XPC - Tell Tales

[big brown horse]

Yikes! I hate snakes!! Where did this happen so I know NEVER to visit that part of the world.

Speakin of snakes and why I'm so afraid of them, I got bit by one. Yup, a water moccasin back in 1988. During a party out in the country, I decided to walk across a low water bridge barefoot in the dark. Stepped on this squishy hose and it wrapped itself around my ankle and struck. Thankfully it must have just eaten something before b/c it had no venom left to do any damage...so the dr said.

I H A T E SNAKES!!!! (Pet snakes, well I don't hate them, I just want nothing to do with them.)

Hey xpc, is the scary part of your tale what happened to you after you got back from leaving your wife and newborn child for three weeks? Oh, I'll bet she was fit to be tied with you! Heehee

Nice truck and canoe.

 

[hwillm1977]

Spring of 1979

I was playing in the living room of our house, jumping from the couch to the floor over and over again while my mother was in the kitchen doing the dishes...

She vaguely heard me squeal 'horsey' from the living room... and hollered in 'there's no horsey's Heather, those must be John's cows in the yard again'...

Me again 'horsey, horsey, horsey' (I was just under 2 years old)

Mom dried her hands and wandered into the living room to explain to me the difference between a cow and a horse....

When she came around the corner I was standing on the back of the couch with my arms wrapped around the nose of a cow moose who had her head stuck through the window...

although I have no actual memories of that incident, it gets told and re-told at family functions... in a family full of computer geeks, I am the only one with an affinity for animals...


Another animal story from the mid-late 90's:

I was a geologist with the Department of Natural resources here for a few years before I decided it wasn't what I wanted to do. My job was to map various geological formations in the southern half of the province, which I did by spending the entire summer with a tent and pack strapped to my back, alone in the woods... I LOVED that part...

Anyway, one day I was walking up the bed of a small stream... everything was quiet and I wasn't paying any particular attention to where I was going, other than following the stream...

I heard a grunting noise, looked up and 20 feet away was a black bear... he was looking down at the stream too and we had both looked up at almost the same moment... for what seemed about an hour, but in reality was more likely 7 seconds we stared at each other.... me mentally taking stock of where in my pockets my 'Bear Scare' was (we weren't allowed to be armed in the woods, so I had what is essentially high powered pepper spray), until he turned quietly and loped into the woods... he really wasn't that big, and they are notoriously shy... but I carried a shotgun after that.

 

[gettinaclue]

When I was in middle school - around 1988ish, my weekends were my own. I got up in the morning, got ready for the day, and was out the door in no time flat - barely giving myself time to finish brushing my hair.

It was early May and the sun was out and it promised to be beautiful outside - the first really warm day in a long, long time. There was a small group of us that lived within 3-4 miles of each other, and we would all gravitate to each other sooner or later in the day and talk and get into trouble generally. We lived in a country subdivision - lots of land between houses with the train tracks running roughly through the middle of the subdivision. We lived on one side, and the people living on the river banks in new 2-3 story houses with pontoon boats and bass boats that flashed in the sun lived on the other.

Our main occupation was walking from place to place in the subdivision. It didn't have to be any place special, just a destination to reach and then decide on the next place to go to. This particular day - as in so many other days - we went to the tressles - where the train tracks crossed over the river. We enjoyed going there as it was private and we could smoke cigarettes and cuss in relative comfort of not being caught while sitting with our faces in the sun. After climbing around, and sitting and gossiping and a couple of fights, we decided to sneak up to the beach and go swimming since we couldn't do more than get our feet wet at the tressles - never mind that we had no bathing suits - we would go with our clothes on.

The "public" beach was fenced off...because the "public" beach was for members only. "Public" meaning you could purchase the membership if you didn't own your own private part of the beach in your front yard. Needless to say, none of our parents had enough money to pay for the membership. We had to be careful not to be caught, since we had been busted before and had been warned about the dangers and the importance of our safety - all of which we gave not one hoot about - we just listened to the lecture and let it go in one ear and out the other.

We were lucky that day, the beach was closed down for repairs on the playground (such that it was) and we scaled the chainlink fence with relative ease. We were thrilled and ran hooting and hollering down to the sand and splashed willy nilly into the cold water and splashed each other and laughed and enjoyed the forbidden glory of the swim - forbidden by the membership committee and STRICTLY forbidden by our parents. It was incredibly sweet.

After a while, I was tired and tread water for a bit and felt something by my foot. I didn't think much of it. There was quite a little bit of fish in those waters and they frequently nibbled on any toes that happened to present themselves. Then I felt it again and got spooked. THAT wasn't a fish. I swam for shore like hellfire was about to consume me and I kept feeling something hard but fuzzy on my calf below my rolled up jeans. I couldn't get it off and was having a hard time swimming while kicking my leg wildly to shake it. No matter what I did, what ever it was, was coming with me onto the beach. I was terrified.

