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To: Crocodile who wrote (52081)	6/3/2006 8:17:48 AM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 104154

Mother Nature, i figured all of those dragonfly photos would have raised a peep out of him They were excellent! Peep, peep!!! Nice job as always. I've just been so busy with everything since taking two work days off for camping and another one for our mini football annual golf tournament. I figured if I had commented on the bugs, then I'd also have to comment on the camping trip and that would have taken so much time. The camping trip was great (until Monday). I mean I really enjoy these camping trips with all the families we know. Friends helping friends set up and hang tarps to shed the rain. You wake up and grab your coffee cup and walk over to the first campsite you see that has their coffee pot brewing. Light hearted conversation and silliness throughout the day. Running jokes are born on Friday and are equally funny by Monday morning. Kickball game. Parents vs Kids. The rivalry might only be matched by the Yankees and Red Sox. <g> Final score : Parents - 21 Kids - 22 But the best and worst part of the campout was that we were visited by a huge Momma Bear and her teenage son. It started early Saturday morning. I got in my car and was heading over to the shower house to beat the rush. I saw Devon's dad rushing over to greet me with his camera. But then he kept running by. The only words he could utter was "bear." He said it quietly enough not to wake any one but loud enough to let me know he was serious. I looked over and saw a medium sized black bear standing next to a huge black boulder. Then the boulder moved. It wasn't a rock but instead it was the mother of all bears. Must have been 400 lbs. Mother's job was to keep cover for the smaller bear on point. The smaller bear would investigate the picnic table and see what food the dumber campers left out over night. It was three feet from a family inside their tent. I didn't know what to do. I put my car in drive and turned up towards them in an effort to scare them off without waking up the entire CG. It grabbed a loaded shopping bag and pulled it to the edge of the woods. Mother and son tore open some hot dog rolls and enjoyed breakfast while posing for a growing number of amature wildlife photographers. One silly lady was that type of person you see on that TV show called The Worlds Stupidest People where you see them getting trampled by a Bison because they want to pet it while taking its picture. I just sat back and soaked up the moment. Then I drove a bit closer to try to coax them the rest of the way back into the woods. They just kind of looked at me and I figured I didn't need to piss them off. I had never been so close to a bear. Actually I had never even seen a bear in the wild. Just in the circus. But they usually wear too-toos and ballet shoes and balance on large balls with an umbrella. Not these two. They were the real deal. Yogi and Booboo raiding the pic-a-nic baskets. Finally someone with some sense began banging some pots and pans and they ran up the mountain. So I figured that was the end of them. I was wrong. They kept coming back. All day long. After a while the novelty ran off and it was becoming annoying because it really upset the mothers who in turn would upset the fathers who were just trying to get everyone to enjoy themselves. I viewed the bears at superpowerful racoons. They really didn't want to bother anyone. They were just being sneaky in their pursuit of garbage and food scraps. As the day went by you could tell where the bears were last spotted because of the sound of pots, pans, and car alarms sounding off. It almost became comical at times. As we sat around in our lawn chairs goofing off we could tell we were far enough off to be safe. But then eventually enough people complained and they brought in the Park Police Man. It seemed obvious this dude had failed the real police test and was lucky enough to be issued a badge protecting the trees. Fans of the show Dukes of Hazzard would equate him with Roscoe P. Coaltrain. He was on a mission. After years of boredom this was the call he was waiting for all his carreer. This was the first bear sighting in the park for 20 years. Until now he was in charge of making certain that no one was speeding on their way to pick up bags of ice. Roscoe was armed with a 12 gauge shot gun that had rubber buck shot in it. He'd scamper over like Arnold Scharzenegger with his sunglasses on and blast the bears. The thunderous noise would scare the heck out of the kids and everyone else in the park. As proud as he could be he would march back to his car assuring us that "those bears won't be coming back again after he showed them who was boss." Whatta dumb man. The bears were back in an hour. Now this kept happening all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday with long breaks of fun in between the raids. Rumors would circulate that they tranquilized the bears and relocated them to New Jersey only to hear the car alarms sounding later on. Eventually the bears weren't as afraid of the pots and pans and Roscoe's gun blasts were starting to annoy the bears. It had scared Junior up the tree and sent Momma running to a different part of the park. Just great. Now Momma was separated from her son. Everyone knows that is when Momma is most dangerous. Roscoe had now chased her with a few more blasts right into the woods that abutted my thin walled tent camper trailer. I ran up the hill to get my wife and kids into the car. They were really frightened hiding in the camper. I was only armed with my coach's whistle, a swiss army knife, and a can of Bud Light, but I was ready to take down this bear if it came anywhere near my family. I was pissed. Pissed at the whole situation, not really the bear. Pissed that everyone's fun had turned to fright. (And annoyed that my nightly short trips to the woods to take a leak would be sort of spooky...) Sheriff Roscoe just seemed now to be on a mission to teach these bears a lesson. Monday morning we heard the shots again early. But then it was quiet. Except now for the sound of a front-end loader tractor running up the road. I quickly did the math in my head. Two shots + 1 tractor sound = 1 dead bear. I went running up the loop road to see a crowd of people gathered around talking to the ranger, others yelling hate at him, and the front-end-loader with a blue tarp flapping with a motionless black boulder inside the bucket. That son of a bitch shot the bear using a 12 gauge slug. He said that he had to take it down because the bear looked angry after the first shot of rubber to it's chest and it began to lunge towards him. A sad relief fell over the camp ground. Relief that we would not have to keep guard over our kids but very sad that these assholes handled it so poorly. I can't imagine why the bear could not have been either tranqed or trapped in a baited cage earlier in the weekend. Instead they waited until the day everyone was leaving to kill the poor animal. It ended the great weekend on a sour note. Despite the sadness, it certainly will be a weekend we all will remember forever. -Peeper

To: Crocodile who wrote (52081)	6/3/2006 8:21:17 PM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 104154

i figured all of those dragonfly fotos would have raised a peep out of him, but so far, nada. The other thing... I find it difficult at times to spend so much time typing on this computer to tell my story, when I see others get by with just a few words. Especially when the effort it takes doesn't seem to want to be matched when others who have an interesting experience. (Altie and Croc are the exceptions to this.) Everyone else here have shown that they can type out their story. I just think they either don't think we appreciate hearing it, or they just don't want to put in the effort. So I'm just gonna sit back for a while. Especially since I wonder at times if the large amount of words I peck, only equate to something quickly scrolled through as fast as a copy-n-paste of some news clipping. There are so many stories out there that folks here don't feel like putting the effort into sharing... Snot fair. -Itsall Worthtelling