Hello everyone on this very beautiful morning here at Steve’s Country.  The sun is shining again and it’s warm finally which is so nice.  I have my door open and the birds are singing so enthusiastically out there.  The sun is shining on my desk bringing such a warm glow to my writing area.  My cup of coffee is right beside me and Muffin is…looking at my feet.  Why, I ask her.  She just sits looking at me not saying a word.  Always makes me think I have forgotten something.  Oh, right, her paper ball.  I crumple some paper, she plays with it and when she is finished, she rips it to shreds.  Tiny little pieces of paper all over the living room.  Then I have to vacuum.  She must think I enjoy vacuuming.  I don’t.  Really.  Sigh.  I buy her toys.  And what does she want to play with? Crumpled paper ball.  Amazing.

But what a beautiful morning.  Sir George calling for his breakfast.  Twice.  Baxter calling for peanuts.  Birds singing.  Choco and Chatter fighting.  Male squirrels generally chase each other around.  The females however, like to connect more when they fight.  So there is Choco and Chatter, they sit chattering at each other, suddenly Chatter jumps straight up and Choco is right there when she lands.  Wow.  Almost looked like a new type of dance.  Finally the full connection.  And they roll around like one ball of fur.  Right off the edge of the deck.  5 Feet to the ground.  Like nothing happened.  They are still rolling together.  But finally there is a break and Chatter wins this round.  Last time it was Choco.  They are actually quite well matched.  So both will stay here.  Like Mama Chip and Chipper last year.

Speaking of bears.  Mine was back again, night before last.  Looking in the living room window just before 3 am.  Poor Muffin.  She really doesn’t like bears.  I don’t mind, as long as they are far enough away or there is a barrier between us.  Like one time I was out for a drive and stopped in at a little garbage disposal area along the highway.  I thought it might be a good spot for seeing some bears.  Sure enough this time there was 7 bears, 5 black and 2 cinnamon.  Now, cinnamon bears are just black bears that are brown instead of black.  But they are beautiful anyway.  I was hoping to get a picture of one.  So I parked the car close to the bears and got out slowly.  I decided to leave the car door open in case I needed to get back inside quickly.

There are things I have never told anyone about my adventures.  I learned early on it’s best not to tell some people, that way they don’t get worried.  People tend to worry a lot for some reason.  There was a nice black bear on the other side of the car, about 400 lbs I figured (about 190kg).  But I wanted a cinnamon bear, one was about 20 feet away and the biggest of the 2 was further away and in the shade.  So I aimed for the closer one. 

My car door didn’t want to stay open though and kept bumping into me.  Finally I turned to look and the door was actually closed slightly.  Odd, I thought.  Then I spotted him.  It was a black bear that kept bumping into me with his nose.  I think he wanted me to move.  I wanted to move also.  But where.  The cinnamon bear was coming over now as well.  Standing between 2 bears is not the best idea.  Honest.  Only one thing to do, get in the car.

I started talking quietly to the bear that was behind me.  I talk like this will all animals.  It seems to make them calm.  He actually sat down.  And the cinnamon bear stopped coming any closer.  So I opened the door and got in slowly, talking the whole time.  In situations like this you don’t panic.  Or show that you are afraid.  Animals can sense fear and that makes them nervous and they become very unpredictable.  So staying calm and talking quietly, calmly, works to keep them calmed as well.  I was a bit relieved to be back in the car though.  I watched for a while and then left.

Just as a word of caution.  Don’t do what I did.  Bears are large and dangerous animals and although they look rather clumsy, they can outrun you.  Easily.  They are also extremely strong animals.

Well everyone, I guess that wraps it up for today.  More is coming however, so stay close by.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.