Reader Jeanie sent some miniature books to the girls. They’re in German. One is about Einstein and the other is about Leipzig. Wouldn’t you know it, Nina and Sophie know German, so they’ve started studying them.

Thank you, Jeanie! The girls love them and send their thanks. Though Sophie looks like she’s read enough for the day.

Story from yesterday: Around 11 am, I was upstairs in the bedroom getting ready to make the bed. I happened to look out the window and saw a bear about 5 feet from our kitchen door, right between the funky patio and the memorial garden. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I yelled out to Don: “Don! Don! Go to the window!” He kept yelling, “What window?” But I was so stunned that I could only say, “Just get to the window!!!” I finally heard him say, “Oh, my GOD!!!”

By that time, the bear had turned around and was heading up into the corral and Don got a photo of him.

Sort of blurry as Don was using his iPhone and trying to zoom in. Plus, the sun is shining on his coat, so he looks sort of brown on top. He isn’t. He’s a black bear and I got a really good view of him.

Don thinks he was not full grown, kind of a teenager. I think he’s right.

Anyway, we’ve never seen one that close to us before. He proceeded to go up into the back forty and then over to our neighbor’s property. I told Don to call them and warn them because they have chickens. Our neighbor said she was looking at him at that moment; he had crawled under the chicken house (which is raised quite a bit off the ground) and he was eating their food. Oh, my!

Later, after I’d posted the photo on IG, my neighbor who lives across the field that runs behind our property, asked me what time I saw him. Apparently, he was in the neighboring campground around 12:30 walking around near the canteen and front entrance – they’re not open yet for the summer. And my neighbor discovered that her trash cans had been raided. So, he left my neighbor’s property, walked across the field, ravaged her trash, and then went on to the campground. He/she was hungry!

Black bears are not aggressive. If, for example, I had been outside when he was approaching the property, he would have run off.

An amazing experience and it makes us wonder how many other times a bear has been around and we just didn’t happen to look outside at that moment.

I was really tired yesterday – allergies, I think – so I didn’t accomplish much other than a few chores. But today, I’m going to mow the corral, the last section of the property that hasn’t been mowed in the last week.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.