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Lucky To Be Alive

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    • Ewok11 wrote:

      I have a healthy fear/respect for the moose who share my general living area. The black bears are bigger and a little more "people" friendly" than those I'm used to. The brown bears mostly just mind their own business and ignore people. The wolves (despite the signs in the training areas on the back side of the base that state there is an aggressive pack) so far, I haven't seen or heard. There are supposedly wolverines and lynx that live here with the humans but I haven't seen them either.

      I've seen multiple porcupines but they aren't scary but I don't try to play with them either.

      I generally see less animals when I'm actually in the woods/on a mountain/hiking, than when I walk around my neighborhood. It remains an interesting and strange place for me.
      Strategically place a game camera where you can monitor it regularly in your housing area. Wager you'll record interesting wildlife video within a few nights, especially on the nights preceding trash collection day.

      Lest we forget.....


      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC

    • Dan76 wrote:

      Ewok11 wrote:


      Strategically place a game camera where you can monitor it regularly in your housing area. Wager you'll record interesting wildlife video within a few nights, especially on the nights preceding trash collection day.

      I usually just have to walk or drive around. I've seen the neighborhood moose (plural) on several occasions and one of the yearling black bears decided he would try to share a burger with one of my neighbors and almost made it through a window before she managed to slam it closed on him. He took part of the screen and part of the frame with him when he crawled back down. (See below)



      Also, since I live on a government installation, I have to be super careful about where and what I record, so I could only set up a camera that shows my front door, which is a hideous color somewhere between ocher and vomit. Not very interesting to look at for sure. 8|
      “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T. S. Eliot

    • There's a lot of wildlife in places you'd never expect, we just don't see them, when I was young growing up in MS a friend and I were shooting rats at the local garbage dump when we saw one, got within 3', no question what it was, but they were not supposed to live in the area...and this was just outside town...millions of rats that provided easy food source.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.

    • TrafficJam wrote:

      TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) is investigating a photo of a cougar taken by a trail camera on private land.

      wkrn.com/2015/10/06/twra-inves…show-cougar-in-west-tenn/
      [IMG:https://mgtvwkrn.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/cougar.jpg?w=640]

      I have built a lot of trail cameras and I still use a few, but I gotta say; that's a horrible setup for a trail camera. The bush directly in front like that is going to give hundreds of false triggers. Also, if you should ever get bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, etc. on one of your cameras and you're not trying to BS someone with your pictures then provide a picture from the same setup with yourself in it. Everyone with a trail camera has pictures of themselves on their cameras.
      If your Doctor is a tree, you're on acid.

    • I used to belong to a trail cam building forum way back when and the proliferation of fake* photos prompted one member with really good photoshop skills to put 3 or 4 of the best into one photo. Well, some other members ran with it and before long the picture had grown from one deer to at least 50 different animals, it was awesome, LMAO! I still laugh when I think about that picture. I only wish I had access to it now, lol.

      *Not that the photos themselves were necessarily fake, but that they weren't taken where they were claimed to have been taken.
      If your Doctor is a tree, you're on acid.

    • We almost flipped over on the US Navy destroyer I was stationed on way back when, due to a hurricane that changed course and we didn't get warning over the ships's radios in time.

      If I had close calls camping, I don't remember them.

      Camille, in case you ever heard of it.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

    • JimBlue wrote:

      We almost flipped over on the US Navy destroyer I was stationed on way back when, due to a hurricane that changed course and we didn't get warning over the ships's radios in time.

      If I had close calls camping, I don't remember them.

      Camille, in case you ever heard of it.
      I remember Camile well. Grew up in Florida and my older sister helped me create a scapbook on it.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • It took 3 big bumpers, cylindrical about 6 feet high and 4-5' in diameter, for our ship to tie up to the pier. We had 6, the storm took 4 of them. A helicopter had to bring one out to us. We lost almost all of the main deck lifeline and had to repaint part of the hull, before we went into port.

