The "Bear" Truth

 

A recent black bear attack in Tennessee reminded me of a camping trip I took a couple of years ago.  I love to tent camp and do day hikes from my campsite.  Usually I camp in either national or state run campgrounds.  My family’s idea of roughing it is a Holiday Inn with no pool, so I am usually alone in my adventures. Such was the case of this trip.

 

 

I had traveled by car all night and most of the day to reach the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania.   The park’s name was “Hickory Run State Park”.   Having never been to the Pocono’s I was looking forward to some new sights to see.  The time was 3:30 pm. The day: Monday. The setting: deserted campground at Hickory Run State Park.

 

Upon arrival I was impressed by the size of the park.  It was a very large campground.  The front part was reserved for RV’s with full hookups.   A few of them had set up residence.  My section, tent only, was way in the back of the campground.  There was no one there. I had the place to myself.  Awesome!   Setting up my tent took about an hour.  I got a fire started, lit up my cigar celebrating my arrival and began to relax with nature acting as a personal massage to my body.  

 

Darkness soon began to set in.  I needed to call home to report that I had made it safely.  My cell phone was signally no service, so I got in my car and drove to a pay phone at the camp store.  It was completely dark when I returned to my tent.  As I pulled the car into the spot next to my campsite I was astonished at what I saw, three black bears, one mother and two of her cubs.  One of the cubs climbed up a tree directly above my tent.  There it was, about 10 feet above where I was planning on sleeping for the night.  I slept in the car.

 

The morning came and the bears were gone.  I got the fire going again and made coffee and cooked breakfast.  Sitting back, planning my hike for the day, I heard a commotion at the bathhouse.  Walking towards the noise I caught my second glimpse of the bears. There she was again, mamma bear and her two cubs. She had knocked over the trashcan and was rummaging through its contents.  I did not shower that morning.

 

I did a hike to Boulder Field.  What an awesome sight. I have included a picture in my photo album.  Returning to my campsite about 3 in the afternoon, my legs ached and I was ready for a quiet evening around the campfire.  As I was cooking my dinner, there they were again, eyeing my food.  Quickly, I threw the food into the trunk of my car.  Getting my camera out I took some shots.  Oh how brave I was.  Lol  Actually, I was standing at my car, door open, ready to dive in if needed.  I ate my dinner that night in my car.

 

 

There were other sightings during my 4-day stay at the park. One such sighting was the scariest of all. I was walking around the campground and heard this noise coming from a large trash bin.  When I was about 20 feet from the bin, there she was.  She stuck her head out, did a very convincing growl, swiped her paw at me.  I knew exactly what she wanted.  I turned and went the other direction.

 

I did sleep in my tent those next 2 nights.  As long as food was not present I figured I was safe.  As soon as I got home from my trip, I bought a giant can of “bear repellent” It is like pepper spray on steroids.  The bear experience has not stopped me from camping, but I do feel much better prepared now.  Enjoy the nature when you can, but remember, we share this earth with all kinds of creatures. They have the right to be here too.

 

Ed

Be Careful What You Wish For

 

A couple had been married for 25 years and was celebrating their 60^th birthdays, which fell on the same day.

 

During the celebration a fairy appeared and said that because they had been such a loving couple for all 25 years, she would give them one wish each.

 

The wife wanted to travel around the world. The fairy waved her hand, and Boom!  She had the tickets in her hand.

 

Next, it was the husband’s turn.  He paused for a moment, and then said shyly,  “Well, I’d like to have a woman 30 years younger than me.”

 

The fairy picked up her wand, and Boom!  He was ninety.

 

Trust Your Sixth Sense?

 

What is it that governs our decisions that we make each day?  Is it our logical mind or our practical side?   Does it take research and modeling of outcomes to guide us with our most important choices that we make?  Or do we trust our intuition?  At least that is what a female may say.  For men we call it our “gut” feeling?  I guess listening to ones intuition however sounds more appealing than listening to our gut.  At any rate, I was reading an article today about how we should pay more attention to our sixth sense, our intuitive thinking. 

