Thrills

I once read an anecdote by an arctic explorer or something that claimed to have witnessed a polar bear making his way across the crest of a great icy hill when he lost his footing - the bear that is - and fell slipping and sliding down the great hill to the bottom.

The bear, so the story goes, then slowly and steadily climbed the hill to get back to the top where he turned - and slid down again.

I've always been sceptical. Might a bear really toboggan for fun?

We've had a tremendous wind storm here at the office today. We're near the airport and we get the highest winds here for miles around.

My cubicle is on the second floor of our office building. I'm right by the window. Right outside the window is a tall tree and in the tree today - sat a raccoon.

The wind is not steady but comes in strong gusts and brief lulls. The raccoon was quite high in the tree where the branches are weaker and the winds higher and the sway of the tree runs a greater arc.

The poor guy was getting thrown around pretty good. Quite the wild ride.

So what did he do? Did he climb down safely? Oh no.

He climbed higher.

FWG