Coconut Monkey Cornerclub

[Frindis]

So there I was drinking some coffee and enjoying the sun and then I saw a half dozen tourists taking pictures of a deer walking on the road. Then they kept getting closer and closer for a better picture of the deer and it didn't like that for obvious reasons. So it went up some neighborhood yard to get away. They ran after it to get some more pictures and I don't know what happened next, but I am sure the deer was not appreciative of it. I guess they got some nice pictures though, so now they can go back to their country and tell more people about how great it is to stress these beautiful animals for a nice Facebook selfie.

 

[ZedClampet]

So there I was drinking some coffee and enjoying the sun and then I saw a half dozen tourists taking pictures of a deer walking on the road. Then they kept getting closer and closer for a better picture of the deer and it didn't like that for obvious reasons. So it went up some neighborhood yard to get away. They ran after it to get some more pictures and I don't know what happened next, but I am sure the deer was not appreciative of it. I guess they got some nice pictures though, so now they can go back to their country and tell more people about how great it is to stress these beautiful animals for a nice Facebook selfie.

We have a 37,000 acre (57 square miles) of largely forested area that is restricted from the public in the middle of an urban zone with over 1.2 million people. You can't drive down the road during the evening in autumn without nearly hitting a deer. There are no predators like bears or mountain lions in the zone, so every 5 years or so they organize a hunt to try to thin out the deer population, but you have to jump through hoops to participate because the area has a lot of radiated areas (most of them clearly marked), and any kills have to be checked for radiation.

 

[Frindis]

@ZedClampet Does that mean that you don't have common laws (freedom to move/camp) for entering said areas as some countries have with national parks?

 

[ZedClampet]

To the mods, more regulars read this than read some random haunted house thread, so I was wanting to get their opinions on McKamey Manor.

 

[Pifanjr]

@ZedClampet Does that mean that you don't have common laws (freedom to move/camp) for entering said areas as some countries have with national parks?

As far as I'm aware nothing like that exists in the USA.

 

[Zloth]

So it went up some neighborhood yard to get away. They ran after it to get some more pictures and I don't know what happened next, but I am sure the deer was not appreciative of it.

I thought for sure this story was going to end with a tourist getting a broken jaw or something from a deer kick.

 

[Brian Boru]

I thought for sure … a deer kick

Yeah, me too

We have deer wandering around here frequently, often across our lawn—they compete with the racoons for traversal rights. Nobody hassles them tho, any tourists probably know the score.

I do occasionally read stories of elsewhere where touristy city people do really dumb stuff around bears out in the wild.

 

[BeardyHat]

@ZedClampet Does that mean that you don't have common laws (freedom to move/camp) for entering said areas as some countries have with national parks?

Unless I'm interpreting this wrong, the area Zed is talking about may be something like a Superfund site, so access is limited due to health concerns. This is my reading based on the radioactive deer. Unless Zed lives near Chernobyl and is actually a Stalker of some sort.

We have heaps of National Parks in Colorado, which you are largely free to enter and camp (assuming it allows dispersed camping) as you like. Some are controlled when it comes to vehicles, but many you can simply enter on foot on a trail or path.

Yeah, me too

We have deer wandering around here frequently, often across our lawn—they compete with the racoons for traversal rights. Nobody hassles them tho, any tourists probably know the score.

I do occasionally read stories of elsewhere where touristy city people do really dumb stuff around bears out in the wild.

We get lots of tourists that want to pet our "cute Buffalo" and then get trampled or gored.

 

[neogunhero]

Here in Arkansas, we probably have more deer than humans. Every single week you hear of someone you may know hitting a deer with their car. Our town is intertwined with many forested areas all throughout, and we are at the foot of a mountain, so deer are quite literally everywhere. When hunting season comes around, they’re more erratic and unpredictable than usual. Just the other day driving home from work I nearly crashed into a family of three deer. I had to slam on my brakes, it was terrifying. I suppose to people from other countries, they must be not as common and something exciting to photograph.

 

[Frindis]

Unless I'm interpreting this wrong, the area Zed is talking about may be something like a Superfund site, so access is limited due to health concerns. This is my reading based on the radioactive deer. Unless Zed lives near Chernobyl and is actually a Stalker of some sort.

Yeah, that would make sense.

We have heaps of National Parks in Colorado, which you are largely free to enter and camp (assuming it allows dispersed camping) as you like. Some are controlled when it comes to vehicles, but many you can simply enter on foot on a trail or path.

We get lots of tourists that want to pet our "cute Buffalo" and then get trampled or gored.

We have an animal here in Norway called a muskox (a smaller bison-looking animal in size and speed) that is also quite popular among tourists. They roam around in Dovre National Park and are generally peaceful, but they attack people if they get too close, which some tourists do from time to time. Thankfully, there has been only one death due to the animal normally attacking with its forehead and not its horns or hooves.

Here in Arkansas, we probably have more deer than humans. Every single week you hear of someone you may know hitting a deer with their car. Our town is intertwined with many forested areas all throughout, and we are at the foot of a mountain, so deer are quite literally everywhere. When hunting season comes around, they’re more erratic and unpredictable than usual. Just the other day driving home from work I nearly crashed into a family of three deer. I had to slam on my brakes, it was terrifying. I suppose to people from other countries, they must be not as common and something exciting to photograph.

I had some close encounters while driving, but thankfully the worst that has happened was when I bumped into the back of a deer while sliding on snow. It was just a gentle lovetap, so I don't even think it noticed. I was definitely more panicked than the deer.

I had a colleague from Barcelona who had never seen a moose before, so one day while he was jogging he noticed several animals standing on the road. He didn't know what they were so he jumped into the nearest bush and hid there for a long time. Some months later while celebrating his birthday, I bought him a moose drinking glass and cap and we all had a good laugh about it.