 

The article was about an author by the name of Sonia Choquette.  She will be speaking at a Women’s Lyceum here in the future.  I must say that women probably do a better job of listening to their intuition than do men. So as in many lessons in life, it is the female persuasion that we often need to listen to.  Here are some of her thoughts. 

 

            “It is a matter of learning to pay attention to your own biology and learning to pay attention to those subtle signals and give them importance rather than what we generally do, which is to ignore them. “

 

            Her suggestions to build up our underused sense of intuition is:

 

                        Rest up.  Sleep more. Slow down.  Give yourself more quiet time alone. Over stimulation drowns out your subtle inner voice. 

 

                        Wonder, don’t worry.  Wonder is the front door to intuition.  Attack problems this way: I wonder how to solve this problem; versus I’ll never solve this problem.

 

                        Set goals.  Intuition works best when it knows what it is serving.  The clearer you are about your goals, the more your intuition can serve to support them.

 

            She suggest you try these thoughts the next time you have to make a decision:

 

                        My head says…_____________.

                        My heart says… _____________.

                        You will immediately tune into your intuition. 

           

More powerful is this:

                        If I weren’t’ afraid, I would…_________. 

 

Have a great day and don’t forget to let your “sixth sense” help guide you.

 

Ed

Southern Trip

 

I have just returned after being out of town for the past few days.  My journey this time took me down through Oklahoma and further south to Corpus Christi, Texas.   It has turned summer down south and the air-conditioning was put to good use. 

Missouri has its Ozark Mountains and Kansas has the Flint hills.  But did you know that Oklahoma has mountains as well?  They are called the “Arbuckle Mountains”, a range of low, rolling hills, rising 700 feet above the prairie.  For the most part this “mountain” range is located south of Oklahoma City and north of Ardmore, Oklahoma.  At one time they were a huge mountain range formed in the Precambrian era by a combination of sediment in the marine sea, which overlie igneous rocks of a volcanic nature about 285 million years ago.  These strata were folded by Tectonic compression into a high mountain range.  Over eons of time, wind and water have worn away the peaks leaving just small hills now. 

 

My final destination was Corpus Christi, Texas.  A port town loaded with military and oil industry.  I spent some time in Aransas Pass and Padre Island.  The beaches here are not the clean finely manicured beaches you might find in Florida but there are a few that are gorgeous. Many residents and visitors as well spend a lot of time fishing in these waters. Of course, if you love the ocean, the beaches are secondary.  One beach I would for sure recommend was further north at Rockport.   You can walk out hundreds of feet and still just be hip deep in the water. 

 

I hope my pictures give you a feel for the area.  Enjoy.

 

Ed

Be an optimist or a pessimist?   I guess what I am doing today brings that question to the forefront.  A few weeks ago one of our cars was outside in a hailstorm.  At first inspection I did not see any damage.  But a few days later, in a different light, I saw a few hail dings in the hood.  So, I decided to have the insurance take a look at it.  To my astonishment they found over $1900 damage.  To this day, I still cannot see some of the damage they paid me to have fixed. Here is the dilemma.  Shall I be a pessimist and not fix it?  After all, it will most likely just get dinged again at some point. The optimist in me is saying, “fix it”. 

 

What have I decided?  Well, as in most debates, a compromise has been reached. I am off to have the damage that I can see get fixed. The rest will be just become ancient history.   After all, out of sight out of mind.   

 

Don’t sweat the small stuff.  Have a great day.

 

Ed

Natchitoches, Louisiana

 

     On my trip to Baton Rouge, I was able to spend the night in the little town of Natchitoches, La.  Traveling along the bumpy brick roads in downtown one cannot help but notice the ornate ironwork on the bridges and shops.  Watching the horse drawn carriages make their way up and down Main Street along the Cane River conjures up images of days gone by. 

