Sometimes I dislike computers and all the extraneous headaches associated with them such as the internet, internet connections, software upgrades, bugs, fixes for the updates, more updates, reboots, problems with the reboots.... need I go on?
The problem as I see it is that once you're committed to something like a computer and the internet (and who isn't) then you're committed to the upgrades, important upgrades like Operating Systems. Apple has a penchant for wildlife; Safari, Snow Leopard, Lion which must be why they change operating systems so much - and maybe money has something to do with it.... Regardless, I now realize that its better to keep track of what is happening at the Apple zoo or suffer the consequences. Which is what I'm doing at this point. I haven't had internet access for a week because I was too lazy to keep up with the operating systems. Finally when I decided I WOULD upgrade to the newest and greatest I found that my system was now hopelessly antiquated. I had to load the OS (operating system) Snow Leopard first, but it's no longer available online. Which means trying to find a store that still has Snow Leopard software for sale. (almost none do) Apple will still ship the CD to your address provided it is not a POST OFFICE address. What could they possibly have against post office addresses?? The problem is that I currently only have a Post Office box in Fraser Lake.
However the computer angels gave me a break and lo and behold but I find my software in Smithers! Jump for joy!
I get home and load my new operating system and everything works well. Except... yes there is always an exception... my iphone now won't tether to my computer. My iphone is how I get my internet access. It's always worked lickety-split but not anymore. I can still access the internet form my iphone itself but it's a pain in the ass to write emails, blogs etc. Eventually after perusing forums on Snow Leopard and the iphone I find that, why yes, there is a problem with Snow Leopard and tethering along with plenty of convoluted solutions to try and fix it.
What to do, what to do. My thinking is to continue upgrading to the Lion OS in the hopes that the particular bug will be fixed. But I need internet access to download the software because they don't sell any CD's for the Lion upgrade. Kill me NOW!
No wait... I didn't mean that... not literally.... Maybe I shouldn't have been bitching about mother nature's creatures such as the snow leopard or the lion.... Enter the avenging Moose.
As I'm currently waiting for my software to keep downloading (courtesy of the free wireless internet from the coffee shop in Vanderhoof) I can tell the story:
Hitting a moose is not something I would recommend. It's scary, traumatic (for human and moose) and rarely turns out well for the humans involved or their vehicles for that matter.
My friend Mary-Ann and I were heading home from a great day in Smithers. I took Mary-Ann to the same shop where I had bought my rad new skis. :-) She has racing cross-country skis that must be waxed and it appears that one must be a psychic/weather/snow/wax sage to know how the weather is going to change during the day, how the snow will be impacted by the weather change and which wax is needed for each situation. The skis I purchased are wax-less with a fish-scale pattern underneath. The tips and ends need to be waxed like downhill skis a couple times a year depending on how much one skis. They aren't near as fast as her skinny skis but they make up for it in all-around versatility. The wider ski and the fish-scale pattern makes it easier to go up inclinesr before having to herringbone up and with the metal edges they have more stability on uneven terrain. At least that's how its appeared to both Mary-Ann and I after we've been skiing together enough to notice the differences. We both knew that she couldn't follow me off-road at all with her current skis. Hence why she was interested in buying a pair like mine.
We were heading home from our successful shopping day (meaning Mary-Ann got the skis) ;-) and had turned down Clearview Rd which means we were now about 3 minutes from both of our houses. It was late afternoon so we still had daylight.
We had no cause for concern until a large black moving object on the left hand side of the road caught our attention. It was emerging from the ditch that runs parallel along the road. Suddenly, and I mean suddenly; there was a LARGE cow moose barrelling towards our vehicle. I think we both said in unison "It's a MOOSE!!" Mary-Ann reacted immediately turning hard on the wheel of her suburban so we wouldn't hit the moose head on. Instead by the time the moose hit us we were almost running parallel to her and going at approximately the same speed.
We both knew she was going to hit us. It was inevitable. Now we had to wait and see how bad this was going to be. If she slid over the hood of the vehicle it was going to be very probable she would slide into the windshield and kill us both. Or if she bounced and hit the roof then most likely we'd die as well. Truly the option of living when one hits a moose isn't so great - so the insurance adjuster informed Mary-Ann when she called him later in the evening to report the accident.
We had a few things going for us, the biggest one being that we were in a large suburban. A smaller vehicle often hits a moose in the legs and once being knocked off its feet can land on the car, crushing it. We had a fighting chance of surviving in a big vehicle at the very least. The other thing going for us was Mary-Ann's driving and her quick reflexes to drive the way she did.
The moose slammed into us like she was giving us a football tackle. We both expected her head to come through the windshield but it didn't. The force of her hitting us pushed the large suburban into the ditch. I have never seen a moose up close before. They are beautiful magnificent animals but I have no need to experience how strong they are ever again!
Her large mass ripped off the rearview mirror pulling out a big hunk of fur from her shoulder. The impact dented the left side of the suburban in 3 places and dislodged the bumper.
We watched her run into the bush on the other side of the road. I could see where she was missing fur but I didn't see any blood. For anyone who has been in some sort of accident you can attest to the fact that things seem to happen in slow motion. Details can be noted in an uncanny way as time slows down to an eternity.
As she loped off into the bush Mary-Ann and I were sitting in the truck stunned at what just happened and started the "Are you ok? Are you hurt? - I'm fine, are you ok? OMG we just hit a moose!" We decided to walk home and Mary-Ann's husband would be able to winch out the truck with his other vehicle.
I couldn't stop thinking about the moose though. Was SHE ok? Was she somewhere injured? I decided I needed to find out as best as I could. The next morning Mary-Ann came over excited to try out her new skis. I told her my plan of following the moose's tracks and she thought that was a great idea. It would be a good way for her to test out her new purchase. We skied over to where the incident happened, the large deep moose tracks easily visible in the snow. We began to follow them but soon the underbrush and nettles were becoming a problem as we started to get caught up in them. Snowshoes would have been more practical. We were able to get in far enough to see if she had started to bleed or if she had fallen or stumbled. All we saw were here huge tracks heading deeper into the bush.
After speaking with enough folks about the accident they all said the same thing about moose and vehicles; which is if the moose doesn't have their legs knocked from under them then their injuries are not usually life-threatening. It felt like she side-swiped us rather than taking a direct impact and she was moving easily when I saw her head into the bush. Not that that means too much as adrenaline can keep an animal moving for a long time regardless of the gravity of their injuries.
I do hope the moose is as fine as we are.
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