 

[Pifanjr]

I had a colleague from Barcelona who had never seen a moose before, so one day while he was jogging he noticed several animals standing on the road. He didn't know what they were so he jumped into the nearest bush and hid there for a long time. Some months later while celebrating his birthday, I bought him a moose drinking glass and cap and we all had a good laugh about it.

Definitely a smarter response than harassing it for pictures.

 

[ZedClampet]

@BeardyHat @Frindis yeah, BeardyHat is correct. This was a Manhattan Project area, and they were not careful handling Uranium and Plutonium back then, so a lot of the area is messed up, but there are also still defense installations there that are extremely high security. They still enrich uranium there, for instance, for the end of the world party. The National Lab, DoD and Boeing, among others, are there along with particle colliders, etc. People who turned down the wrong roads have been met by Apache helicopters before. If having an Apache helicopter hovering five feet off the ground in front of your Honda doesn't inspire you to rethink your course and turn around, I'm not sure what would.

 

[ZedClampet]

I would like to take a moment to thank Corel for the worst AI powered background removal tool I've ever seen. It is so much better for me just to trace the object by hand, and that's pretty sad.

 

[ZedClampet]

(sorry if I've told this story before) Speaking about the Apache helicopters, I used to work just outside that area, and I had a new employee who had moved here from New York. She went to lunch and didn't come back for over 3 hours.

All the roads (and there are many) that lead into the reservation are marked, over and over, by warning signs, but she was still learning English and just didn't notice. Around the important stuff are security fences, but they don't want people anywhere near the facility. I think all these roads are remnants of the Manhattan Project and not really used anymore. Employees all go through the main gates which are actually in town.

So, yeah, she got met by two helicopters and some folks in SUVs carrying rifles. They made her lie down in the road for close to 3 hours while they did whatever they do to run security checks on someone. She was a recent immigrant from the Middle East, which probably had something to do with how long they kept her.

 

[Frindis]

Cold chops and Aass beer are on the menu today. Why? Nom nom nom.

 

[ZedClampet]

Cold chops and Aass beer are on the menu today. Why? Nom nom nom.

I read this post before the picture came up and thought you were cutting metal for some reason. I gained back some of the weight I lost, so I'm now on an intermittent fasting diet of eating every 12 hours. On the plus side, I don't care what I eat.

 

[Frindis]

I bounce up and down, especially as it gets closer to Christmas I'm Santa at Christmas, then I am Liver King the rest of the year.

 

[ZedClampet]

My daughter, who's graduating from college in May, just got an internship with the state of Tennessee to transcribe Civil War documents. That sounds really fun to me.

I bounce up and down, especially as it gets closer to Christmas I'm Santa at Christmas, then I am Liver King the rest of the year.

Since I took that picture of me that I occasionally post, my beard has gone about 80 percent gray. Little kids are starting to look at me with wonder in their eyes...

 

[Frindis]

Gray beard is badass! Speaking of that, I wonder how that beer brand I am drinking would survive in the States, the name is kind of...I dunno. How would you even pronounce that? Ace Lite probably?

Props for the internship, that is cool!

 

[ZedClampet]

Gray beard is badass! Speaking of that, I wonder how that beer brand I am drinking would survive in the States, the name is kind of...I dunno. How would you even pronounce that? Ace Lite probably?

Props for the internship, that is cool!

I don't know how everyone else would pronounce it, but I would use an alternate word for butt. I even learn fascinating facts about Uranus just so I can say that.

Hey, I may look 60. but I prefer acting like I'm 6.

 

[Brian Boru]

transcribe Civil War documents

'Transcribe'—as in handwrite?

Or scan and run OCR?

I prefer acting like I'm 6

Damn, Hollywood missed one.

 

[ZedClampet]

'Transcribe'—as in handwrite?

Or scan and run OCR?

She just said "transcribing" in her text. I just asked her to clarify and will let you know.

 

[ZedClampet]

'Transcribe'—as in handwrite?

Or scan and run OCR?

I texted her to get clarification. She's typing, and she's working on scans of documents that couldn't be read by machine. For one thing, most of the people writing these particular documents were in a hurry, and some were distracted due to things happening around them (or other reasons). Others were barely literate and/or had unique ways of making their cursive letters. Some of the texts involve all of the above. She says they are nearly impossible to read, and she is having to think through everything, use context clues, etc. She's finally using her code breaking skills the military wanted her for before her accident (30 foot fall during combat training--she managed to grabe a rope part of the way down which almost severed her fingers, but saved her life).

 

[BeardyHat]

I texted her to get clarification. She's typing, and she's working on scans of documents that couldn't be read by machine. For one thing, most of the people writing these particular documents were in a hurry, and some were distracted due to things happening around them (or other reasons). Others were barely literate and/or had unique ways of making their cursive letters. Some of the texts involve all of the above. She says they are nearly impossible to read, and she is having to think through everything, use context clues, etc. She's finally using her code breaking skills the military wanted her for before her accident (30 foot fall during combat training).

That sounds like a really amazing, rewarding job. Good for her.

 

[BeardyHat]

We're finally supposed to have our first freeze this evening, so yesterday I spent the morning harvesting my garden for the last time, as well as bringing in my sprinklers, hoses and whatnot.

An alright harvest, but my tomatoes, cantaloupes and peas didn't survive long after planting this year, so mostly just peppers and cucumbers.

https://imgur.com/a/H1KNuYH

The last image shows my efforts this morning. I'm pickling the less ripe peppers and making an attempt at dehydrating the over ripe, wrinkled ones in order to grind them into chili powder. I did also harvest my basil, which I will also dehydrate, but it was heavily bolted, so I'm not sure I'll get much out of it.