Finally, my big bear story!!!

OK...I have been meaning to post about the bear story. In the craziness of our life I got sidetracked with Chuck coming home for the weekend and working hard in the garden and having an open house (2 families came through ~yippee!!!) and being attacked by fire ants (actually 3 out of the 4 of us got a bunch of bites)...whew. It just tires me out thinking about the last 4 days. It has been great having Chuck home. We actually adjust really well to having him home again and then adjust pretty well to having him gone. We are grateful that we have a good long distance/cell phone relationship. Don't get me wrong, I am so done with living the single parent life, but I have so much to be thankful for and again I am focusing on the positive.

Where was I headed? Oh, yes, the bear. Well now that it has had such a build up I am sure I will disappoint the peapod readers with the story. Alas, I will share the story and pictures anyhow.

About 2 weeks ago, I was sitting down to read with the little boy that I tutor and glanced out the front window. I noticed this large animal (much too big to be a dog) lumbering up the front yard, headed right toward the front door. I called for the girls and grabbed my camera and stepped outside to take his picture. Like I said he was headed right for the front door so I didn't stay out there for long and I shooed the kids back inside to watch from the safety of the living room.

We watched him come right up to the house and walk around the side yard. We ran to Tally's room to watch from there and then to Tissy's room as he headed out to the back yard. It was great to watch him climb right over the fence (guess I shouldn't think that closing the gate at night is going to keep out the wild animals ~hee hee)

We watched him from the lanai (screened in pool) as he checked out the back yard. He wandered over to the playset and then headed for the fire pit and garden area. We all ran up to the guest house and watched from the deck up there as he lumbered through the yard and climbed the fence to the neighbors yard. It was so much fun to watch him play in the neighbors bird bath and stand up to get into their squirrel feeders. Eventually he climbed a tree and gave a grunt to let us know that the show was over.

Needless to say, the tutoring was over the moment the bear showed up. I wasn't able to calm the kids down. They absolutely loved watching this part of nature right in their own back yard. It really was a treat to be so close to him. The pictures don't do justice as most of them are through the screen. Why I felt safe through that screen is crazy, though these black bears aren't the most aggressive bears. Not to say that I would want to come face to face with one as I stepped outside to take out the trash some night. Hopefully that won't happen. =)