Ear to the ground

“I had Lasik when it first came out, and I can see a deer miles away on a mountaintop, but I still can’t read.”

-A local man after badly botching some printed words

‘London Calling’

Durango managed to make the cut during the most recent installment of “The Bachelor.” Chelsea, “a 24-year-old pharmaceutical sales representative from Durango, Colo.,” got the rose last Monday night and held on as a bachelorette vying for the hand of Matt Grant, a London businessman, on the reality TV show.

Last Monday’s episode of “The Bachelor: London Calling” included a group date where Chelsea squared off against an actress, a photographer and an advertising rep from places as far flung as Malibu and Missouri. Matt and the bachelorettes arrived at a private estate for a tennis-themed group date, which would be followed by afternoon tea. 

“Matt was thinking Chelsea looked ‘ridiculously hot’ in her tennis outfit,” according to a report onwww.realitytvworld.com. He then presented the group date’s rose to Chelsea since she had some “amazing shots” on the tennis court and “looked great.”

The Durangoan replied, “Matt is awesome. I didn’t expect this one at all. I’m extremely happy.”

Rose in hand, Chelsea will go on to square off against Amanda, Marshana, Shayne, Robin and Noelle in next week’s episode of “The Bachelor: London Calling.” 

Ashlee, one of the bachelorettes cut last Monday, offered a little taste of the heartbreak that could be waiting. “I can’t believe that I’m the one that he’s sending home,” she said between sobs. “I just want to find someone who will see more to me than just a songwriter, because I don’t think he even gave me a chance.” “The Bachelor: London Calling” airs Mon., April 14, at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Bearing down

Now that bear season has returned to the Four Corners, new findings suggest two places bruin-wary people should avoid – the golf course and the ski area.

A bear expert from Whistler has reported a surprising compatibility of bears and people there. The bear population there balloons to as many as 120 bears in summer, and Michael Allen, a bear researcher, gives credit to the resort’s three golf courses and its ski area, Whistler-Blackcomb.

During two months of spring, the bears get a nutritional boost with the easy pickings of easily digested grass, clover, dandelions and horsetail courtesy the manicured links. In the surrounding mountains, logging of trees, wildfires and the cutting of ski trails have together resulted in a high density of berries.

Writing inPique, Allen says bears find a lot to like in Whistler: plenty of clover, dandelions and berries and few physical threats, except when they get brazen and try to walk into kitchens.

He also says that golf courses support mostly male bears, while females gravitated toward the ski area.