Who wants to get eaten by wolves?

[wolfie]

Not sure if I've told this before, but when I was about 6 or 7 (early 90's) I saw what happens when someone hugs a wombat.

It eats, roots, and leaves?

[Seshat]

I once had the privilege of watching a (wild) wombat wandering along one of the pathways in a national park. No, I wasn't stupid enough to try to touch it, much less hug it! I - and my friends - simply stayed put and watched it until it went into the bushes and out of our sight again.


However, I HAVE petted a wombat!
Wild animal rehabilitation centre, partly funded by doing tours of the centre. The wombat in question was never going to be safe to return to the wild (I don't remember why, some sort of medical issue). It had become tame (not domestic, just tame), and friendly to humans as long as one of its handlers was nearby.
I consider it quite a privilege to have been allowed to touch it. For those of you who have touched kangaroos, wombat fur feels very similar. Perhaps a bit more bristly.

Now that I think about it, almost all my 'touch a wild animal' situations have been rehab animals who can't be returned to the wild.

[HawaiianShirts]

First the wife phoned the office and requested someone come 'at 6 to start the fire'. Apparently she didn't like the answer she got because she started yelling that they had bought firewood there, and they expected a fire. The husband decided to start it himself, by holding 1 lit match at a time to the firewood they had purchased. Logs, a foot long with an eight inch diameter. He had apparently not heard of purchasing kindling/shaving and splitting his own logs down to smaller sizes/collecting twigs and things of the floor of the campsite to start a small fire and feed it until it got big enough to burn. When that failed he called staff to explain that there was a problem with the fire pit.

I should be astounded at this behavior, but I know better. What did they think the campsite was? Some fancy hotel that just didn't bother to build walls or ceiling? That's the only explanation I have, because it's clear they expected the park staff to come do all the work for them.

"Yes, we're in campsite #12, and we need someone to come light our fire and roast our hot dogs for us. We will also require another fire in the morning, around 7:30, and hot coffee. Oh, and will you please turn down the moon? It's too bright, and I can't sleep."

[Monterey Jack]

How the fuck can anyone not know how to light a FIRE?! I knew how to do that when I was ten years old.

[dalesys]

... how to light a FIRE?! I knew how to do that when I was ten years old.

And you have the absence of eyebrows to prove it.

[notalwaysright]

How the fuck can anyone not know how to light a FIRE?! I knew how to do that when I was ten years old.

I recently had a conversation with a CW about fire. I mentioned the wood burning stove in the house I grew up in, and she said that the entire time she lived at home she was not allowed to "play with matches." And yes, that was until she moved out at age 18. She's thrilled she can now lite candles, and I fear for her apartment building...

[Monterey Jack]

I'm not condoning playing with matches or anything, but I knew from the fireplace in my mother's house that you needed some crumpled-up balls of newspaper and some kindling before the logs would actually catch and start burning. It's common fucking sense. Who just holds a single match to a FULL-SIZED LOG and expects it to magically burst into flame?

[XCashier]

I'm not condoning playing with matches or anything, but I knew from the fireplace in my mother's house that you needed some crumpled-up balls of newspaper and some kindling before the logs would actually catch and start burning. It's common fucking sense. Who just holds a single match to a FULL-SIZED LOG and expects it to magically burst into flame?

I learned that in Girl Scouts. It's entirely possible that the man had never been a Scout, or had a chimney, or any sort of experience with fire-making. So many folks who've never been camping think it's so easy, when they could benefit from a few classes (I believe most Parks and Recreation Departments offer them? Or you could ask a local Scout leader.)

But like so many other things in life nowadays, people like this just blunder ahead without any education or preparation, thinking they can figure it out as they go. No. It's not that easy.

It's been a long time...as in decades!...since I've been camping, and I know my skills are rusty. I think I'd like to take some classes, learn some campfire cooking and other survival skills. They're good things to know.

[notalwaysright]

Well, I just used that expression because that's how she put it, I don't mean actual playing. She wasn't allowed to light a match, ever. I grew up starting the fire in our wood stove. I wasn't playing, and when I was younger I certainly wasn't unsupervised. It's just an example of someone who WOULD call to have their campfire lit.

This is reminding me of a clip of a guy getting bit by a wild (I think) horse. Anyone with a shred of intelligence would have known the horse was PISSED, but this guy just goes to pet it. It's a horse, right? They're nice and they let us ride them! This horse had its ears back, and it's eyes were showing lots of white, and it bites him.

[XCashier]

This is reminding me of a clip of a guy getting bit by a wild (I think) horse. Anyone with a shred of intelligence would have known the horse was PISSED, but this guy just goes to pet it. It's a horse, right? They're nice and they let us ride them! This horse had its ears back, and it's eyes were showing lots of white, and it bites him.

I think you might find this story amusing.

[raudf]

Best way to light a fire is to split the logs, build the cabin, and use cotton balls soaked in Vaseline along with the tender. Of course, we had to show the boys how to do it the "real" way using flint, but when it rained or was otherwise wet, the balls made a great starter flame.

We also had to teach the parents not to pour gasoline on the fire while trying to light it. Fire loves backtracking up a flow of gas and onto the dumb ass stupid enough to try it. I learned that at the age of 8 when my own father was being stupid. He only got minor burns since he dropped the bottle he was using.

[Seshat]

My brother and I were taught burn treatment first. Then fire management, and only then how to start one ourselves.

Under supervision at first, with the fire management and so forth. And yes, burn treatment at a young age consisted of 'put the burned area under a running tap and scream for a parent'.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I do, in theory, understand that there are people who don't understand how the great outdoors works. I don't understand people who go camping and don't understand how the great outdoors works. If you don't understand, by all means still go. Find out the basics first. There are books, videos, the internet, and if youre still not sure you can hire guides who will do as much or as little as you want, from packing for you, planning your trip, renting you gear, cooking your meals. You can even rent sleeping bags, tents and fishing kit around here.

I just find the levels of ignorance I witnessed a predictor for lifespan in case of an unfortunate future.

[Aragarthiel]

I do, in theory, understand that there are people who don't understand how the great outdoors works.

I kinda don't. I never learned to build a fire, I lived in Arizona for most of my life and you don't really need fires there, and I've only been camping once. Easily one of my worst experiences. Splinters galore was the best of it, worst is a tie between either "becoming a woman" (NOT something you want to happen on an otherwise male trip) or finding deer parts strewn around our campsite. After that, I have no interest in anything involving camping.

[Seshat]

I kinda don't. I never learned to build a fire, I lived in Arizona for most of my life and you don't really need fires there, and I've only been camping once.

Until I moved to Victoria (Australia), I'd never needed a fire for warmth. I had, however, built plenty of fires for cooking: both barbeque (fire-style bbqs), and campfire.

My introduction to camping was a gentle progression from one-day trips to weekend trips through the Girl Guide movement: the short trips as a 'Brownie', the longer ones as a 'Guide'.

My parents rarely went camping, but in my very late teens/young adulthood, I camped with friends a few times. Most of us had been Girl Guides/Boy Scouts/something similar, so we could all manage to build a fire, had some sort of sleeping bag, and were young enough and silly enough to be willing to sleep with no air mattress or anything else for comfort.