03 November 2013
Wildlife
03/11/13 05:21
So did you hear the one about the guy from Quebec that went canoeing last July? Seems he left on a three month canoe trip starting near James Bay. For those of you who don’t remember, James Bay is the little tag that hangs off of the lower right corner of Hudson’s Bay. If you don’t remember where Hudson’s Bay is, it is the big hole in the middle of Canada. If you don’t remember where Canada is, then, well I’m afraid I can’t help you.
Anyway, a few weeks into the trip a bear attacked his camp. The bear ate all his supplies and damaged his kit. He had to scratch out a survival in the wilderness and try to work his way south. They found him this week, weak and thin but he’d survived, rather remarkable when you think about the terrain, and that it’s far enough north that they’ve been getting freezing temps for weeks now.
http://www.heartofthecontinent.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/ctn32ab_lbg_02_16jun05lgcmp.jpg
It’s a beautiful area but not somewhere I’d want to have to hike out of armed only with a Swiss Army Knife.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Police+Marco+Lavoie+near+death+when+found/9109912/story.html
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/10/31/man-rescued-after-three-months-in-quebec-forest
But Quebec wasn’t the only place where bears have been active. This week a couple of people in Churchill Manitoba were attacked by polar bears. This is the time of year when they come into town. The bears have gathered near the shore but the ice isn’t thick enough for them to go out hunting for seal. As a result they drift into town and cause trouble. (Those of you that know the Nomeland's, will understand this.) In any event the locals just learn to be careful. The part of the story that I found most interesting was that when the bear didn’t run off at the sound of gunfire, one of the locals had to challenge it with his car.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Two-people-hurt-in-polar-bear-attack-in-Churchill-230195481.html
At least we don’t have that sort of thing here on Vancouver Island.
Oh we did have our share of wildlife this week. Thursday being Halloween we had a few creatures wandering up to the door. A total of four came by our place, the younger ones having a parent or two close behind. Barbara had seven visitors over the course of a couple of hours. Good thing we laid in that extra 20 pounds of candy. It would have been close otherwise.
This being BC our actual wildlife gone wild story couldn’t involve bear. In our case it was a pod of dolphin that crossed paths with a BC Ferries boat. The story said a thousand, but I seriously doubt it was that many. Even a hundred would be a lot of dolphin in one area. In any event it was mighty impressive. It wasn’t in the deep ocean either. They didn’t cross paths with the Port Hardy to Prince Rupert Ferry that runs way off of the coast. No this was near Galiano Island on one of the short runs between the smaller Gulf Islands and the Tswassen Ferry Terminal, right off of Vancouver. Even better was that somebody happened to have the equipment to take video of the pod. What are the odds of that?
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/11/close-encounter-with-1000-dolphins-off-the-gulf-islands/
Lastly, the end of this week was very stormy. Wind, rain, it was really rough out there. the weather was so bad that The Spirit of Nanaimo, one of the BC Ferries Boats that service the smaller Gulf Islands was blown off course and smashed into a floating dock. The accident happened as it was leaving Mayne Island (just South of Galiano Island mentioned above). No word on if the accident happened because of the actions of dolphin, or bear, or even little house apes in costume.
Have a good week.
Doug & Marsha
(Oh and Doug's first chemo treatment went well - marsh)
PIX: Something to keep busy with. At Kool and Kid, the store where we get our Bob’s and Lolo DVDs, we found this line of all wooden working models of medieval inventions They are really authentic, no nails, rather they use wooden pegs and glue to hold the parts together. One is a trebuchet and the other is a torsion catapult. They were a lot of fun to build and I’m enjoying tossing cat toys around the house. Oh, and the other picture was taken Saturday afternoon. I told you the weather here has been lousy.
Anyway, a few weeks into the trip a bear attacked his camp. The bear ate all his supplies and damaged his kit. He had to scratch out a survival in the wilderness and try to work his way south. They found him this week, weak and thin but he’d survived, rather remarkable when you think about the terrain, and that it’s far enough north that they’ve been getting freezing temps for weeks now.
http://www.heartofthecontinent.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/ctn32ab_lbg_02_16jun05lgcmp.jpg
It’s a beautiful area but not somewhere I’d want to have to hike out of armed only with a Swiss Army Knife.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Police+Marco+Lavoie+near+death+when+found/9109912/story.html
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/10/31/man-rescued-after-three-months-in-quebec-forest
But Quebec wasn’t the only place where bears have been active. This week a couple of people in Churchill Manitoba were attacked by polar bears. This is the time of year when they come into town. The bears have gathered near the shore but the ice isn’t thick enough for them to go out hunting for seal. As a result they drift into town and cause trouble. (Those of you that know the Nomeland's, will understand this.) In any event the locals just learn to be careful. The part of the story that I found most interesting was that when the bear didn’t run off at the sound of gunfire, one of the locals had to challenge it with his car.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Two-people-hurt-in-polar-bear-attack-in-Churchill-230195481.html
At least we don’t have that sort of thing here on Vancouver Island.
Oh we did have our share of wildlife this week. Thursday being Halloween we had a few creatures wandering up to the door. A total of four came by our place, the younger ones having a parent or two close behind. Barbara had seven visitors over the course of a couple of hours. Good thing we laid in that extra 20 pounds of candy. It would have been close otherwise.
This being BC our actual wildlife gone wild story couldn’t involve bear. In our case it was a pod of dolphin that crossed paths with a BC Ferries boat. The story said a thousand, but I seriously doubt it was that many. Even a hundred would be a lot of dolphin in one area. In any event it was mighty impressive. It wasn’t in the deep ocean either. They didn’t cross paths with the Port Hardy to Prince Rupert Ferry that runs way off of the coast. No this was near Galiano Island on one of the short runs between the smaller Gulf Islands and the Tswassen Ferry Terminal, right off of Vancouver. Even better was that somebody happened to have the equipment to take video of the pod. What are the odds of that?
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/11/close-encounter-with-1000-dolphins-off-the-gulf-islands/
Lastly, the end of this week was very stormy. Wind, rain, it was really rough out there. the weather was so bad that The Spirit of Nanaimo, one of the BC Ferries Boats that service the smaller Gulf Islands was blown off course and smashed into a floating dock. The accident happened as it was leaving Mayne Island (just South of Galiano Island mentioned above). No word on if the accident happened because of the actions of dolphin, or bear, or even little house apes in costume.
Have a good week.
Doug & Marsha
(Oh and Doug's first chemo treatment went well - marsh)
PIX: Something to keep busy with. At Kool and Kid, the store where we get our Bob’s and Lolo DVDs, we found this line of all wooden working models of medieval inventions They are really authentic, no nails, rather they use wooden pegs and glue to hold the parts together. One is a trebuchet and the other is a torsion catapult. They were a lot of fun to build and I’m enjoying tossing cat toys around the house. Oh, and the other picture was taken Saturday afternoon. I told you the weather here has been lousy.