to “look big” i had a “grin and bare-it” moment when i realized that i had not put any pants on and i was more than a little “embare-assed”. the bear turned away and then back towards me as if it wasn’t sure whether to be fascinated or offended. i heard the loud banging again from behind me, so i stealthily crept to an overlook just in time to observe a large blur racing back to her cub. she moved sooooo fast. whoa. the two exchanged this little mewing sound, they snuffled noses and turned to walk away. yes, this time i had some sense and didn’t follow.
so that is the second time i have prevented a predatory attack by exposing myself to the predator. this is a little known technique which i am actually not advocating for others, but has worked for me. i know my landlord won’t visit in the early morning anymore.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

My son claims your method is assured to work but my husband isn’t too impressed but we all are laughing.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

the only appropriate response. thank you.
apart from the sensational aspects of the story…
the soft mewing sounds between the two when mama bear greeted her big baby bear was pretty sweet.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

were

Kato
Guest
Kato
15 years ago

I’m sure glad to see signs that the local bears aren’t relying on trash-can fare for winter dining. Our bike trails have been made more challenging lately by overturned rocks and shredded logs; I know they’re getting grubs and mushrooms. I’ve seen only tracks and scat but my family watched a momma and a big cub circle our place last week (while I was a few hundred feet away, looking at tracks and scat…). We’ve also hear the mom give a kind of tooth-clicking call to her cubs. And it’s amazing how fast and quietly they can move given their size!

olmanriver: I won’t say how, but I can verify the success rate of running off a bear while running off bare…

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Olman, I would love to hear that sound–from a safe place!

Kato, I want to hear that story!

And unfortunately, that bear snack happened up by Watt’s Lake where we go Christmas tree hunting so keep your trash cans locked.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

thank you Kato…
the alternative theory i have for why my nakedness was offensive to bears is that a hairless torso and an erratically covered pate might look like a bad case of mange to a wild creature. if you could at least share the age and gender of the human in your “‘bare-assing” story, i could have more data for my theory.
humans could have less fear for themselves if they would realize that, as in so many areas, they dont have as much good taste as they think they do. if we tasted better we would be way up the list of predator favorites.
not to marginalize the danger of sudden encounters, or mother/cub encounters…but a lot of fear is groundless.
just take the example of that grizzlyman from alaska who was able to survive living in close proximity to bears for a long time… by baby talking to them. until one of the bears got tired of listening to the fella’s gootchie goo woogie woogie talk, as would i.
some fear–good. too much…unneccessary.
got story? kato?

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Olman, I doubt Kato would look like a bad case of mange. More like a wood nymph. She’s beautiful.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

you are quite right about that! i did not mean to apply my theory to her, certainly. she was a bit ambiguous…tho she was the bearer of the tale, she left it unclear just whose bare tail was unbearable to the bear.
the looking like mange theory so far only has me to support it.
if you ask me, both of you are veritable salmon creek quilters calender material!

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

i would buy one, for the school of course!

Staff
Member
15 years ago

You’re right. I had assumed it was her but maybe she meant someone else.

And coincidentally, there will be a Salmon Creek quilters’ calendar (mercifully free of my bare flesh though) for sale soon. I can’t wait to buy one myself.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

well that is good news kym, i am a little prescient as well as warped. knowing quite a few of you fine ladies, i actually was imagining you all beaming while discreetly wrapped in quilts. i will still buy one, for the school!
kato-maybe i should withdraw my request for further details and let you share it in person with kym….
and later on, me, when i blushingly inquire in person.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

got my calender today, thank you. and because i am a gentlemen…i shant repeat the bare vs. bear story i elicited from said person.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Hey, I never got my calendar or a story!

Kato
Guest
Kato
15 years ago

Kym, don’t worry, you get a complimentary calendar as a featured quilter; Olman, thanks for your support AND your discretion. And though you both flatter me (wood nymph? I’d say garden gnome, myself), you won’t get me to ‘expose’ my story publicly. As I was indeed the tail-barer as well as the tale-bearer, I think I’ve already said too much.

I’ll share another’s bear story though: after my daughter and I watched a gorgeous cinnamon mother and her two cubs explore every feature of our yard one spring, I was phoned by a concerned neighbor who questioned my arsenal of weapons– or lack thereof. He strongly recommended we keep at least a shotgun at the house for future encounters, after all, my child was just snack size for a three-hundred-pound omnivore! I assured him I was confident in our safety (at least from wildlife) WITHOUT a gun in the house, to much skepticism on his part.

A couple of days later, he called to say he’d been walking a trail on his land when he turned, only a few yards from the house, and was startled to find that a bear had been plodding along a ways behind him! He gave a little jump, and the bear did, too; they spent an indeterminate amount of time considering each other, and the bear finally shuffled off without incident. He told me, in complete reversal of his earlier opinion, that he thought these “bear people” were really OK, and we just need to have an understanding with them.

I think he found the solution to sharing the world with ALL beings, even the hairless ones…