      Only 2 guys got injured. They got up to go to the bathroom, just as a wave hit the ship. They both got launched across their berthing spaces, bunk areas, and got cracked or broken ribs. One guy got a broken colar bone.

      I tied myself to my bunk and tried to sleep.

      Lifeline is the wire rope spaced like a fence on the main deck. Its to give you something to grab aholt of so you don't fall overboard.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

    • JimBlue wrote:

      We almost flipped over on the US Navy destroyer I was stationed on way back when, due to a hurricane that changed course and we didn't get warning over the ships's radios in time.

      If I had close calls camping, I don't remember them.

      Camille, in case you ever heard of it.
      I had a tour of the Gulf coastline heavily impacted by Camille a awhile back. The guide was a teen when Camille hit. He showed me several locations whereby folks were holding hurricane parties when Cammille came ashore. He said most attendees did not survive and many bodies were never recovered. I asked him what he did prior to Katrina. His response was 'I got the family the hell out.'

      Lest we forget.....


      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC

    • I was in an EOC, emergency operations center, for a hurricane that hit the Biloxi area that same fall. It fell apart as it came ashore.

      I read some things on line after Sandy written by people who lived miles from there. I and others got after them. 'They should have built further from the shore than 52 feet'. Yeah, Katrina went miles inland in places. I replied back to that idiot 'You must never have lived inhurricane zones. The tidal surges don't stop unless they hit high ground. Otherwise they go in for miles.'.

      I wasn't going to leave for Katrina... until I saw Weather Channel in Biloxi, saying, get out now. I was gone less than an hour later.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

    • JimBlue wrote:

      I read some things on line after Sandy written by people who lived miles from there. I and others got after them. 'They should have built further from the shore than 52 feet'. Yeah, Katrina went miles inland in places. I replied back to that idiot 'You must never have lived inhurricane zones. The tidal surges don't stop unless they hit high ground. Otherwise they go in for miles.'.
      You're right about the storm surge going miles inland. Check out sandy.wim.usgs.gov/home/webmap…8c20c4117bdb8e92e3239837e and zoom in on the NYC area to see how far it went in the back bays of New Jersey and Long Island.

      Also, it's kind of hard to have a seaport without building close to the water.

      My brother lost just about everything in Sandy, having done everything right. The house was on the waterfront, but it was 5-6 feet above grade, and the yard was a few feet above the grade of the road. The house had weathered the storm of 1938, which was everyone's 'superstorm' benchmark. Sandy brought water 11 feet deep in the street, and the house took water above the doorknobs. He had not evacuated, reasoning (correctly) that the upstairs would be an effective shelter, but when the surge came, all that he had time to grab was his boots and the dog.
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.

    • AnotherKevin wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      I read some things on line after Sandy written by people who lived miles from there. I and others got after them. 'They should have built further from the shore than 52 feet'. Yeah, Katrina went miles inland in places. I replied back to that idiot 'You must never have lived inhurricane zones. The tidal surges don't stop unless they hit high ground. Otherwise they go in for miles.'.
      You're right about the storm surge going miles inland. Check out sandy.wim.usgs.gov/home/webmap…8c20c4117bdb8e92e3239837e and zoom in on the NYC area to see how far it went in the back bays of New Jersey and Long Island.
      Also, it's kind of hard to have a seaport without building close to the water.

