Yeah, I’d be a lot more worried about suddenly realizing that a mountain lion was above me or following me than I would be about meeting one face to face on the level.
Having said that: any mountain lion that’s actually still living around here is very, very shy of humans. I’d probably just be kicking myself for not getting a camera out fast enough. (They’re supposedly thoroughly extinct in this area, but there are persistent rumors. I really do think I saw one once, but the light was bad and the sighting momentary; I can’t absolutely swear to it. I did get a picture of the prints, and some years later sent it to an apparent expert, who said maybe bobcat? But I think I saw too much tail. – if there actually was one around at the time, I suspect it was just passing through.)
I’m not sure where “here” is for you, but there are definitely mountain lions in the open space around the San Francisco Bay area. One of my neighbor’s security camera recorded one strolling through his yard a couple of months ago.
Ditto. But i answered for African lions. They mostly don’t think of humans as prey, as i understand it, so if you don’t bother them and don’t run from them, they generally leave you alone.
Of the ones i might realistically run into (grizzly, rattlesnake, wolf) I am far more frightened of the bear than the others. That being said, when i saw a grizzly irl, i took a photo.
(It wasn’t very close. It was engaged in eating berries. There were about 200 people between me and it, also taking photos. I figured i wouldn’t be the slowest. This was on the road between Banff and Jasper.)
“Cot” and “cock” have the same vowel sound; “caulk” and “caught” have the same vowel sound. The first two are similar enough to the second two to make a pun out of, but they’re distinct enough for me to hear, and to feel the shape of in my mouth.
That combination doesn’t seem to be one of the options in the poll. – oh, wait a minute, maybe it’s option 2. I’ll try voting that way unless corrected.
You are my long-lost sister. Metals, sunlight, sunscreen, most soaps, adhesive, etc. All cause skin rashes. I hadn’t thought about dyes, but it certainly makes sense. Or else it was the actual fabric.
Yeah, it sucks. I periodically break out and I’ve got no idea why. Those hives from that bedsheet were crazy though. They were all over my body in a couple of days. I guess because I was pregnant they were just on overdrive. I went to my GP and while I was sitting there, he directly called the dermatologist and said, “You’re gonna need to see this.” I got in immediately. They took pictures!
I didn’t discover the cause until much later, because it kept happening long after I gave birth and eventually by trial and error I found the culprit. It only happened after I got sick, further confusing the issue.
That story puts my problems with sensitive skin to shame. I have to prewash everything because the sizing on fabric makes me break out in a rash, and the dark denim fashion phase of the early 80’s was really rough on me, but nothing that made a dermatologist break or the camera!
I voted for the hippo - even if we are talking right here, right now, if that sucker wakes up to find itself in the New Mexico wilderness, it’s gonna be pissed and I don’t want to be in the way. Those things move way faster than they should. Which reminds me of thecSarah Gailey book River of Teeth, a speculative fiction book about a timberline where the plan to import hippos to eat invasive water hyacinths in Louisiana actually went through. The grizzly is the next on my danger list.
Luckily, I think mushrooms are great, since a vegetarian’s life is much harder if she doesn’t eat them.
I’m surprised that crocodiles are getting no love (or fear). In absolute numbers, crocodiles kill more people than all the others combined. Although that’s partly because they live in locations that make it more likely that humans will encounter them, compared to say grizzlies.
I’m not a millionaire but probably will be one day, either through inheritance or current investments coming to fruition when I’m old.
I’m not the sort of person who counts on money in the future, though. I have what I have now and we’re doing our best with it.
Chief obstacles to becoming a millionaire:
Student loan debt - $125,000
Hitting our out of pocket insurance max in 2024 by February and that will be the case God knows how many years hence
Because of #1 and #2 cannot currently afford a mortgage payment and we’re losing potential equity on our future home (the down payment.) I live in a manufactured home PIF and the lot rent is trivial compared to what that would cost.
Affording a mortgage payment is not out of reach forever, because my husband can always take on some more clients, but there’s a work/life balance that has to be considered and this past year has been, by necessity, a lot more life than work.
Like I said, I think we’ll get there eventually. Just not soon.
I picked three out of five in the cards poll; because it depends on what business the card’s from. The local vet, who actually knows me? I think that’s kind of nice. The Branches In Twelve Towns Heating Company, where possibly a couple of people know my name but that’s not who sent the card? You’re wasting your time and mine; and a bit of energy and/or paper. Sometimes somebody’s somewhere inbetween and might merit the few seconds response.
I’ll eat a candy cane if somebody gives me one (though, these days, not all at once), but I won’t go out of my way to get one; they’re bland as candy. They’re mildly decorative but again not what I’d choose if only because if I tried to store them the mice would probably get in. Didn’t vote. – I do associate them with Christmas.
I do use the waxed floss; but wonder what somebody who uses the unwaxed is supposed to vote in that poll.