With grateful thanks to Cynthia G. who sent this to me.
(Going to take a break from the serious writing for this long week-end)
The place: The Alaskan Wilderness
The event: A private “fly-in” fishing excursion to that Alaskan wilderness.
The mistake: The pilot and fishermen left a cooler and bait in the plane.
The consequence: The bear went exploring for food!
The smart thinking: The pilot used his radio and had another pilot bring him 2 new tires, 3 cases of duct tape, and a supply of sheet plastic.
The result: The pilot patched the plane together, and they all flew home!
Learning from Dogs 
Awesome story. Duct tape appears legendary in its being essential, especially for the outdoors. Nature can never be taken for granted, bears included.
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Which reminds me that we have a car with a leaking roof! Bring on the duct tape.
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Red Green would approve 🙂
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🙂
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Alaska brings the ingenuity up. Moose with calves get more people killed than bears. So what did I do? I went exploring, during the calving season, in spite of dire warnings from my Alaskan family. I had the great pleasure to come across a moose with calf, feeding on the trail. An old timer on his mountain bike explained to me that she did not have the “mohawk”, thus was not angry. We just had to stop and wait until she moved. We contemplated the bucolic scene with great interest for long minutes, at a safe distance, more than 200 feet. Thick Alaskan jungle prevented us to go around.
Then the hair on the head and back of the impressive cervid shoot right up, like as many porcupine quills. She lowered her ears and stood her head up. She had acquired the mohawk! She headed straight to us, at a trot. The Old Timer started to bike nearly as fast as I ran. Another group of old timers was waiting in the distance on their bikes: “What did you do to make her so angry?” They laughed nervously as they turned their bikes around in a great panic.
Eventually, her charges petered out, as she was reluctant to separate from her baby. I operated an encircling maneuver through some trees, grizzly gas cannister armed, in the hand. The calf panicked, stumbled, went the other way, she followed… I have “hunted” bull moose, camera in hand, from much closer, but they never charged me. Mums are more sensitive…
Conclusion: never miss an occasion to get in real touch with the world as it is. It’s the most instructive thing.
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What a wonderful recollection! Complete with a philosophic wrapper. Thanks Patrice.
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You aren’t an engineer by any chance? 😉 I swear they all agree that duct tape, easing oil and a hammer will fix anything…..
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No, I’m not, Sue. But those items will fix anything! You know that in your heart! 🙂
Oh, nearly forgot to thank you for stopping by.
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Oh I’m with the engineers on that one Paul 🙂
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Duct tape? Basically the way the 787 Dreamliner is built… OK, they cook it all together a bit…
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I thought it was made of gum! 😉
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Tape, glued by gum (epoxy), and then baked a bit… many are disappointed that, by forbidding it to fly, one cannot see the tape coming apart anymore.
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Duct tape an essential part of DIY equipment, .. Amazing photo’s of the damage and repair job.. 🙂
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Bet there wasn’t much chatting when the ‘repaired’ aircraft’s wheels left the ground on the return take-off!
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No I bet not, thats one take off I would not like to have been part of. 🙂
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