 

     Founded in 1714 the city was originally established as a French outpost on the Red River to facilitate trade with the Spanish in Mexico.  The flood of the 1830’s changed the Red River course, leaving a 26-mile long oxbow lake called Cane River that runs through the downtown district. 

 

     Once a bustling river port and crossroads, Natchitoches gave rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river.   Affluent planters not only owned charming country plantations, but kept elegant houses in town.  I was told that Natchitoches is one of the top six retirement locations in the United States. 

 

     The pictures that I posted, (my pictures leave a lot to be desired, lol ) show just a peek at the sights you will see if you ever get the chance to visit.   If you have ever seen the movie “Steel Magnolias”, I have included the house where much of it was filmed. It is now a bed and breakfast.  Bed and breakfast your cup of tea?  Stay in an 1800’s plantation!!! 

I just got back in town from a trip to Baton Rouge, La.  Did not spend much time there but I did do some exploring in Natchitoches, La.  I hope to write about that quaint little town and post some pictures.  The buildings and history are something to see. 

 

Happy Easter

 

Ed

Breaking the Law?

 

I, for the most part, am a law-abiding citizen.  The police do such an outstanding job and I have the utmost respect for them. The situations they are put in, one can only imagine how we would react.  Now I know there are a few law enforcement officers that may not deserve our respect.  But until you have walked in their shoes, I do give them the benefit of the doubt, that as a whole, they truly are interested in helping and protecting us. 

 

Having said all of this I want to relate a story that was on the news yesterday. It seems an elderly lady was crossing the street in Los Angeles, CA.  She walked with a cane and would not win too many races at her age.  The crosswalk light turned green and she started to walk to the other side of Foothill Blvd.  As she was making her way across, the light turned red.  She just could not get to the other side in time.  I am sure we have all been there at one time or another.  Well, in this instance, there was an LA motorcycle officer waiting for her as she stepped to the curb. When she finally reached the other side of the street he wrote her a ticket for walking on a red light and impeding traffic.  What do you think?   Is this right? Are our lives so busy that we cannot show respect to our elderly?  I am glad a boy scout was not helping her or he would have gotten a ticket also for aiding and abetting a criminal. 

 

Ed

 

 

 

Beware of Airport Shuttle

 

A recent trip to Tucson, AZ left me wondering about who is driving the airport shuttle.  I had arrived at the motel for the night and made my arrangements for an early morning flight out for home.  After contacting the front desk of my need for an airport shuttle the next day I settled in for a good nights sleep. 

 

Morning came, and I got up early enough to enjoy some of the motel’s free breakfast.  (Anyone that knows me understands that, lol )   After breakfast I went to the motel lobby to await my shuttle to the airport.   It seemed a bit chaotic in the lobby as many people were coming and going, none really looking like they knew where it was they were coming from or going to. At any rate I waited patiently for my ride.  I had an extra half hour to spare so I was not concerned yet.  Well, that half hour slipped away and still no shuttle driver.  A talk with the front desk clerk yielded some results. It seems the regular driver had not shown up for work. But not to worry, they would stick the “gardener” in to drive me to the airport. 

 

As you are probably aware, many laborers in the southwest do not speak any English. This was the case of my substitute driver.  He did smile a lot though.  We finally departed for the airport, still looking like I would have plenty of time to make my flight.  I had been to the Tucson airport before so I sort of knew the direction we would go.  Well, my smiling driver did not go that way. 

 

It was rush hour, so I figured he knew a back way. Sure enough, a few minutes later I saw the backside of the airport.   Relief started to set it. That was quickly replaced however with fear. You see, my driver pulled into the first airport entrance that he saw.  THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD GATE.    Needless to say, pulling into a restricted area with the guard holding a gun on you is a bit unnerving. My driver stopped and pointed for me to get out.  He kept saying  “Airport, Airport”!!!    So what to do?  I knew I did not want to get out with the guard approaching, his gun ready for action.  The guard started towards the driver but could quickly see that he could not speak English.  It was my turn to explain why we were trying to get into the Air National Guard gate. 

