Bears Will Be Bears!

About 11:30 pm last night as I sat in the studio near a window working on my laptop I heard what sounded like footsteps crunching in the snow.  Not little footsteps like a dog or human would make. No... something much larger.  More like something with big padded feet and some weight behind it crunching through the hard frozen snow in our backyard.

I took a nervous quick glance over my shoulder to peek out the patio doors in time to see the owner of those big padded feet come strolling right past.  If you count the panes in the window up to about 3 1/2 you should get the idea how big this creature was.... and that was standing on all fours!  Scared the you know what right out of me!   

I've seen a few bears in my life time.  But never one this close and with only a thin layer of glass between us!  

Since everyone else in this household has sense enough to go to bed early and were sleeping soundly I figured it was about time to rouse (him) and warn of the danger in our backyard.

To make a somewhat long story short... in the dim light from the streetlights and waxing gibbous full moon we watched the hungry bear lumber through the backyard searching for the bird feeders ( which were already emptied by hungry birds). 

I have to say Mr. O sink was pretty excited as well.  But not once did it ever occur to ME to open the patio doors and yell at the bear.  Is that a man thing?

Well it startled me and the bear of course went from a slow waddle to a lumbering gallop across the yard and scaled the big pine tree you see in the next photo (the one closest to the A frame). It's just amazing how a creature that big can climb a tree with such speed and the agility of a monkey.

Okay Mr.  O sink.... are you happy?  Yelling at the bear didn't really accomplish much other than to have a 300 pound dog- eating beast resting in the pines in our backyard.

Opps...before you know it the bear came right back down out of that tree!  As determined as ever to carry on his search for food.  The bears are awake from their winter hibernation and maybe as disgruntled as we are about the slow arrival of Spring weather.  It has to make the search for food a little harder and perhaps the journey a little longer at night. 

We watched as he continued to make his way across the park and into the neighbors yard below us.  

So long story short... bears will be bears.  It doesn't matter that it feels and looks like the dead of winter in northern Wisconsin.  The calendar says March 26th.  The bears are awake. As good a sign as any I guess but I would much prefer to see a Robin.

Cathy G