Is this one level below "a bear in a china shop"?

[pmv]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/us/bear-lake-tahoe-ice-cream-shop.html

Early Sunday morning, hours before the first waffle cone of the day was topped with a scoop at an ice cream parlor near the south shore of Lake Tahoe in California, a security guard heard a noise.
At first, he thought it was coming from a dumpster behind the parlor at Camp Richardson, a 128-acre resort in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. But when he aimed his flashlight in the container, it was empty.
Then, as he circled the building in search of the source of the noise, he lifted the beam toward the front window and saw a large black bear staring back at him. The bear was standing behind the counter next to the cash register, as if he were an employee waiting to serve a customer.
At 4:11 a.m., the guard called the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies arrived to find the bear behind the counter in the middle of a taste test.

The bear had slipped through the front door and gone straight for the ice cream, the authorities said.

 

[Ken g6]

That's bull.

...um, in a china shop, I mean.

Bull in a china shop.

 

[pmv]

That's bull.

...um, in a china shop, I mean.

Bull in a china shop.

Yes, alright, you're right (the bear's the one with a sore head)...but I didn't have a story about a bull in an ice-cream shop.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

A withered old Blackfoot working on an NPS trail crew once pointed at me, his finger shaking as much because of the Old Crow he'd been drinking, which reeked throughout the dormitory lounge where we were sitting.

"Ah sent the bear after yah . . . " he said.

Years later, a Peruvian shaman, upon hearing this story and the real story that preceded it, told me "The bear is your animal guide in the spirit world."

The ice cream parlor story is no different than an episode with my Moms four years before she died. She woke up the house at 4AM, having ambled into the kitchen with her walker to open the freezer door and then drop the half-gallon of vanilla ice cream on the floor.

Besides the passion for ice-cream, Moms had a special diet when she was better able to fix her own meals. She had a daily helping of walnuts, blueberries, and sockeye salmon.

So I wonder often how she fit into some role as an "animal guide in the spirit world." And the truth was, demonstrated once when I visited her during a stay at the hospital, the fingernails on her hands were deadly.

 

[BoomerD]

Here, it's deer...

Bucky paying a visit to the local fire department


And to the local candy shop

Sweet tooth deer takes a stroll in Ocean Shores candy store

The owner of Buddy and Howies Candy Store in Ocean Shores had a unique visitor this weekend.

komonews.com

Bears raid garbage cans around town every day. We're used to it and clean up the mess.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Here, it's deer...

Bucky paying a visit to the local fire department
View attachment 129180

And to the local candy shop

Sweet tooth deer takes a stroll in Ocean Shores candy store

The owner of Buddy and Howies Candy Store in Ocean Shores had a unique visitor this weekend.

komonews.com

Bears raid garbage cans around town every day. We're used to it and clean up the mess.

You are advised, when wilderness hiking, not to pee on the ground without burying it. The deer are attracted to the salty flavor and lick it up.

 

[Moonbeam]

Yes, alright, you're right (the bear's the one with a sore head)...but I didn't have a story about a bull in an ice-cream shop.

I ran into a pay wall and noticed you linked without comment which, I think, is against forum rules. At ant rate I know nothing about why the bear got a sore head.

 

[pmv]

You are advised, when wilderness hiking, not to pee on the ground without burying it. The deer are attracted to the salty flavor and lick it up.

Why? Is it bad for them (too much ammonia or something?).

Thinking about it, why would it be more of a problem than the deer's own pee? Or those of other animals? Can't say I understand the reason for such a rule.

 

[nakedfrog]

Reminds me of this one.

(Apparently can't be embedded, it's the bear playing the piano after making it into a Colorado home)

And this (potentially fake?) anecdote:
"Back in the 1980s, Yosemite National Park was having a serious problem with bears: They would wander into campgrounds and break into the garbage bins. This put both bears and people at risk. So the Park Service started installing armored garbage cans that were tricky to open -- you had to swing a latch, align two bits of handle, that sort of thing. But it turns out it's actually quite tricky to get the design of these cans just right. Make it too complex and people can't get them open to put away their garbage in the first place. Said one park ranger, "There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." "

 

[sdifox]

It's just Pooh bear

 

[HomerJS]

Here, it's deer...

