BEARS!

BEARS!

Do you think we will ever see a bear on our property?

I don't know...do you want some more salmon?

We got bears!!  Really, we actually saw a bear today. Not one of those way in the distance, wish you had your binoculars or quick flash and not even sure it was a bear sightings; no, this bear was only 75’ away. Here’s what happened.

Jim and I found a beautiful pine tree spot that is filled with really big rocks – perfect for a picnic. We have eaten our lunch there several times because it is nice and cool on warm days and so peaceful.

I heard a quiet “crunch” sound behind me so I turned around to look. Our neighbor has two dogs and one day I saw one of them ducking under the fence and bolting from our property toward home. For a split second my thought was, “Oh, our neighbor’s dog.” I said to Jim, “Look!” Very quickly I realized it was a bear. As soon as I realized this I said to Jim, “It’s a bear.”

Jim: The funny thing is I was actually sitting there eating my lunch and quietly contemplating what would happen if a bear showed up. I was running a scenario through my mind of what we should do if we did encounter a bear. My best solution was to get behind a tree, oh, and take my wife with me (I’m sure her mom is reading this). As I was thinking this, a real bear showed up and my scenario went out the window. From what I’ve read about black bears, one of the first things you do is make noise to make your self known, so this is what I did. “Hello bear! We are sitting over here, hello!” It was my first conversation with a 300 lb. bear; that was the best I could do. Edrianna was sitting there mesmerized and I know she was thinking, “Where’s my camera?”

Edrianna: Actually, I wasn’t. I was thinking, “Holy %@#*, there’s a BEAR! Jim nudged me and said we both need to be making noise. I threw my hands up in the air and said, “Hello bear. You are a big bear.” Really, that is actually what I said. I was about as articulate as Jim.

Jim: This was quite effective. He lifted his head and turned and took several steps in our direction. That wasn’t supposed to happen. That’s the last time I trust Wikipedia for facts.

We kept up our clever banter and he turned his nose up in the air, and I could tell he caught a whiff of us. He turned quickly and sauntered away from us and into the woods.  

Edrianna: Needless to say we don’t have photos because the camera was in the car along with the bear spray, whistle, cell phone, first aid kit, and all the other stuff you should have if you encounter a bear.

Not to worry mom, I’ll have my day pack on tomorrow with all my important gear close at hand – especially my camera!

Jim: We survived our first encounter with a bear with out incident. However, shortly afterwards I got stung in the leg by a bee – and that really hurt. Six hours later and it still hurts. Perhaps I should have made myself known to the bee, “Hello bee.”

A side note:

The well drill didn’t come today but they called and will arrive tomorrow at 10 am with the first truck and 11 am with the second. Our builder says it may take two days.

Also, the electrician, Jay, from Progress Energy called several times yesterday because he couldn’t find our property. He arrived today just after lunch but didn’t get anything done because they decided we need a transformer on the power pole.