Interesting Visitors

 When we arrived back at the cabin on May 21, we were greeted with an interesting sight.

First we saw one hummingbird feeder on the ground; then we saw the second one on the ground, too.  The finch feeder dragged up the hill was a clue, and the muddy footprints on the window confirmed that we had had a bear visit us.  Over the 60+ years we have been going to the cabin, never once has a bear come near our cabins, so this was quite the event.

We went to bed that evening, and at about 2:00 a.m. I heard something in the kitchen.  Thinking it was the dogs, I reached down to see which one of them it was.  But both of them were in bed with us.  Then I heard another sound, much like a dog getting ready to vomit.  Again, I checked the dogs, but they were both sleeping away.  Then I heard another sound, and perhaps it was Don rattling around in the kitchen.  But no, he was sleeping away, too.  "Don," I said quietly.  "I think someone is in the house."  He woke up in time to hear something else that made him jump out of bed . . . "No, that's a bear," and he yelled in his loudest airplane voice, "Get out of here."  

We opened the blinds to the patio to see Mr. Bear standing there.  He quickly hightailed it behind the barn, and we went back to bed.  Interestingly, the dogs never did awaken until Don yelled.  They bark at everything . . . except bears!

We talked to Katie, my game-warden sister, and she was much more concerned than we were.  Bears who are becoming habituated are nothing to play with, she warned, and since she was coming up that day, she brought my brother's turkey gun and some rubber bbs to shoot in the air - and at the bear, if we had to.  Saturday night/Sunday were calm, and we guessed that Mr. Bear had left the Canyon.

Monday morning, Don awakened early and was sitting at the table.  He had opened the blinds so that he could see outside, but it was still fairly dark, since it was 5:45 a.m.  He looked up, and to his surprise there was a bear right up against the house.  "Katie, he's back," Don yelled, and Katie, in her satin, lime-green shortie pajamas and "bare" feet, jumped into action. By the time she grabbed the gun (which Don had loaded), and headed out in the 32 degree morning, the bear had again run away.  

Luckily, we had placed a game camera on the patio, hoping to catch a picture of whatever might be there throughout the night.  Mr. Bear must have seen the LED light, and we think he came to see what it was.  Before he came to the patio, however, he took a terrific picture:

Such a photogenic guy.  We feel very fortunate that this was the only encounter we had with him, and he appears to have left the area . . . we hope!