      My brother lost just about everything in Sandy, having done everything right. The house was on the waterfront, but it was 5-6 feet above grade, and the yard was a few feet above the grade of the road. The house had weathered the storm of 1938, which was everyone's 'superstorm' benchmark. Sandy brought water 11 feet deep in the street, and the house took water above the doorknobs. He had not evacuated, reasoning (correctly) that the upstairs would be an effective shelter, but when the surge came, all that he had time to grab was his boots and the dog.
      homeowners have been dicked around by fema, while others filed fraudulant claims for vacation homes. 3 years later and many people are just now getting their houses raised, and getting the work done they need. as far as moving? generations have lived here for a hundred years. noones going anywhere, until mother nature eventually wins out, which it inevitably will.75% of long beach stayed to protect what they could, and noone knew really where to go,since most families and friends all lived there. we'd been through hurricanes before. it is amazing that the loss of life from sandy was as little as it was ,given the immensity and severity of the storm.
      we joke that if we had known then how bad it would be, 75% still would have stayed.
      the argument about not living in the right place is nonsense, as texas can attest.there is no place thats completely free of risk of some natural disaster whether it be flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, mudslide, wildfire,hillary.
      its all good

    • The 'standard' for evacuation was Camille. But, Katrina hit as a CAT 3 storm, but a CAT 5 storm surge.

      When Lake Ponchartrain sloshed, the water came in from the north and took out the CAT 3 levees.

      Note that Lake Borgne, which has a narrow area into Lake Ponchartrain, is actually a bay ! Early explorers had a mapping problem. But they are still called lakes due to tradition.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

    • JimBlue wrote:

      We almost flipped over on the US Navy destroyer I was stationed on way back when, due to a hurricane that changed course and we didn't get warning over the ships's radios in time.

      If I had close calls camping, I don't remember them.

      Camille, in case you ever heard of it.
      Just out of curiosity where was your ship located when it encountered Camille?

    • hikerboy wrote:

      AnotherKevin wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      I read some things on line after Sandy written by people who lived miles from there. I and others got after them. 'They should have built further from the shore than 52 feet'. Yeah, Katrina went miles inland in places. I replied back to that idiot 'You must never have lived inhurricane zones. The tidal surges don't stop unless they hit high ground. Otherwise they go in for miles.'.
      You're right about the storm surge going miles inland. Check out sandy.wim.usgs.gov/home/webmap…8c20c4117bdb8e92e3239837e and zoom in on the NYC area to see how far it went in the back bays of New Jersey and Long Island.Also, it's kind of hard to have a seaport without building close to the water.

      My brother lost just about everything in Sandy, having done everything right. The house was on the waterfront, but it was 5-6 feet above grade, and the yard was a few feet above the grade of the road. The house had weathered the storm of 1938, which was everyone's 'superstorm' benchmark. Sandy brought water 11 feet deep in the street, and the house took water above the doorknobs. He had not evacuated, reasoning (correctly) that the upstairs would be an effective shelter, but when the surge came, all that he had time to grab was his boots and the dog.
      homeowners have been dicked around by fema, while others filed fraudulant claims for vacation homes. 3 years later and many people are just now getting their houses raised, and getting the work done they need. as far as moving? generations have lived here for a hundred years. noones going anywhere, until mother nature eventually wins out, which it inevitably will.75% of long beach stayed to protect what they could, and noone knew really where to go,since most families and friends all lived there. we'd been through hurricanes before. it is amazing that the loss of life from sandy was as little as it was ,given the immensity and severity of the storm.we joke that if we had known then how bad it would be, 75% still would have stayed.
      the argument about not living in the right place is nonsense, as texas can attest.there is no place thats completely free of risk of some natural disaster whether it be flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, mudslide, wildfire,hillary.
      The "you shouldn't live there" crowd really is a bunch of joyless jack-wagons (my neighborhood deals with them as well.). I'm willing to be their houses are at a far larger risk of bei destroyed by fire, tree damage or human stupidity than yours or mine is to be destroyed by flooding.

