At about 2:30 in the morning last Thursday, I woke up with a start. I could hear a loud, strange, repetitive noise; sort of like a scraping sound. At first, in my sleepy fog, I thought one of the boys was either coughing or vomiting, and I got up to investigate. Their bathroom door was open and the room was dark and empty empty; both of their doors were firmly shut with no lights coming through the bottoms. I stood there, listening for a few minutes, but I didn’t hear anything. I chalked it up as a weird dream – I have been taking magnesium at night, and I find I sometimes get strange, vivid dreams – and went to bed.
My usual wake time is 4:00, and that day was no exception. I trundled out of bed, whispered good morning to my younger son who also gets up at that hour for work, and padded downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a very large window that looks out towards my mother-in-law’s house and, crucially for this story, the side lawn. There, on the side lawn, directly outside the large window, was a very large bear, tearing up a garbage bag and eating its contents.
I stood there, stunned, for just a moment before running up the stairs to grab my son who was, understandably, a little confused at my scream whispers to come here come here come here. He followed me down the stairs so we both could stare at the bear, wondering what to do.
I had to do something. As anyone who has been around wildlife knows, one cannot allow wildlife to eat garbage. Particularly one cannot allow a bear to eat garbage; bears can get easily habituated to it and to people, and that can end up with a problem bear, one who would be in danger of being “destroyed,” as they euphemistically say. But what to do?
The next day, when I related this story to Kate, the woman who does my sugaring, she immediately asked if I had heard about all the internet discourse about whether a woman, alone in the woods, is safer if she meets a man or a bear. “What my first question is,” Kate said, pausing mid-sugar as I had my knee into my chest, naked from the waist down, “Is what kind of bear are we talking about?” That was exactly my question too; the answer is very different between grizzly and black bear, and although I would never discount another woman’s lived experience or trauma, no matter how you slice it, bears are really fucking scary.
This bear, I could tell, was a black bear with brown fur. Because it wasn’t a grizzly, I took a chance on what to do. I knocked on the window. The bear looked up at me and continued to go through the garbage. I knocked a few more times, locking eyes with it in the most aggressive way I could, through a window and still kind of terrified. It got up and lumbered up through the vineyard, to go paw through the neighbouring houses’ garbage, as I found out later that morning.
The reason I bring up the type of bear is that a grizzly could charge, possibly through the window, with that kind of aggressive behaviour from me. I had to take a few deep breaths just typing that. As it was, a giant bear ten feet away from me, even through a window, was extremely unsettling.
I had to go out and clean up the garbage, because I couldn’t risk it coming back for it, but I was terrified. My son and I ascertained the coast was clear, and I ran out, where I discovered where the scraping noise had come from – the black bin we share with my mother-in-law was knocked on its side and pulled away from its usual spot. I cleaned up the garbage, trying not to heave as I picked up my mother-in-law’s kitchen waste that included a lot of slimy eggshells and various meat bones. I locked the garbage up in the shed, which we should have been doing weeks ago, after hibernation season. Better late than never, I guess.
By this time Rex was awake in his crate, and I knew he had to go out. Dogs need to go out in the morning! But I also didn’t want him to be mauled, obviously, and I sent out deep exhalations of gratitude for the large windows. Typically I let him out without a thought, and imagine if I had done that first thing in the morning? I don’t want to imagine it, actually.
I took my big flashlight and went out with him, shining the light around and checking the area frantically. Rex was also checking the area frantically, sniffing and following the scents of the bear on the lawn and into the vines. I looked up to see my mother-in-law at her kitchen window, with the light on. She waved at me and I scurried over to her house. She met me at the door, mistaking the look on my face for concern over her well-being. “I’m fine, dear,” she said, “I was just getting up to use the bathroom and I could see you out here with your flashlight.”
At that point I started incoherently saying words like “bear” and “garbage” and “ahhhhhh!” Here’s a hint for all of you living next door to your octogenarian mother-in-laws, maybe don’t barrage them with bear information at 4:30 in the morning. Maybe wait until later in the morning when you’re calmer. As it was, my frantic demeanor got her so worked up that I literally worried that she was going to have a stroke, but on the upside, she texted everyone in the neighbourhood, who informed her that they too had had an ursine visitor, with scattered garbage to show it.
