Tuesday, October 09, 2007


Fight With A Bear
I peeked out of the tent to investigate the noises I had heard. I have never been a wife who could wait for her husband to check out the noise. Mostly because noises have to be pretty extreme to stir hubby. So there I was peeking out of the tent, just my face and my knee poking out of the zipper door. I froze. A bear was rifling through our trash. Unfortunately for me, his hearing was as keen as mine. He was on full alert. Toby and Erik were both snoring loudly. My protectors. My mouth was full of cotton and my brain unable to formulate words. Thankfully the girls were locked safely in the van and all sound asleep. The bear's eyes met mine and he began to amble over to me. I was frozen. He gave a low rumbling growl and grabbed my knee with his paw. I stared in amazement at how sharp his claws were. As he made contact with my knee, I lost touch with reality.
Next thing I knew, I had fallen out of the door of the tent and a wounded bear was running quickly away from our camp with a barking Toby hot on his heels. Erik had awakened and punched the bear right in the nose with all the might that a former football lineman could muster. This was enough might to cause the bear to reel back on unsteady legs. Then Toby forced that bear to sure up his stance and flee our campsite. Apparently he was not hungry enough for a fight.
The bear claw left quite a "grizzly" wound on my knee, but we consider ourselves blessed that this was the only damage and that the bear was a small one.
*****Disclaimer*****
This story is so much better than what really happened which is that I slipped down on one knee on a slight incline of loose gravel. The only "bear" in the real story was the one Lilly brought to sleep with. So far, there are not bears in Kentucky. They are still respecting the Tn/Ky border.
Toby was involved as I was holding his leash at the time. My wound cancelled our hike through the woods as my knee was swollen and hurt too much to step across the ravines-I did try. I love to hike through the woods more than anything! Erik loves this particular hike because there is a cemetary. We settled instead for a hike through the camp, paved flat roads, not nearly as much fun. It is definitely a real pain in the knee. I am not very wimpy, but it is a bad place to get an injury since knees have to bend and all.
When we arrived back home, Erik wrenched his back as he was unloading the bikes off of the trailer. He is miserable-much more pain in that than my knee is causing. We're much too young to feel this **** old.

12 comments:

Stephanie said...

If you'd opted for a "wild panther" instead of a bear I think you could have stuck to the more exciting story! Sorry you both are injured!

WendyDarling said...

LOL... I must say you had me on the edge of my seat. :-) I am sorry you got hurt. :-(

jettybetty said...

LOL--you should consider fiction! Since I am from TX--I didn't know you didn't have bears in KY.

Mia said...

LOL!! HAHAHAHA! You are a card (need to be dealt with)thank you so much for the laugh today I needed it....poor bear

Sallie said...

LOL.. we have a friend at church who was bitten by a lion (in a cage) when he was very young...REALLY... but no one believes it when they first hear the story...

God bless,
Sallie

Jen said...

ok, you had me going......I was in awe.......good story!!!

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm laughing.

Not because of your bear story, but because of the aches and pains.

Not laughing AT you, however. I'm laughing in a 'wow, I have been there, no wait I AM there' way.

I'll be 47 this year. When I get a little wound or sore muscle it drives me crazy for days.

::uploading sympathy:::

Sandy said...

Yeah, I'm with Stephanie... a coyote or a rabid raccoon and I would have been sucked right into that one! I know that's not the kind of blog fodder you were hoping for, but a creative mind can make the most of anything :-)

JDT said...

You had me GOIN' girl. Then when I got to the "no bears in Ky." part, I thought "duh Julie."

It's late.

Sorry I missed your call the other day...I will call you soon (three tests this week).

Julie Anne said...

That post really was me...when will I remember to sign on with my OWN username when I get on John's computer?! Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

Loved your story..and the disclaimer!!!!!!LOL!!!
PAM 'Oh Da Woods

Sara said...

I thought, "That's funny, there's no bears in Kentucky." By the middle of the story I'm asking..."Philip, are there bears in Kentucky?" Too funn!