August 18, 2006 - Animal Attack at the Quarry Options

[Jason_Petula]

Although we take precautions from an attack by a bear
we get distracted with work to be done in the quarry.
What happened today can be considered a nightmare
when a high pitched bark infected us with worry.

There standing on it hind two legs was a magnificent sight,
a brown beast looking at us for an easy meal.
This most ferocious of Alaskan beasts prepared to fight
our only defenses were rock hammers made of steel.

We handled the encounter with unusual grace
by avoiding direct eye contact and yelling out loud
These measures all failed and it charged at a great pace,
finally stopping and screeching a horrible sound.

With no place to run we hatched a plan
and gathered rocks, buckets…anything to hurl.
Chris yelled out, “Get lost! Scram!”
and we attacked the ferocious arctic ground squirrel.

Experience taught us these creatures travel in packs
so we ceased work to refuel and have our lunch
Clambering up the quarry to retrieve our sacks
the scene before us delivered an awful punch.

The deception of the previous furry encounter became clear
when we found our belongings scattered about.
That nasty rodent’s accomplices had chewed through our gear,
stole our lunches of pilot bread and trout.

Like a scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail
The foul beasts sat atop our bones without saying a word
Before leaving down their arctic trail
They delivered a final insult by laying a turd.


A deadly arctic ground squirrel moments before Chris pointed and screamed, "Look at the bones!"