 

I was able to explain what was going on and the guard gave me directions how to get to the commercial side of the airport.  We started to back out, but without warning, my smiling driver put the van into drive and drove through the gate, the guard coming after us, gun drawn. I rolled down my window and yelled,  “He is just turning around, let us turn around please”!  We did get turned around and finally got back onto the main street. Two stoplights and turn right would get us to the correct airport location. 

 

I thought my driver understood my directions; well at least we were headed the right way.  Before you knew it though, he was pulling into another airport entry. This time it was the “private aviation” entrance.  He started pointing again, “Airport, Airport “ and wanted me to get out. Yelling I said, “NO NO, we are going to get shot”!!  I convinced him to back out, and we finally made our way to the airport terminals.  Needless to say I was a bit shaken, but looking back at it, a funny trip.  He never stopped smiling; I gave him a tip and climbed out of the van. To this day, I am not sure if he made it back to the motel. 

When Does Life End?

 

It seams a simple question to ask.   “When does life end?  One’s first response might be a simple one.  Easy, life ends when brain and lung function cease. Webster says that life is: the quality of plants and animals that makes it possible for them to take in food, grow, produce others of their kinds, etc, and that makes them different from rocks, water, etc. [Death is the loss of life.] Ok, my question has been answered. Do you agree?  Is the end of life that simple? Let’s look closer at what it means for life to end.

 

To examine the end of life let us take a look at when life begins. You would think another simple question.  Does life begin at birth?  Does life begin at conception?  Oh my, a simple question about when life begins perpetuates one of our generations most heated debates. One could even stretch the point a bit and say that life begins when two people begin to mate. The twinkle in their eyes as they anticipate the act of making love.  The building up of hormones that race to a conclusion in the act of lovemaking. Does life begin then?  At the start of “foreplay”?   Ok, maybe I should stick to when life ends.  When life begins is way to complicated. 

 

Back to when life ends.  Perhaps for some, life ends in stages. First the loss of a loved one may cause a piece of their life to end.  Retirement may cause one to feel that life has ended, boredom setting in. The feeling of not being loved, not being needed, not being important.  A loss of independence, not being able to take care of ourselves any longer.  All of these may cause one to feel that a major part of their life has ended.  It is like life has been put on pause, waiting to be started again, waiting for another phase of their life to start that validates their existence again. If validation is not found, the final stages of life sets in, not to be reversed to an early form of being. Is that the end of life?

 

Most of the previous paragraph speaks about the emotional part of life.  Lets look at it physically.  We celebrate life often when one dies. Does that give us a hint at when life ends?  Does it end when the doctor pronounces us dead?  Again, seems like a simple answer then. Life ends when our body no longer breathes, thinks, functions.  Is that the end of what is a complex being called life? We are born, we live, and we die.  Is that it?

 

I think not.  If you look at life as a form of energy then ponder Einstein’s theory. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed it can only be changed.  Can that theory be applied to a human life?  Can life neither be created nor destroyed, only changed?  We go though life altering many things. We change the way we look as we grow. We change our relationships; we change how we feel about things.  Is that what life is? Therefore death is only a change to a different form of energy? 

 

Ok, let me put an end to this perplexing question.  My theory of when life ends.  The answer you see is: “IT DEPENDS”.  Ok, what the hell does that mean?  Let me expand.  Life begins with HOPE.  HOPE of a new life, a new life bringing love and growing into a person that can make a difference.  The stages of life end and begin with HOPE.  When something in our lives goes wrong, HOPE is what gets us going again. When death, as is defined by the medical community nears, HOPE brings us to terms with it.  HOPE makes us believe that life does not end at death.  HOPE assures us that there is life beyond the boundaries of earth.  So you see, life ends when one loses HOPE and never regains it.  When does life end?  Life ends when HOPE is lost.  Life NEVER ends when there is HOPE for something better.