The Distract me from 2020s P&CE Thread Part Deux

That was in the San Francisco Zoo many years ago which is right near the coast, the western gulls would hang out at the outdoor eating areas picking off whatever they can. And last summer we visited for the first time in ages and they were still at it.

 

It will be... something.

A few years ago, some friends and I went on a rock climbing trip together. We stayed in a medium sized city, 30 minutes from the mountains. Plenty of places to eat and such. One of our other friends was already there and was staying at a separate hotel. We had a rainy day during the trip, another friend, C, looked up things to do and stuff that was going on. Now C wasn't a run of the mill adult. He was a Marine. He saw and did a lot of things. C is also in tech. He's a smart guy, but every now and then he has moments where you just wonder how he's lived for so long.

One of the things C saw, was a convention. He mentioned it was a Humane Society thing. I asked him to repeat the name, he says it, I Google it, realize what it is, and tell him, "C, that's not a Humane Society event. It's a furry convention." C, the ex-Marine, did not know what a furry convention was. I had to explain it to him, and explain it to him in a way that made sense. C looked at me in disbelief.

On top of that, the convention was at the hotel our other friend was staying at. When we went in to go get him, it was to say the least, an experience. Even the guy working the front desk had some minor furry stuff on. We shared an elevator with two furries, I just said hello, C gave a head nod, but you can tell he was a little confused and trying to process that this was a thing. On the way out, we walked past a fellow making barking noises. C asked a little loudly if he just heard what he thought he heard but I just focused on getting out of the hotel and on the climbing.

Looking back that was four years ago, and I didn't even think of it until I saw this post.

 

Did you see Free Solo? I love it when Alex finally has the perfect day to climb, he runs into an adult dude in a full unicorn onesie spending the night on the wall about 1/4 of the way up. I know, not full furry stuff, but I did LOL.

 

LOL. There's a frontier Amazon town here in Ecuador called Misahualli (Miss-ah-wa-yee). It is completely populated by Capuchin monkeys. Visitors are advised to keep food, cell phones, sunglasses, wallets, jewelry etc, hidden away. They are fearless and will snatch any of these items. The food, they eat, obviously. The other items they will play with or destroy or sometimes give back to you in exchange for a treat.

 

Wear fur!

 

That was a thing in Latin America, especially in Costa Rica where there is much more tourism. Don't remember it much in Nicaragua. National parks in CR (Manuel Antonio, or Rincon de la Viejo) had pointed language in English and Spanish to NOT feed any animals. This was still ignored and you would see Capuchins (monos cara blanca) get a piece of food from an idiot tourist, only for the rest of the troop to descend on the tourist.

I do remember one tourist coming to the MINAE rangers station in Cahuita, frantically telling everyone she was bitten, blood all over her fingers. Apparently, she tried to give one piece of fruit to a capuchin. Her mistake was she put her backpack on after this and another monkey jumped on her back. She instinctively reached, only to be met with tiny sharp monkey teeth

On a lighter note
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnZ-wAxjY8T/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

My aunt had her glasses snatched off her face by a monkey there, despite being warned that they would do that.

Postcard from my mother: "Having a wonderful time in Spain! My sister was attacked by monkeys!"

 

That reminds me that my climbing partner and I are planning a trip in late summer to British Columbia. One of the things I have consistently read is to setup up a type of chicken wire contraption around your rental car. The reason being....get this....porcupines love to eat rubber. Tires, hoses, part of the wheel, anything rubber. Not something I thought I would plan for

 

Similar thing happens in parts of the Sierra Nevada with marmots, they like radiator hoses and coolant. I even heard of one several years back that had hitched a ride back to the Bay Area in the engine compartment. People will wrap their cars with chicken wire or tarps to prevent it.

 

I'm more worried about my catalytic converter TBH

 

Those NJ "marmots" will steal it and sell it for the platinum and palladium. The varmints!

Yet, another reason for an electric car. No catalytic converter.

 

Yeah they’re basically chonky ground squirrels. You might be familiar with groundhogs in the eastern US, they’re a type of marmot.

 

Eelon does resemble a marmot

"Away, commieglobosocialist!"

 

Keas, to this non-resident, are amazing!

I wanna go there just to figure out interesting ways to make them work for the food they're stealing.

 

I wonder if Elon wants his apartheid back. I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

 

Sure he'd say that things were more "orderly" back in his yoot

 

Back when people knew their place, before them fern agitators come along 'n

 

Bill Frisell- Shenandoah
Absolutely unreal.