B-B-B-Bear!

When we first moved here, I felt a little nervous about the idea of being neighbors with bears. I wondered if a bear might enjoy the smells of dinner cooking and punch his way through our big kitchen windows. I worried if I should let the kids outside to play. Feeling like a bit of a "city slicker," I talked to some of the town folk and even emailed a real Adirondack guide to find out what to expect. Everyone told me the same thing ... not to worry!

Sure enough - over our 2 years here, we've had a few funny "bear" moments, but no encounters...

One of our very first guests, a young man who lived in the Bronx, was relaxing on our front porch late one night. He sat gazing out into the darkness, listening to the night sounds, drinking in the peace ... and wondering, "Would a bear come up on the porch?"

CRACK! A twig snapped across the driveway and according to his story the next morning, he shot straight up and into the house in one quick move! (I'm giggling remembering!)

And then there was the beautiful starry night when we returned late to realize that we'd forgotten to turn any lights on. Friends, visiting from Harrisburg, found the total darkness to be "much scarier" than the city! We assured them that all was safe and urged them to stand quietly, look up and enjoy the amazing stars that can't be seen in city lights...

CRACK! A twig snapped across the driveway. I never saw my friends move so fast! (Giggling again!)

On another occasion, CorrieAnne and a little friend were playing in the driveway. They looked up behind the barn and saw a tree moving back and forth. THEN... they were just SURE they saw a big black thing hugging the tree... They streaked down the driveway into the house and we couldn't get CorrieAnne back outside for weeks!

Our first real "proof" that we might indeed have bear neighbors came at Christmas time. Wayne and a friend found a real live bear track in the snow right behind our barn! (And our barn isn't very far away!!)


So we now knew that there really WAS a bear in the neighborhood... but of course, he would go deep into the wilderness once the weather turned warm. We wouldn't see him. Our neighbors who have summered here for 30 plus years hadn't ever seen one....

And then came Thursday morning! Wayne headed out to work and discovered that our trashcans had been attacked by ... well ... definitely something BIG!


The trash lay strewn all over the ground, the trashcans were dented and scratched and punctured in several spots!


Wayne cleaned up the mess... but in his haste, somehow he missed the BIGGEST evidence of all...
Yep - that's his boot print right in the big pile of bear scat! (Giggling yet again!)

Since the latest visit had occurred even CLOSER to the house (by the wood shed), Wayne decided to sleep in his truck that night. He left the window down so that he would hear the intruder, shoot a few pictures and then scare it away so it wouldn't get the idea this behavior was ok! The only problem was .... it began to rain. Rain on the roof of a truck is very soothing. And Wayne is a very deep sleeper.

He awoke a few hours later to see the trashcans once again dragged out into the driveway and opened! He had slept through the whole thing!

In the words of the child's song... "We're going on a bear hunt... We're going on a bear hunt ... We're gonna catch a big one ... We're gonna catch a big one..."

Hopefully (or maybe NOT) one of these days, I'll have a real photo of a real bear to prove that we really do live in a wild and wonderful place!