Not a soccer mom

We’re making lists here in the mountains of northern California.

We have partaken of the following activities: hiking, lake and pool swimming, kayaking, cycling, river rafting, tennis and golf (well, trying not to lift too much turf on the driving range in fact).

We have seen the following animals: rabbit, squirrel, scrat (a cross between a squirrel and a rat), mole, beaver, raccoon, coyote and a chipmunk that our friend Clare spotted shopping in the local deli.

For an urban girl at heart I am thoroughly enjoying this immersion in nature and the outdoor life.

We have not seen a bear, even though they are relatively common. They are lured into people’s yards by garbage that hasn’t been safely locked into bear-proof metal trash boxes and roam around the forests and meadows here.

The official guidance on what to do when you meet a bear is not dissimilar to the behaviour one should adopt when chancing upon a mountain lion: stand tall, don’t run, scoop up little children who might instinctively and understandably do just that; make yourself big and loud; make eye contact but don’t stare; and, finally, and most ludicrously given how you would in fact be feeling at this precise moment facing a huge, terrifying beast of a thing, “walk on by and appreciate the wonder of nature you have encountered”.

Mmmm, that counts as a bit too close to nature in my book.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Archives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.