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Avant-garde, What an interesting post and comment conversation. The power and beauty of the large cats are only outweighed by their danger to humans in the wild. I would love to see one in the woods but I hope that never happens.
posted by
TAPS.
on December 12, 2006 at 3:44 PM
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I have protection, divine or otherwise, thanks for asking
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 4:21 AM
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avant-garde
I thought PP was outside.. hopefully not as serious as it sounds. I do wonder.
Fingers crossed here too.
posted by
mneme
on December 11, 2006 at 4:21 AM
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blanche
I just looked down and saw your comment about calling the police. I have to say in all honesty that I felt nothing but hatred from reading his posts. He might consider himself intelligent, but I felt venom and asperity only. It was sad to see that you comment on his posts, and he didn't even acknowledge you.
I hope you feel safer in the next few days. Pray for divine protection from your guardian angel. I believe it exists. I will pray for you as well.
Take care.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 3:59 AM
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Avant-Garde,
Blanche didn't sound at all ok in some comments...
posted by
mneme
on December 11, 2006 at 3:53 AM
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blanche
Did you dump your roommate? If you did, then good for you.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 3:49 AM
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c'est la guerre, I'd better go
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 3:45 AM
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c'est la guerre, I'd better go
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 3:45 AM
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Avant-Garde,
(excuse me for the side conversation with Blanche, I was concerned) - I've just read the Panther post. From time to time there are stories about the Moors in England (I'm ashamed to say I forget where) and even in New South Wales there are some legendary big cats - supposedly descended from armed forces mascots that escaped at the end of WWII. I don't think I'd be secretly hoping for an encounter..
posted by
mneme
on December 11, 2006 at 3:38 AM
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Blanche,
Well, take care... I hope it is different by morning.
posted by
mneme
on December 11, 2006 at 3:34 AM
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In point of fact, I just threw a few more items on the barricade in front
of the front door. and I am keeping the shades closed, he was a sniper, after all
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 3:28 AM
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Mneme, sad is not what I'm feeling right now
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 3:26 AM
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Hi Avant
I was trying to picurize the scene you describe, and it is real and scary all right. Do be careful and keep us posted on the developments. Wishing you all the best.
posted by
Bhaskar.ing
on December 11, 2006 at 3:24 AM
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Blanche, that's sad.
posted by
mneme
on December 11, 2006 at 3:19 AM
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So you said, when I posted the picture of the Spirit of Chemainus
I never got seasick once in ten days, it was like flying
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 3:04 AM
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Blanche
I went on a sailboat on Lake Ponchartrain when I was 14. The wind was strong, and the boat listed heavily. I've never been so seasick in my life.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 3:02 AM
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I had to call the police tonight, as much as I hated to do it. and it was
hard, I never thought it would come down to that, but Michael refused to leave.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 3:01 AM
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Mrs T
This is what I knew occurred there, but I had up to now not heard anyone tell of it. Animals do escape from confinement. I would've been scared, too. Lions are huge.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 3:00 AM
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The poor woman must be out of her mind right now, Avant
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 3:00 AM
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Rilke wrote an ode to a panther I wish I could remember
The large cats are magnificent. Remember Blake? "Tiger, tiger, burning bright, what hand or eye framed thy fearful symmetry". I think I left out an adjective, I have a copy of the collected works of Blake here somewhere, I'll have to find it.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 2:59 AM
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Blanche
I followed the story the other day at work. Very sad. I've often heard that to stay put is your best option. It must have been heartbreaking for him to sit and be helpless to watch his family suffer. I might have done the same thing.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:59 AM
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Tanga
Yes, you're absolutely right. I've seen it happen with alligators in Louisiana.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:57 AM
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Quelle? I don't understand, what do you mean by "organizaton", Avant-Garde
posted by
Blanche.
on December 11, 2006 at 2:56 AM
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YPunday
Merry Christmas to you as well, my friend.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:56 AM
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Blanche
I am more wary of the organization than the animal.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:55 AM
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Ciel
I have seen it! They are magnificent creatures.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:54 AM
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faholo
Thanks for the visit!
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:53 AM
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Blanche
I think we humans are no real challenge for them.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:52 AM
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babe rocks
It would be a startling thing to see, indeed.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:52 AM
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Whacky
I hear that mountain lions are prevalent in your neck of the woods.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 11, 2006 at 2:51 AM
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Avant-Garde, I just heard a version of Lucinda Williams' Lake Ponchartrain
(or whatever the real name is), cut live at the CP, you have to hear these guys if you like Zydeco, Damage Done is the name of the band, I just met and talked to the 3 members, Karen and Dave, who are married and doctors who play locally, but have been playing Zydeco for 15 years. Karen is from Texas originally. Not sure about John, he was busy while Karen and I were talking.