We were all aware that water moccasins were in those waters, copperheads were also seen from time to time. I was sure I was dead - and I knew it was going to be a painful death.

I found the shore line and ran as hard and fast as I could while swatting at my leg and then I felt a sharp, burning right by my knee. I knew I had been bitten and began screaming like hellfire HAD consumed me.

Can you imagine my relief when I saw it was only a stick, covered in spanish moss caught on my jeans and jabbing in my leg? OH! how I laughed! How everyone laughed at me!!!

We were all on the beach by then and after we rested and joked and I was teased half to death, we all decided to go for another swim before we had to go back home.

I looked up and saw - a water moccasin - with his head up out of the water - looking at us - watching us- I can only assume he was trying to figure out what was going on with the crazy girl and the stick. He was right where we were all congregated in the water just a few minutes before.

I don't know if he was there when we were there, or he swam there after we got out, but I NEVER went swimming on that beach again - and to THIS day - I HATE going to the beach - ANY beach. I'll swim in a very well maintained pool - thank you very much.

 

[xpc]

Hey xpc, is the scary part of your tale what happened to you after you got back from leaving your wife and newborn child for three weeks? Oh, I'll bet she was fit to be tied with you! Heehee

Nice truck and canoe.

Actually she promoted the idea for me to leave the house for the two weeks her mother, aunt, and sister would be there.

That is a 1988 Chevy S10 and cost $8000 new, the heavy fiberglass canoe weighted more me thinks. In 1979 I bought a full size Chevy C10 and cost $3995 new, full sized trucks in 88' were going for $15,000 and had no need for a big truck or its expense at that time.

A few years back I bought a 1989 Ford Ranger for $500 and runs pretty good for the age and price, I let it sit in my driveway for 2 years here in Kentucky while I still lived up north to give a lived in looked, before parking it in the drive the house got burglarized once.

Little trucks have their use but would never buy a new one again since the Ranger is only used once a month if that for lumber yard trips. The 28mpg for the 5 speed S10 was a big deciding factor when I bought it. Funny thing is I traded it in on a 1993 Grand Prix that cost $17,000 and in 2005 bought a new 5 speed Chevy Cavalier for $10,000 that gets 37mpg.

I paid the Cavalier off in two years and bought the Ranger for cash and have no expenses except insurance and gas, I don't drive much and only need to fill up the car a few times a year. I actually have zero bills except for the obligatory living expenses that only amount to a few hundred a month.

 

[big brown horse]

Ok. I would get it as a "work/farm" truck if I got one. I have a "driving" car already and it is paid off and gets wonderful gas milage. I just need something to haul hay etc. once in a while.


If anyone out there is wondering, I recently found an older Ford Ranger (don't laugh OFG!) that I pmed him about. I thought he could give me some insight since in all his photos there happens to be a Ranger...and Charles Bronson! Chato's Land WOOT! (I only know this because my ex named his horse Chato.)


Carry on with your tall tales.

Gettinaclue, and hwillam those are such funny and scary stories!! My little ol' snake bite pales in comparison!

 

[sylvie]

Well, I will ask this since no one else did.
Canoeing in Georgia---- Deliverance?!?
Were there any noteworthy events in that 3 week stretch?

 

[xpc]

Well, I will ask this since no one else did.
Canoeing in Georgia---- Deliverance?!?
Were there any noteworthy events in that 3 week stretch?

90% of the trip was in the panhandle of Florida and will be finishing the story soon.

In 2008, Deliverance was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliverance

 

[xpc]

If anyone out there is wondering, I recently found an older Ford Ranger (don't laugh OFG!) that I pmed him about. I thought he could give me some insight since in all his photos there happens to be a Ranger...

I only used the Ranger truck 20 or 30 times to haul lumber and sheet-rock but it easily paid for itself by saving the $50 per delivery that Lowe's and the lumberyard charged.

The older ones do have a few known issues which one was a warning indicator on the dash about the back breaks and the other was the fuel gauge always read full which neither affected the operation of mine. However because it sat for years I think I got a lot of condensation in the tank because at exactly 100 miles it would sputter and not go over 35mph.

I used plenty of fuel treatment and additives (seafoam) and no matter what at 100 miles the same problem, so I just kept adding the 6 gallons to top it off and had no problems after that. I have plans this spring to drop the tank and flush it as the anti-siphon baffles wont allow a hose to be stuck into the tank filler.

I just went outside and started it, it cranked over the first time and idled nicely and that after sitting since last September without anything done to it between now and then, not even a battery charger.

 

[big brown horse]

Good info. I wish I could get it for $500, like you did. Anyway...


I'm all out of tall tales, but when I was a kid, my sister and I would bring our pony into the house and let him eat cereal on the kitchen floor when my parents went somewhere without us.

 

[gettinaclue]

LMBO BBH!!!