Fun Friday: Bear vs. The Ice Age Beast

At first glance, this video may seem staged, but here's the honest truth ... no, really, I mean it.

Weeks ago we had some company. In the mix of relatives were some delightful little girls who spent the day outside playing, getting dirty, using their imaginations, and generally just being kids.

One of the things (among many) that they "found" in the yard was a toy "that squirrelly critter" from the Ice Age movies.

You know the one who is always chasing the acorn?

It was in a pile of stuff that was scheduled to get tossed out, but they found it and apparently played with it.


I picked up after they went home, and I thought I had found everything.

I had not.

Unknown to me, the girls had discovered a barrel filled with gravel that sits buried up to it's neck by the edge of the woods. It used to be a component in a grey water system I designed, but it now sits, dormant, waiting for me to extract it.

Apparently their game involved tossing old toys into the barrel ... perhaps they were playing some kind of Maya cenote game ... I just don't know.

I do know this much ... in the barrel, along with tennis balls, an old toy horse, and some bits of lattice, they had tossed the old electronic Ice Age toy, "Scrat"( ... okay, I looked it up on Wiki and his name is Scrat and he's a 'sabertoothed squirrel".)

So, (are you still with me or are you down there watching the Bear video?) ... "Scrat" apparently got wet from some recent rains and activated himself.

When I stepped out to walk Bear on the day of the video, I saw a Barred owl fly up from the rim of the barrel.
He didn't go far, so I turned on the video feature of my Sony camera as Bear and I stepped off the porch.

What happened next is all on the video.

Up until the point where I could actually peer into the barrel, I thought I was going to find some real animal that had fallen in.
Between the owl's interest, Bear's obvious interest, and the weird sounds that were coming from the barrel, I thought sure I was going to find a baby 'possum, bird, ... SOMETHING flesh and blood.

But no, it was only a toy with an electrical short.