This piece, when I flesh it out and add names, facts, etc. will be my next writing sample to be submited to Don Smith, the editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where if all goes well, I will be writing an unpaid, but with byline blog for their online site, a connection that an old rommmate and long-tme friend put me in touch with, and made the introductions. Contacts do help in writing as in everything as well as timing. Timing is also key,in life. It is, in fact, as they say, everything. I am very excited. What can I say? I'm just an excitable girl, must be that bipolar I thing? I must look that up in the DSM-IV again, just to see what my sx are...ROFLMAO, but I think you could probably tell me.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 10, 2006 at 5:35 PM
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Scary! - Once when we stayed in South AFrica at a place called
Potgietersrus, there was a story of 3 lions that escaped from a zoo nearby. Some farmers in our area spotted these lions (it was the mother and her 2 cubs - well big cubs by then) and we received a warning to be on the look out for these lions... I tell you I was scared shitless, I didn't want to get out of my own house. Sometimes when I dared go for walks I would see some foot prints in the sand that looked like lion prints and I would ran to the house again.. ha ha.. that was quite scary.
Mrs T
posted by
Tanga
on December 10, 2006 at 7:48 AM
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Avant-Garde, panthers seem like such regal creatures, like all big cats
I was amazed to learn there cats of that size still in North America. I had thought all animals of that size had been hunted to extinction. It would be unnerving to me to feel the presence of such a large predator in the woods. The woods make me nervous anyway. I'm more at home on the beach or in a pastures.
I grew up in Southern area, near where James Kim died, I followed that whole story with horror. I know how rugged the Rogue River area, around Gold Bar is, at the mouth of the Rogue river, where I used to swim as a kid. The mountaineous terrain is steep, heavily wooded and very difficult for a search party to get through.
I met a Korean man on the city bus a few days ago, who was hoping that his Korean brother (figuratively speaking) might still be alive, and had not seen that day's Times. I felt terrible, when I had to tell him that they found James Kim's body. He seemed comforted by the idea that the Korean church would take very good care of his widow and children. As I said to him, so they should that's the primary function of a good church. Sad, very sad. He tried so very hard to get help. His wife and he were lost for 7 days,, and she kept the children alive by nursing. I can't even imagine what that poor woman went through.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 10, 2006 at 1:44 AM
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To spot a panther must be a wonderful sight
My concern is that it seems to becoming to accustomed to humans and the fear is that the panther will lose their natural fear for humans and then that would mean trouble
posted by
Tanga
on December 9, 2006 at 11:06 PM
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Reminds me that James Kim (Oregon fatality) due to severe weather, etc.,
may have been pursued by bears and hence his run to the water. I cam with Christmas?holiday wishes, though...Shalom, Neil
http://www.twoheartsdesign.com/images/clipart/catholic/trinity/images/thd_trinity1.gif
posted by
ILLUMINATI8
on December 9, 2006 at 9:26 PM
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I love the things I learn unintentionally and tangentially to the search:
This is as intriguing to me as the quest to know the habitat for panthers:
| MISSION STATEMENT |
| American Panthers is a liberal political organization formed to enhance the human condition. Our focus is on the current threat to our constitutional liberties, crime, healthcare, free press, the economy, education, world unity, peace and disarmament. Our members are patriots of all lifestyles and religious beliefs |
posted by
Blanche.
on December 9, 2006 at 3:08 PM
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Live and learn,(and I try to do both, Avant-Garde)/what I found on panthers
Black leopard Panthera pardus You may want to call these cats black panthers, but there's really no such animal. "Panther" is a generic work used to describe many large cats, especially black ones, but also Florida panthers which are just a subspecies of cougar. Both black leopards and black jaguars are often born in the same litter as the normal colored cats, because the black color, called melanism, is due to a recessive gene. So, melanistic cubs can be born to two spotted parents. The cats are actually dark brown, with the same pattern of black spots as any other leopard. There are no solid black big cats.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 9, 2006 at 3:07 PM
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My middle kid, when she was in her early teens, decided she loved lions
and that she wanted to be around them. She took off a year from college to train as a 'zoo technician' at a big-cat refuge, and worked with lions, tigers, pumas... We have a photo of her scratching a cougar (that looks quite contented!) with a rake! They had a clouded leopard there, too-- a rare, shy and beautiful creature!
