Sneaky bear. Even with husband working around the yard, bear still snuck in at dusk and pulled down the feeders. He couldn’t resist the beef suet. Now the suet feeder looks like it did when Joe first found it in the woods (torn apart!) and the pole is bent. Fortunately, there’s real good eating for the birds without coming to our feeders, so no one will really miss it until we can get the pole unbent and back up.
Bears
Archived Posts from this Category
October 5, 2009
I am very sorry to hear that Conde Nast is ditching Gourmet magazine. I didn’t subscribe (if I had, would it be folding now?). I never saw Cookie so I won’t miss it, and the two bride mags are long off my radar. But so many recipes, so little time . . .
I would also like to extend my condolences to the family of the woman killed by a caged bear in PA. I don’t say “pet bear” because it was a wild animal. Put a cage around it, it’s still a wild animal. Put clothes on it (the monkey on TV), it’s still a wild animal. Let it ride in the car (last year’s chimp attack), it’s still a wild animal. Even dogs, who sleep in our beds (not mine!) and eat what we eat (if we turn our backs!), still have some wild animal in them. We need to respect that.
September 20, 2009
Who does not love days like today? Yes, fall is coming, but the day is warm and bright and sunny. The garden is dying back but the mums are thriving. If I didn’t have a set of proofs to finish, I would have spent the entire day outside. The birds are migrating, so we’re getting fewer visitors to the feeders and more running into our windows (which is a shame). I am pleased to see that the leaves have not yet taken over the golf course—a few more weeks of putting! But many more weeks of bringing the birdfeeders in at night. I read that bears eat 20,000 calories a day at this time of year. Yow!
September 10, 2009
Last night at dusk I walked into a dark room. As my eyes adjusted, I saw a large black figure outside on the patio. Once I realized what it was, I yelled, “Hey, get out of there!” One of our feeders may be squirrel-proof, but it’s not bear-proof! He was on all fours, eating so comfortably one would think we had put it out for him. He ran down the hill when I yelled. I went to get Joe to help me pull the feeders in. By the time we got back, the bear had, too, and had just knocked down the feeder he loved so much. He ran off again and we pulled the feeders in. But he bent one pole severely, so the hummingbird feeder is now just a few feet off the ground. I was gone today but when I got home, I saw the nectar was down, so I guess they’re feeding okay. I know the bears are starting to think about bulking up for the winter and the hummingbirds are chowing down before their flights south. I’d prefer to just feed the latter, thank you.
August 27, 2009
Bear alert! Only the third one this summer. And 85 Pounds o’ Love heard/saw/smelled him and barked like crazy. So his attempt at our birdfeeders was thwarted. Yay for dog! I’ve brought the feeders in since it’s a day with my mother. The goldfinches will have to fend for themselves.
June 25, 2009
It’s bear season again! Last night while Joe and I were preparing dinner a big guy walked across our back patio right in front of the windows. He stopped in front of the birdfeeders. The dog started barking, Joe opened the door slightly and said, “Hey bear, get away from them.” The bear said, “Damn, they caught me,” and ambled down the hill.
For the next half hour or so the bear circled the house, staying just out of the dog’s collar range. We ate dinner on the patio to discourage him. We came in again, bringing the birdfeeders with us. The bear came back but he climbed into the pond and stayed there a while. He kept stretching out one hind leg. Looked like he was enjoying his bath.
But when he got out, we saw he wasn’t putting any weight on that leg that he’d been stretching. We kept the dog in so that he could go in peace and he limped down the mountain. I don’t know what happened in the short time since he’d crossed our patio. I do hope he’s okay.
June 10, 2009
Summer on the mountain. Neighbor saw a mama bear and her two cubs. Honeysuckle is in full, fragrant bloom. Goldfinches and chipping sparrows crowd my feeders. And drink cups and cigarette packs pile up on the side of the road. Sigh.
FYI: The Twitter fad has already jumped the shark. You heard it here first.
April 2, 2009
It seems the mountain has woken up. Green is sprouting all over the place. Our grasses and perennials are popping up. The phoebes are back and doing some rehabbing to their nest from last year. A bluebird is building a nest in the box outside my window—don’t know if that one will be a keeper, but he obviously recognizes its potential. Gobblers were making a racket yesterday, competing for someone’s attention. A big gray tabby was hunting in the woodpile. Haven’t seen any sign of the bear since the midnight raid a few weeks ago, but that’s a good thing. Aahh, spring!
March 11, 2009
For the record, it is March 11 and we had our first bear of the season last night. And for once the dog heard him. Around midnight we heard the dog barking and snarling. Joe turned on the light and there he was, all 300 pounds of beautiful black bear, raiding the front birdfeeder. (I’d been wondering when one would show up and bring the end of leaving the feeders out overnight.) The dog was rewarded for his good work, the bear ran off at the sound of Joe’s voice, and we didn’t lose so much as one feeder. A happy ending for everyone except the bear who didn’t get to finish his meal. He didn’t even come back for the pile of seeds he left behind!
February 14, 2009
Ever since we moved to the mountain, people have commented on how high up we are. I often walk the dog up and down our side of the mountain (the less steep side) but I’ve always wanted to try walking the other side. It’s not as amenable to foot traffic (narrow berm) but, outside of rush hour, it’s not well traveled. Last week I got a taste of that side when my car overheated and I had to hike the last mile (half mile up, half mile down). It was an unusually warm day and the dog and I both enjoyed it.
So today I decided to hike down that side—into town—to pick up the car at the garage. It’s about 3 miles. I could have asked a neighbor to take me, but I wanted the challenge. I wanted to know that if I ever really needed to do it, I could.
It was great. I got to walk, with my own thoughts, for an hour. Only the first half-mile was uphill, and I’ve done that many times before. I couldn’t take the dog because he can’t ride in that car, but I think it was safer for me not to have to deal with him anyway. I got to see my neighbors’ houses, mailboxes, yards—places I usually zoom by.
At our former home, I walked Foggy Hollow so many times over the years I knew every inch of the road and the houses on it. All my neighbors knew “the lady who walks her dog” even if they didn’t know my name. I didn’t realize it until today that I miss that feeling in this neighborhood. But here the houses are farther apart and I have other things to look at (bears, foxes, turkeys, etc.). And a definite plus, I now have neighbors who would take me down the mountain if I needed it!
