A Dream? I Think Not.

Now that I am sitting in the bright sunshine of 8:30 am, what happened in the pre-sunrise light of 5am seems like it may have been a dream. But I can prove to myself it was real- there was the early-morning phone call to Kendall in Deer Lake and there is a torn bag of birdseed at the edge of our yard that Lucy, our dog, is very interested in sniffing.

A little before 5:00 Lucy woke me up with incessant barking. I kept waiting for her to stop. When she persisted, I drug myself out of bed. I opened our bedroom window which faces the backyard where Lucy was tied by her doghouse. She alternated between barking at something to the side of our house and appealing to me. She was also making weird snorting noises, like a horse. I stuck my head out of the window to see if I could see the skunk or whatever it was she was so upset about. I couldn't see anything, so I went out to the kitchen area, which faces the direction she was barking.

As I headed out toward the patio doors, I could make out a large, black shape on the edge of our yard- less than 25 yards from me. No way. It was a large, black bear. And I do mean large. It appeared to be unperturbed by all of Lucy's commotion. It was just sitting there eating something.

Ahhh! What do I do?! It wasn't hurting anything, but I wanted it to know it wasn't welcome here! After a bit, it got up and started ambling back into the bush. I called Kendall on his cell phone and just said, "Big Bear." Should I yell at it? What?! He said it wouldn't hurt to yell at it. So I opened the patio door and yelled, even though it had basically disappeared into the bush by then. I tried to sound angry and menacing and like I was huge with a big gun.

The bear disappeared, but Lucy still spent awhile looking at a different part of the bush barking at it, so I knew it hadn't gone too far. After awhile Lucy finally calmed down. Needless to say, it took me a bit to go back to sleep.

So...
-This is the first bear I've seen where I haven't been sitting in a car somewhere far from my home.
-I'm glad Lucy was barking so much.
-I'm disturbed that the bear didn't seem more disturbed.
-A garbage truck just drove by with a sign on the side that had a picture of a bear and the caption: "Don't feed me." It's past time to put the birdseed and feeder away for the summer. This also confirms our recent decision to not store the dog food outside.
-I'm glad I didn't see babies. It would have been more entertaining, but a mama bear is way scary.
-I will have Lucy untied if the boys are ever playing in the bush. I've got to get comfortable with that idea all over again.
-I was looking forward to being in the bush alone. Now I have to get used to this idea and decide how I will handle it.
-I knew bears were around, it's just weird to see it with my eyes and to see it so close to my house.
-I'm sitting outside right now and the noises around me make me a little bit jumpy.
-It was kind of cool and definitely exciting.
-I haven't told the boys, so keep it under your hats for now.