Saturday, September 13, 2008
Black Bear Crosses Lake
This is a series of black bear photos from a recent fishing trip in Canada. This bear was crossing the lake and I motored up to him for rare photo op.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Youth
The other day I was preparing to go on a bike ride when my two little cousins spotted me from up the road. Shane and Zack are 8 and 11, respectively, and I enjoy their company. Occasionally I take them for ice cream, take them fishing, play baseball, etc., and on this particular day, they wanted to go riding with me. Well, okay, I thought. Why not.
Less than two miles from my house is a rails-to-trails. The old railroad tracks have been torn out and the bed smoothed over. It's a nice easy ride. One section, however, has deep ravines on each side of the trail. Dirt bike trails swoop down through the ravines, cut up over and cross the bike trail, and then swoop down the other side through the other ravine.
When Zack and Shane saw these dirt bike trails, they had to give it a try. Zack went first, pedaling hard. Shane was right behind him, except Shane didn't pedal, he only coasted -- and he quickly found out that the trail was so steep that if you didn't pedal to keep up with gravity, you would ultimately crash in the bottom of the ravine.
He crashed. And cried. But that didn't keep him from collecting himself and his bike and trudging up the other side. Once at the top of the other side, both boys raced downhill (pedaling this time!), through the ravine, and came up to the bike trail so fast that they had to hit the breaks to keep from flying over and down the other side.
With one side of the ravine conquered, they decided to take on the other side. And so did I. Something about being around kids gives me a false sense of being young myself. When you're a kid, it's no big deal to fall hard, crash, get bumps and bruises. But when you're older, a broken bone can mean lost work especially if you're self-employed like me.
Oh, it was a thrill, though. I made it down one side and up the other and then back again without complications. This time, however, Zack wasn't so fortunate. Halfway down the hill he hit a rock and wiped out. All I saw was a boy and his bike tumbling into the ravine in a cloud of dust.
A minute later he pushed his bike up to the bike trail and said he wasn't going to try that anymore. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"Well," he said, "I hit my chin off the handlebars, my head and arm are sore, and my nuts hurt. Other than that, I'm fine."
Less than two miles from my house is a rails-to-trails. The old railroad tracks have been torn out and the bed smoothed over. It's a nice easy ride. One section, however, has deep ravines on each side of the trail. Dirt bike trails swoop down through the ravines, cut up over and cross the bike trail, and then swoop down the other side through the other ravine.
When Zack and Shane saw these dirt bike trails, they had to give it a try. Zack went first, pedaling hard. Shane was right behind him, except Shane didn't pedal, he only coasted -- and he quickly found out that the trail was so steep that if you didn't pedal to keep up with gravity, you would ultimately crash in the bottom of the ravine.
He crashed. And cried. But that didn't keep him from collecting himself and his bike and trudging up the other side. Once at the top of the other side, both boys raced downhill (pedaling this time!), through the ravine, and came up to the bike trail so fast that they had to hit the breaks to keep from flying over and down the other side.
With one side of the ravine conquered, they decided to take on the other side. And so did I. Something about being around kids gives me a false sense of being young myself. When you're a kid, it's no big deal to fall hard, crash, get bumps and bruises. But when you're older, a broken bone can mean lost work especially if you're self-employed like me.
Oh, it was a thrill, though. I made it down one side and up the other and then back again without complications. This time, however, Zack wasn't so fortunate. Halfway down the hill he hit a rock and wiped out. All I saw was a boy and his bike tumbling into the ravine in a cloud of dust.
A minute later he pushed his bike up to the bike trail and said he wasn't going to try that anymore. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"Well," he said, "I hit my chin off the handlebars, my head and arm are sore, and my nuts hurt. Other than that, I'm fine."
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