Lions, Tigers, and.......Bears?

For the past quarter century we have lived in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains at the southern edge of Angeles National Forest, in beautiful La Crescenta, CA. Here in So Cal we have the best weather on earth and dwell only minutes from the sea or the slopes. We are not alone. A wide variety of wildlife also spends time with us. We have a fine assortment of beasts residing on our property, some invited, some not so much. A couple of pugs, a 23 year-old cat, an African Grey parrot and 8 or 9 turtles out in the pond.  Occasionally, I have to chase off fierce raccoon-giants and stinky skunks. Once, we even trapped an opossum in the back yard. Finches, Robins and Blue Jays delight us with their song. Quite often, an hummingbird floats by. One Saturday afternoon not to long ago, thousands of Monarch butterflies flew right down our street. Tragically, over the years, we have lost Fiend, Alex, and Meggie Cleary O'Neal, fine felines all, to the ever prowling predatory coyotes that stalk the streets at night. No, we don't have to turn on the Wizard of Oz and hear Dorothy sing about Lions, Tigers, and Bears. All we have to do is open the door and step outside and watch for a bit. A few weekends back, La Crescenta was abuzz with activity on Saturday night. Helicopters were circling, what was up? Turns out a bear was roaming in the neighborhood! He was foraging for a little dinner, knocking over garbage cans and creating a panic. I'm not sure what became of him, but I hope he's OK. No sign of him lately. The sight of a bear two blocks from the house really struck me as an amazing irony. We have been to Yosemite every year since 1985 and guess what? We have never spied a bear. We have seen the warnings, the food boxes, the films of cars being ripped apart by a caniform in search of a loaf of bread. But, alas, we have never seen the actual living creature. Awhile back we visited the most hallowed haven of the Ursus Horribilis on earth, Yellowstone National Park. Same old story....We spotted deer, elk, moose and had to wait while a heard of buffalo crossed the road, but.... no bears. Holy cow, now we have bears in La Crescenta..... But, come to think of it, I did run into some rather petite bears at Yellowstone. You don't believe me, I know. Well, I have proof, check out the photo below:

Sometimes, you just have to take things into your own hands....................

Gone to Texas

Both of my parents were BYU Cougars. My mom was even a Cougarette! Growing up, my dad was a season ticket holder for BYU football. I can still remember those crisp fall afternoons where games were played at the original Cougar Stadium, where today’s Richards Building now stands. Bleachers were built into the hillside east of the stadium. Airborne, streaming rolls of toilet paper were a common site. That was a far cry from today’s Lavell Edwards Stadium, also the site of many fond memories. I can still remember Virgil Carter rolling up 599 yards of total offense against the hapless UTEP Miners in 1966, tossing passes to Phil Odle and Casey Boyette. I idolized those guys. Then everything changed when Lavell took over in the early 70’s. Nielson, Sheide, Wilson, McMahon, Young, and Bosco, every year an All-American QB. In 1980, the Cougars appeared to be on their way to their fifth consecutive bowl loss, trailing SMU 45-25 with four minutes left in the Holiday Bowl. During these final four minutes, the Cougars scored 21 points, capped my Jimmy McMahon’s Hail Mary TD pass to TE Clay Brown as time expired, to upend the Mustangs and record one of the greatest comeback wins in college football history. The National Championship in 1984. The glory years! Thanks, Lavell. Fast forward 27 years to the Bronco Mendenhall/ Independent era. Everything is different now, but we still love it! I traveled last weekend with 3 buddies to Austin, TX for the big showdown with the Longhorns. In Texas, football is everything. Everywhere you go in Austin, all you see is Hook 'em Horns! On our way into The Renaissance Hotel, much to our delight, we spotted two BYU team buses parked out front. We were staying at the team hotel! Consequently, we rubbed shoulders with university VIP’s, players, cheerleaders and fellow fans. What a treat. We gorged ourselves on authentic Texas BBQ at Rudy’s and Salt Lick. Our spirits were high and our expectations even higher. Being typical BYU fans we always have lofty expectations. Sometimes these expectations are based on past performance, or tradition, or scouting reports, or on blogs or tweets. Quite often, those expectations are unrealistic. The bottom line: when the teams go out on that gridiron, our hearts and hopes go out there with them and all the predictions go out the window. Unfortunately, last Sat night, in the dry 95 degree heat at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, the BYU faithful put their hopes and dreams in the hands of So. QB Jake Heaps and Coach Bronco Mendenhall, but the upset was not to be. Sure, the Cougars battled, going down in defeat to the No. 24 team in the nation with a respectable 17-16 score. We really have nothing to be ashamed of. But, it woulda-coulda-shoulda been a win. After a dominating BYU 1st half performance, it seemed the teams swapped uniforms at halftime. Texas made the adjustments, BYU did not. Texas made plays, BYU did not. Translation: A one point heart-breaker.....Yet another near miss at national recognition. Another lost opportunity on the national stage. We sat transfixed with the Cougar contingent in our remote northeast corner of the stadium until time expired. Along with the other 100,881 fans in attendance, our insignificant group of 4 made the long walk from our seats to the parking lot. Then we navigated our rented F-150 through a river a burnt orange clad UT fanatics, dissecting the game as we returned to the hotel. But, today is another day and this Saturday we have another game, against our hated rivals, the U of U Utes. Even after a crushing defeat, I will be there again, cheering on our new heroes, knowing we will win again!

Go Cougars!