My Dad's Big Blooper with a Bear!

I called my dad tonight to wish him a Happy Father's day. We talked for a bit, and he recapped his memory of the Black bear. I have told this story a couple times, but he refreshed my mind and i think it is so hilarious. I just think it's crazy how many black bear and grizzly bears are in canada, especially as you go up north to where im from.
About a year ago, my dad looked out the window and there was a 500-600 lb. bear in the backyard. Normally people would get scared and look out the window through the blinds or something. But not someone from sudbury...oh
no. Dad actually grabbed his camera and went out on the deck to try and get some pictures. He actually got down in the yard to about 10 feet away from the bear and started to take snapshots. The bear turned his head toward dad, grunted, and dad ran back to the deck. A few minutes later, as the bear was walking into the neighbors back yard & behind their garage, dad gets down and follows him!!! (with his camera in hand, of course....) The bear actually starts crossing the road and dad continue to follow the black bear down the road, taking pictures!!! I asked, "I can't believe you risked your life to take pictures!" He said, "I don't think of it as even risking my life, if the bear would have started coming to me, I would have ran!!!" I asked, "what if the bear ran faster?" he just said he'd run! WELL...a year ago, it was the talk of the town. They told everybody! including me. They talked and talked for months. I came up in May, a month or two after it happened, and they still talked about the pictures in that film camera! Well, when I got home from canada, they called me. Apparently, when dad took those "pictures" of the bear, there was no film in the camera!!!!!!! Isn't that crazy!!? He thought there was film, and he was clicking away, but none! zippo! What a downer... So basically, I asked him..."so you risked your own life following a bear for non-existent pictures!?" and he says, "don't worry! bear season is coming up again and when another bear comes near, ill be ready with my camera!!! I'll get one, don't worry..." Will he get a snapshot? I don't doubt. We have bears all the time in that town because of all the bush. Will I worry? Of course I will. My Dad is pretty crazy. He's an overweight mafia-blood italian. (Yes, we have ancestors/relatives that were/is in the mafia, some were part of a chicago mafia). Every single year on Good Friday, him and a group of guys go to this cabin where there is a lake. (remember, this is canada and its usually 75% ice on the lake still.) They go in a sauna, get really hot and then they jump in freezing cold water! (some years, they've had to cut holes through the ice to jump in). So yes, my dad hangs out with giant bears and jumps in freezing water. Hmmm...maybe he IS a bear! Ha-ha...

Me, Dad and my sister Andrea this past Spring when I drove down to canada for the first time by myself!! Notice the woods in the window behind us?