      Let them piss and moan, I'll take my river any day over the imaginary security of a different location.
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    • The 2000 fire season was touch & go at my buddies place in Montana. He has pictures from his cabin of the fire coming over the ridge 2 miles away. The only reason why they didn't force him to evac, was he has a huge garage and workshop that he worked on all the forest circus vehicles to fight the fire. They even gave him one of the cool official yellow shirts.!!!
      Cheesecake> Ramen :thumbsup:

    • hikerboy wrote:


      homeowners have been dicked around by fema, while others filed fraudulant claims for vacation homes. 3 years later and many people are just now getting their houses raised, and getting the work done they need. as far as moving? generations have lived here for a hundred years. noones going anywhere, until mother nature eventually wins out, which it inevitably will.75% of long beach stayed to protect what they could, and noone knew really where to go,since most families and friends all lived there. we'd been through hurricanes before. it is amazing that the loss of life from sandy was as little as it was ,given the immensity and severity of the storm.we joke that if we had known then how bad it would be, 75% still would have stayed.
      the argument about not living in the right place is nonsense, as texas can attest.there is no place thats completely free of risk of some natural disaster whether it be flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, mudslide, wildfire,hillary.

      I'm a bayman born and bred. My people have lived in the Rockaways and on the South Shore since at least 1641. I've moved away for the jobs, but I know where my roots are.
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.

    • chief wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      We almost flipped over on the US Navy destroyer I was stationed on way back when, due to a hurricane that changed course and we didn't get warning over the ships's radios in time.

      If I had close calls camping, I don't remember them.

      Camille, in case you ever heard of it.
      Just out of curiosity where was your ship located when it encountered Camille?

      In the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere near Bermuda.

      We had turned south to get away from it, it turned to. We had only one working boiler out of 4. It was making 25 knots, the best we could do was 17 knots. We had shut down, Captain's idea, our long range radar and radios as we were ablut to go into the shipyard. He was trying to save money spent in the shipyard. When we got within, I'll guess 50 miles, of Bermuda, they said for us to run for it as the hurricane was headed right for us. Until then, they couldn't reach us. We had about 2, manybe 3, hours warning.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

    • JimBlue wrote:

      chief wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      We almost flipped over on the US Navy destroyer I was stationed on way back when, due to a hurricane that changed course and we didn't get warning over the ships's radios in time.

      If I had close calls camping, I don't remember them.

      Camille, in case you ever heard of it.
      Just out of curiosity where was your ship located when it encountered Camille?
      In the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere near Bermuda.

      We had turned south to get away from it, it turned to. We had only one working boiler out of 4. It was making 25 knots, the best we could do was 17 knots. We had shut down, Captain's idea, our long range radar and radios as we were ablut to go into the shipyard. He was trying to save money spent in the shipyard. When we got within, I'll guess 50 miles, of Bermuda, they said for us to run for it as the hurricane was headed right for us. Until then, they couldn't reach us. We had about 2, manybe 3, hours warning.
      thanks, that clears up all my questions :/

    • I've been close to hypothermia one time (that I'm sure of) and it wasn't very cold.

      The second day of my first, solo trip was chilly and rainy. I got to my campsite, set the tent up, changed clothes, and tried to warm up in my bag. The shivering wouldn't stop so I tried to boil water for a hot meal. I was new to using an alcohol stove and couldn't get it lit. I ate cold food and was within a few minutes of asking for help from two guys who were at the site. Finally I started to warm up.

      Waiting to ask for help was really stupid but I have a hard time asking for and accepting help.
      Lost in the right direction.

    • My first hypothermic time was riding my motorcycle, sold years ago, from university back to the house. 60 miles in 24F weather. I shivered most of the way. Then stopped without being warmer. Thats scary.

      I got home, took me 5 minutes to shut off the motorcyle and get in the house.

      I was wearing; long john pants and shirt, jeans, down pants, two pairs of socks, engineer boots, sweater, field jacket without liner, down vest, silk balaclava, helmet with face cover, down gloves.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

    • Worst I had it was going though the ice in March, beaver trapping. I had snow shoes on and a pack basket full of traps and two beavers. I had a hell of a time getting out of the water. When I did it was a mile hike back to my car over deep snow. Right around 34*. Lucky my truck was unlocked and it was real hard holding the keys and getting them in the ignition.
      bacon can solve most any problem.