Good morning on this beautiful, though chilly Sunday! Still, it is definitely a beautiful looking day ahead, and all week really. But the nights are certainly getting cooler now. But that just means that fall is moving right along as it usually does. And the days are moving along rather fast now, racing along to the next season. Fall is short up here, even though it can last about 2 months, and some years a little longer. I think the animals can feel that winter is not far off. The chipmunks are so busy, picking up their food faster than ever, like winter is going to happen very quickly.

And on the other side of the size scale, the bears are showing up with greater regularity as well. Friday night bears showed up 3 times. I don’t know if it was the same bear each time or if it was 2 or even 3 different bears that came along. There are 3 bears that visit here quite regularly, so it’s possible they were all different. One showed up around 8:30 or so, another about a half hour later. Then another showed up at 4:30am and he decided to do some rearranging on my deck, even moving that one step outside the door, which weighs about a hundred pounds. Easy for him to move, but I wish he would put it back when he’s done.

I’m not supposed to move anything over 10 pounds, according to my doctor. But I kind of need that step sitting where it’s supposed to be or I’ll end up falling flat on my face. Sigh. Bears were around at least 4 days/nights this past week. That’s too often. Oh well, the joys of living in a forested location. With all the bears in town I’m probably safer down at the river. I have been asked why I always say “down at the river”. Well, it’s because the river is, down that is, about 400 feet down from where I live. So about 2/3’s of the path is downhill on the way to the river, and that means, of course, that it is uphill coming back, which makes for good exercise. I would have guessed it was closer to 500 feet down, but the map says 400.

Back to the bears. The one bear Friday night actually stood up on his hind legs and looked in the living room window. Muffin was at the window right then, but when the bear looked inside that was too much for her, and she took off running to hide in the kitchen. And that’s where she stayed for 1 and a half hours. She would not come out any sooner no matter how much I tried to coax her. But considering how big that bear’s head is compared to Muffin’s head, I guess it’s easy to understand why she got so scared. Poor kitten. Then last night at around 8pm another bear showed up, likely one from the previous night. This time Muffin ran into the bedroom, forget about looking out the window. Sigh. I prefer the chipmunks myself. Muffin agrees with that. Well, I hope you have a beautiful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. (The top featured image is white and lilac phlox.)

©2021 Steve McLeod.