If you saw GLADIATOR, you saw one of her tigers.
posted by
Ciel
on December 9, 2006 at 12:59 PM
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Hi, I just stopped to read some of the comments
I knew there would be some great ones! blessings!
faholo
posted by
faholo
on December 9, 2006 at 7:30 AM
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Avant-Garde, How cool and scary to see a panther..I didn't think they were
native to North America though, how did they get to Virginia? Or am I wrong? Are they indigenous to your area? That doesn't sound right, I thought panthers were South American. Now, I'm curious, I may have to Google panthers and their native habitats.
How scary for Cameron, though, my God, I think I would have had a heart attack if I'd come that close to a BIG cat. My grandmothher, who grew up on a ranch in South Dakota, herding cattle on horseback, told stories of being followd by a mountain lion, it sounds absolutely terrifying. They are predators. I'd hate to see you end up as prey.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 9, 2006 at 12:14 AM
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Cougars were not unheard of here in MN in the pioneer days. Now one is spotted maybe once every fifty years. I hope I miss out on the privilege.
posted by
babe_rocks
on December 8, 2006 at 7:24 PM
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Cougars were not unheard of here in MN in the pioneer days. Now one is spotted maybe once every fifty years. I hope I miss out on the privilege.
posted by
babe_rocks
on December 8, 2006 at 7:24 PM
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Wow! That is kind of scary!
The only wildlife I've seen recently was a baby squirrel!
Now Bo can scare him off.
posted by
Whacky
on December 8, 2006 at 7:23 PM
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Ciel
Is screaming at the top of your lungs tantamount to taking this action? If so, I might actually scare one off.
I have a friend who came face to face with one in New Mexico. He was a Boy Scout leader. He was on his way to the showers. It entailed walking along a trail on a steep slope. Round the bend came a cougar this particular morning, and did not see him right away.
Russ told me that he pinned himself against the rocks and threw his hands into the air. When the cat spotted him, he shot straight over the side and down the precipice. He said he had a camera right there in his pack, but he was so startled that he could only think of surviving.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 8, 2006 at 3:43 PM
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Actually, the thing to do in confrontation with a puma
is exactly the opposite of what to do when you see or are seen by a bear. With bears, you get quiet and small, but with cats, you get big and aggressive and NOISY! You stay on your feet and never ever ever run from a cat!
Imagine what your house cat would do if a mouse it was stalking suddenly turned on it, expanded to twice its size and began roaring...!
I hunt with a camera, but I am not sure I would hunt big game that way, that might turn around and hunt me back.
posted by
Ciel
on December 8, 2006 at 1:50 PM
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faholo
I can't bring myself to hunt, so most of the time I am without any weapons in the forest. I have been fortunate and I hope it continues. I don't have any plans to hide in my house.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 8, 2006 at 1:12 PM
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appleworks
You are so very right about that. I have walked the woods after a heavy snowfall, and it is dead quiet. I think the animals realize that they cannot hide anywhere.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 8, 2006 at 1:11 PM
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bel
I observed a black leopard once in a cage. It was huge. I was scared and I knew I was safe.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 8, 2006 at 1:10 PM
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Troosha
I think that they are as afraid of us as we are of them. That is a good thing. Most encounters I hear of are of a witness watching the thing run off in a hurry.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 8, 2006 at 1:01 PM
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I'd be freaked out to...
and depending on where you live are they not a
protected animal - as in you can't shoot it? What does one do if comfronted by a panther? Is it the same approach as a bear - quietly walk backwards (then run like hell)?
posted by
Troosha
on December 8, 2006 at 12:57 PM
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Hunting I think lies in the heart of many men! One reason I
am happy to be a woman! Your entry scared me and the coyote's, foxes and other strange creatures beginning to roam in my area of the county scare me even more. I love to fish, but hunting is a different story. I guess I will stick with writing, it is a lot safer, me thinks! Well written as always. God bless and protect all of you from the creatures of the night especialy black panthers!
faholo
posted by
faholo
on December 8, 2006 at 8:04 AM
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avant
if you had snow on the ground you could see what has been moving about. or even the black panther on white snow.
our first snow was the other day. i went for a run through the woods passing many deer tracks, and coyote tracks too. i think if people were to get out in the woods when the snow is down they would be surprised to see all the tracks of what moves.
posted by
appleworks7
on December 8, 2006 at 7:22 AM
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Granted it is a scary thought
but I would love to watch one from a safe distance.
posted by
bel_1965
on December 8, 2006 at 6:43 AM
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