August 4, 2008

"The one thing that was most vivid to me was watching that bugger spit my teeth out."

Memories of a bear attack.

12 comments:

Methadras said...

Tough-ass broad. My kind of woman.

The Drill SGT said...

The quote my station played last stuck in my mind as an image though the words have slipped away:

she described the bear swatting her forehead and hearing each of the claws one after the other pop through her skull :(

ugh...

TitusSantaClaraVanguard said...

I was attacked by a bear once at a bear bar in Amsterdam.

I did an incredibly hot guy last night-he was one of my best I have ever had.

vbspurs said...

What a great crystalline, old-fashioned American accent she has. She sounds like Eleanor Roosevelt.

Here is her profile in Newstrust.com.

She describes herself as a "bon vivante/social pariah".

Heh.

Cheers,
Victoria

TitusSantaClaraVanguard said...

The bear in Amsterdam growled at me too. I was scared.

TitusSantaClaraVanguard said...

The bear in Amsterdam wanted me to be his cub.

Blue Moon said...

VB:

How does one become a bon vivante? Is it a title you can confer on yourself or must you be given the title?

On another note, Darren Bent's looking good in the pre-season friendlies. Your lot might make the CL places this season, even though there's only one Robbie Keane.

vbspurs said...

How does one become a bon vivante? Is it a title you can confer on yourself or must you be given the title?

I'm glad someone responded about this, Blue Moon! It gives me a chance to correct the spelling (which she got right in the site).

A bonne vivante is definitely something you can use for yourself. Ironically, it's not as hoity-toity as it sounds.

Basically, she likes a good time, a title any honky tonk girl could use if she thought of it.

Social pariah, OTOH, has to be conferred unto you.

The combination of the two just sounds dotty rather than quirky (which is surely her intent).

And thanks so much for your good wishes about my beloved club! :)

Cheers,
Victoria

Kirby Olson said...

I remember some football player mentioned on the Superbowl HalfTime Show that he prepared for games by reading a book about Grizzly Attacks. The book, which had been published by a tiny outfit sixty miles outside of Seattle, suddenly sold a million copies.

The book company reaped a whirlwind profit you'd think, but what happened is they had to sink so much money into making the million copies that when they went to send them out, a lot of them came back because that moment had passed. They went broke, as I recall.

Unknown said...

Four years ago upon arriving at our cabin on Lake Tahoe, my dog became agitated upon entering the cabin. I first thought she was just glad to be out of the car and happy to be back at the cabin, but her behavior was not happy and it seemed she was looking for something. I searched the cabin thoroughly and found nothing. We proceeded to haul in our bags and began to unpack. We were standing in the kitchen when the dog ran over and started barking at the floor in front of the refrigerator. I looked over and noticed the refrigerator was moving slightly up and down... I moved to stand next to our dog and as I squatted down to figure out why the fridge was moving, all of a sudden, the refrigerator raised up so high it hit the cabinets above it. I could then clearly see two sets of very large claws come out from under a trap door beneath the fridge and behind them a large snout and *very* big teeth. My dog went nuts. I grabbed my wife and young son and got them back into the car. I then went back for our dog (a good size Dalmatian) who was barking like mad at the bear who was growling like mad and trying to push through the trap door. Fortunately the fridge had jammed against the cabinets leaving too small an opening for the bear to get more than its many-inch claws and some snout through. I brought the dog to the car and we headed home. I came back the next day with the "Bear Lady" who is a Tahoe landmark. She deals with errant wildlife (mostly bears) in populated areas around the lake. She went in the house and told me to move the fridge. I looked at her and asked if she was sure and she insisted. I moved the fridge off the trap door which she promptly opened and jumped right into... The area under the cabin is about four feet high at that point so she bent over and shined her flashlight around. "They're right here about three feet to my right." she said. "There are four, a mother, two cubs and an older adolescent." she stated matter-of-factly. I thought we were both dead. Then she then began yelling and screaming at the bears and I was now sure we were both dead. Much to my surprise the bears left the way they had come in - a tunnel they had dug on the far side of the house. I helped her out and we both ran to the front door in time to see a very large female (400 to 500 lbs), followed by the 150 pound adolescent and the two cubs running away into the forest. The Bear Lady and her crew (who had been waiting outside) blew air horns and chased the bears about a mile up into the forest next to the ski resort. The bears had built a nest about ten feet in diameter under the cabin and were planning to make it their winter abode from what we could tell. Needless to say we sealed up the foundation so that wouldn't happen again. I will never forget the sight of the fridge moving up and down and those massive claws emerging from that trap door.

rhhardin said...

Bon vivant means vichyssoise to me.

Jeremy said...

Great story F15C. Thanks for sharing.