Speaking of Geese

"Kreisleriana" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 15:17:04 -0500, John F. Eldredge
yodeled:

On Sat, 08 Apr 2006 21:27:45 -0400, "Howard C. Berkowitz"
wrote:

In article , jmcquown
wrote:

Victor Martinez wrote:
jmcquown wrote:
'watch geese'. Their honk was larger than their bite, although I
won't say a goose bite doesn't hurt. But the premise was, the geese
honking would

When my godson was little, we were at the club and he wanted to go
see
the ducks in the pond. So I grabbed his hand and took him near the
pond.
We were looking at the ducks when a rather large goose saw us and
made a beeline for us with very evil intentions. I grabbed my nephew
and ran as fast as I could, with the goose in pursuit!
Scary critters if you ask me, attacking someone much bigger than
them.

I guess they are territorial Ducks, on the other hand, don't seem
to
care too much. They just sort of quack and waddle away (or get in the
water
and paddle out a few feet). I hear swans are much like geese when it
comes
to being territorial (and mean).

I understand the requirements have changed, but when I was taking the
Boy Scout First Class test, one had to demonstrate marking trails,
stalking, or classical tracking by footprints and the like. Marking
trails seemed too simple, and tracking, unless you are following an
elephant, tends to be a skill learned very young.

So, I took the stalking option. How did I practice? Near my house was a
city recreational area with a fairly large pond, which hosted a flock
of ducks. I'd carefully crawl up on them, freezing whenever they looked
at me, and go for the mark of a successful stalk.

If I was sufficiently invisible and inaudible, I could goose a duck.

I once goosed a squirrel, although it was more a matter of his
noisiness and inattention, rather than my stealth. The squirrel was
head-down in a park trash can, with only a couple of inches of tail
showing, as he rummaged around, probably eating left-over lunch
scraps. I tweaked his tail, then hastily retreated about 10 feet. The
squirrel dashed up a nearby tree, then gave me a five-minute-or-so
tongue-lashing for having offended his dignity.


You're lucky you got away so easily. An irate squirrel jumped on my
brother's head once when we were little.


Squirrels have an anger management problem ;-)
I was walking around the Botanical Gardens a couple of years ago, minding my
own business just enjoying the plants and the tranquillity when I heard a
strange scolding/barking sound coming from a big tree horse chestnut tree
overhead.
As I looked up to see what the commotion was, a rain of twigs and leaves
came down on to my head. A grey squirrel was so angry with me that he was
plucking off bits of the tree and flinging them down.
I was very intrigued and stood and watched for a couple of minutes but the
squirrel became almost beside itself with rage, more and more tree debris
came down, so I took the hint and went down another path. I figured it
might have babies nearby and I didn't want to upset it any more than it
obviously was.

Tweed