Bucky paying a visit to the local fire department
View attachment 129180

And to the local candy shop

Sweet tooth deer takes a stroll in Ocean Shores candy store

The owner of Buddy and Howies Candy Store in Ocean Shores had a unique visitor this weekend.

komonews.com

Bears raid garbage cans around town every day. We're used to it and clean up the mess.

Oh see the little deer. Does the deer have a little doe?

Yeah, two bucks

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Why? Is it bad for them (too much ammonia or something?).

Thinking about it, why would it be more of a problem than the deer's own pee? Or those of other animals? Can't say I understand the reason for such a rule.

In revisiting my memory of it, the fellow hiker who admonished me was a more determined tree-hugger than I have ever been. There is a self-righteous one-ups-man-ship dimension to these "expert" environmental exchanges. However, we're talking about pee. What do you think would be the best advice for a massive-gassive-lumpy-dumpy-poopy-doopy-plopper-soupy-happy-crappy?

There's this California State park or forest area up north, just west of Yreka. Yes -- trying to verify my dated memory about it, Google shows the Marble Mountains is W /SW of Yreka. There is also Klamath National Forest north of there. But the Marble Mountains have some pretty good lakes with what was then (2001) a bounty of trout. On the way up the mountains to a lake, we found a huge oak tree with a wonderful shade canopy over what seemed to be flat, comfortable camping ground. We stopped for lunch.

We had earlier encountered some cowboys on horseback with small herds of cows. They must've paid BLM for grazing rights, but this was a place where cattle ranching, wilderness parks, and national forest all converged.

We sat down under the oak canopy to have lunch. I had some cheese, crackers, jerky -- maybe some raisins. Then we began to notice all the green-bottle and blue-bottle flies buzzing around. And after that, we noticed ploppers and mounds, mounds and ploppers. It must have been the cigarette habit, or I might have picked up the scent earlier. Horse shit smells much better than cow-shit, and those mounds and ploppers were all cow excrement. And that was the end of our lunch.

But you don't want bears of any kind eating your shit. I'd seen dogs eat cat-shit, and it seemed that they liked it. If the bears like your shit, they may like you in ways that are unhealthy -- exposing you to extreme risk.

 

[BoomerD]

In revisiting my memory of it, the fellow hiker who admonished me was a more determined tree-hugger than I have ever been. There is a self-righteous one-ups-man-ship dimension to these "expert" environmental exchanges. However, we're talking about pee. What do you think would be the best advice for a massive-gassive-lumpy-dumpy-poopy-doopy-plopper-soupy-happy-crappy?

There's this California State park or forest area up north, just west of Yreka. Yes -- trying to verify my dated memory about it, Google shows the Marble Mountains is W /SW of Yreka. There is also Klamath National Forest north of there. But the Marble Mountains have some pretty good lakes with what was then (2001) a bounty of trout. On the way up the mountains to a lake, we found a huge oak tree with a wonderful shade canopy over what seemed to be flat, comfortable camping ground. We stopped for lunch.

We had earlier encountered some cowboys on horseback with small herds of cows. They must've paid BLM for grazing rights, but this was a place where cattle ranching, wilderness parks, and national forest all converged.

We sat down under the oak canopy to have lunch. I had some cheese, crackers, jerky -- maybe some raisins. Then we began to notice all the green-bottle and blue-bottle flies buzzing around. And after that, we noticed ploppers and mounds, mounds and ploppers. It must have been the cigarette habit, or I might have picked up the scent earlier. Horse shit smells much better than cow-shit, and those mounds and ploppers were all cow excrement. And that was the end of our lunch.

But you don't want bears of any kind eating your shit. I'd seen dogs eat cat-shit, and it seemed that they liked it. If the bears like your shit, they may like you in ways that are unhealthy -- exposing you to extreme risk.

I've always said, the two worst ways to die are to end up as bear shit or shark shit...or any kind of animal shit for that matter.