A little ursine story:
Last night around 8 pm, Don was outside. We had been expecting storms but ended up only having a little rain, so I went out on the porch to rehang my hanging plants since the expected big thunderstorms and winds didn’t happen. I then joined Don and we looked toward the mountains at the sunset. We were chatting about this and that, including how beautiful our property was; lots of green grass, flowers and bushes in bloom, a charming porch. I said that this little former farmhouse was exactly what I had dreamed of for so many years. Don took my chin in his hand and said “You did all this. You.” It was lovely.
Keep in mind that we were still facing the mountains/street. A few minutes later, we went back inside the house to watch our evening dose of Northern Exposure. Don was in the kitchen, I gravitated toward the den and checked my cell phone, which I had left inside. There was a message from my next door neighbor.
“Claudia, this is Valeria. I just wanted you to know that there was a bear walking through your property just now. I hope you’re safely in the house.”
What????
I called her right back. Their house is situated further back from the road than ours is, in the same area as our back forty. She said that she had been standing in her backyard with her two cats. One of them started growling. Since an ambulance had just gone by, Valeria assumed the growl was a response to the alarm emanating from the ambulance. But the cat kept growling. She looked up to see what he was growling at and saw a bear walking from the direction of our house, through the back forty, and out into the neighboring field. She, of course, froze in place, just as we do when we see a bear. Once he was gone, she called me on her cell phone.
We had been outside the entire time the bear was walking across the property and had no idea. It was all happening 40 or 50 feet behind us. And, since we were talking, the bear was aware of us.
Don and I had just been talking about that time last year when we saw a bear by our kitchen door. And I remember calling Valeria to warn her when the bear took the same route up through the back forty and out toward the field.
I’m glad we have black bears, who are wary of humans, and keep to themselves. They aren’t aggressive.
I sure wish we had seen him last night.
Stay safe.
Happy Saturday.
