Raspberries and Paranoia

Picking raspberries in your yard becomes a whole new type of experience after you have seen a black bear sniffing around the canes.

I had the dog out in the yard, thinking he would alert me if any large furry visitors came calling.  Yes, the same do that sat silently in the living room while the rest of us ran about loudly commenting about the unusual diner in the front yard.  Even our obvious nervousness didn't get him at least curious.  Um.. yeh.. I don't think he's going to be much help here.

 Any tiny noise made me twitchy.  Jumpier than a cat on a hot tin roof.

At one point I was sure I heard a snorting, grunting sort of a noise. I jumped back about 6 feet from the raspberry canes, and made ready to sling my bucket of raspberries at the bear while screaming loudly and running for the house.


Wait.. you're not supposed to run when you encounter a bear, are you? Or maybe you are?


I found myself playing out the scenario.  What would I do if/when I came face to face with the bear?  I tried to think about what Bear Grylls or that Survivorman would do.  All I could remember was that you should always try to purify water before drinking it, and that if you fall through a frozen pond you are supposed to get naked and rub yourself with snow.  I don't think survivor dudes are gonna be much help either. 

Note to self: watch more Discovery channel - one never knows. 

Unfortunately that line of thinking also got me thinking about the Grizzly Man.  You know.. the guy who filmed his life living with wild bears.  Until they killed and ate him.  Thinking about him did not help my mental situation either.

Every rustle in the leaves had me convinced that Mr Bear was sneaking up on me, thinking that the bucket of berries I was carrying would make a nice dessert after his tasty meal of Me.  Although from my very limited exposure to bears, I don't believe it's likely that they sneak up on anything.  They don't seem to be a light footed sort of animal.  In fact, I would have to say the one I saw sort of lumbered about. 

Still... one can never be too careful.  Still thinking about the Grizzly Man.

Sorry... Goldilocks Isn't Home Right Now

I'm minding my own business, walking through the living room when out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse through the window of something black.  "Hmm..", I think, "There is a strange dog in the yard".  I back up a step and take a second, longer look.  THAT is not a dog. 

THAT IS A BEAR! 

I stared in complete disbelief.  I took a deep breath and said loudly to the offspring "There is a bear in the front yard!!"  (OK, I may have yelled it) 

I grabbed the phone and sent a text to the Man of the House.  "There is a BEAR in the front yard!"  And then I sent a few more texts to anyone I could think of.  I was a little keyed up over this whole bear thing.

I grabbed the camera and starting taking pictures.  Through the window - I'm not that crazy!  I kept saying it: "There's a bear in our yard!"  "There... is a BEAR... in the front yard!!"

This was no small cub either.  This was a decent sized bear!  I'm pretty sure that if it were to stand up on it's back legs , it would be at least as tall as The Man of the House!

Apparently Mr Bear (Ms Bear?  I wasn't getting close enough to check... or ask) found the crab apples in our yard irresistible.  And he (she?) was welcome to as many of them as he (she?) wanted!  We watched him (her?) for a good 15 minutes, filing his (her?) belly. 

He (she?) would sit and eat a few apples, then get up and stroll around sniffing until he (she?) found a new spot with some yummy apple goodness, where he would sit back down for another course.

Eventually the bear got tired of apples.  He (she?) wandered around the side of the house, and sniffed at the raspberry canes.  I was OK with that, but once an interest was shown in the chicken house, it was time to make some noise and scare our bear friend off!   Sorry Bear!  Apples and berries are fair game, but my chickens are OFF LIMITS! 

 As the bear wandered away and disappeared into the wooded area next to our yard, I realized that he (she?) now that he or she knows there is food here.  I fully expect we will see him (or her) again.