She missed one person, though, which I found out the next day when Rex and I went in the early morning hours to take the garbage to the street for pickup. Someone had brought their bin up the night before, and it was knocked over, garbage scattered all over the street, to the delight of the magpies.
It’s a stressful situation. It is very unnerving to know that I could look out the window to see a bear; it’s fuel for nightmares, honestly. Even after moving the garbage, the next day it meandered around our house, going through our recycling, which is probably disappointing for it to find nothing but cardboard and washed-out yogurt containers. The very best case scenario is that, in the absence of easily-accessible garbage, the bear will move on in time, and I don’t really want to think about any other scenarios.
Later on Thursday, my son came home from his job at the golf course to show me a photo of a mama coyote with seven – seven! – pups, not fifty feet from the bunker he was working on. Between this and the deer, marmots, and thousands of birds and squirrels I encounter every day, I’m starting to feel like I’m starring in an episode of Lorne Greene’s New Wilderness. Or maybe a Disney movie, with less fluffy dresses and animal harmonizing. I’ll tell you what it’s not: a reenactment of the 1976 Governor General Award winning book, Bear. Do NOT get any ideas, Baloo.
Weekly Reading
Kind of a meh week in terms of reading; I read some very buzzy books that just didn’t hit for me. Here they are:
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. Let’s say you go to a family reunion in an isolated mountain resort, and let’s say someone at that resort turns up dead. Now let’s say your family is infamous, due to a legacy of crime and murder. Let’s also say that you write “how to write a murder mystery” books for a living. Well! This was an entertainingly and cleverly written murder mystery set in Australia – I had NO idea there were snowy mountain resorts in Australia – but you know what, I am just not a murder mystery person. I keep trying different genres and I just don’t enjoy them – I get confused and then because I’m confused I get bored, I don’t love a lot of action in my books, and so this didn’t really do it for me. BUT if you are a person who likes murder mysteries, particularly the tropes that go with them, then you will probably love this. Definitely this was a “it’s not you, it’s me” problem.
Family Family. First of all, in the author’s note she says she was inspired to write this novel about a woman who is both a birth mother placing babies for adoption, and an adoptive mother herself, for her own child, who was adopted. She wanted to put a novel out there that shows a warm, happy, non-traumatic perspective about adoption, and if that is the goal, then goal accomplished. This is a very sweet and heartwarming story about what makes a family, and a family coming together in the face of a (kind of silly) time of need. It is also a very readable book; this author writes in a smooth, easy-to-read book. I will say that I did not think the storyline was great, and there were many plot holes that I found annoying (i.e., the mother chooses closed adoption, but somehow everyone is able to contact everyone else and knows everything about the adoptive and birth families, the adoptive children are easily able to contact and find the birth children, etc.) but you know what, sometimes a book isn’t meant for in-depth analysis. Sometimes it’s just meant as a love letter, and this is what I think the author set out to do, and did.
Grief Is For People. I have had friends, and friendly acquaintances, die by suicide, and it is a terrible, shocking thing, so I cannot imagine the pain of losing my best friend that way, as the author of this memoir did. The memoir processes her grief, from the burglary of her home one month prior to her best friend’s death, through the pandemic, living in NYC without her best friend. I am sorry to say that the book itself left me feeling flat and kind of confused. I wanted to love it but didn’t.
Happy June, everyone! I hope you all have a great first week of the month. I have a bit of a busy week ahead of me, all good things, and hopefully bear-free! xo
OMG, Nicole! Your Baloo story is not the warm and fuzzy read I expected! I hope locking up the trash helps Baloo go back to the woods. I watched _Cocaine Bear_ with my kid this weekend, so scenes from that carnage kept flashing through my head as I read your (thankfully) carnage-free account. I can imagine how terrifying it must have been to stand guard over Rex that morning. Hugs, friend!
I too have to check our yard before I let Max and Huck out. Deer usually gallop away, but we’ve had a couple paw the ground and advance, and I think those hooves could hurt our pups. Also, I don’t want our guys to hurt any baby animals.
Laurie Frankel is dear to me because of her earlier book, which helped my MIL understand trans kids, so I’ll definitely give this one a chance too.
I hope your week full of good things goes great! XOXOXO
We have deer but they are scared of Rex – he chases them and they literally hightail it out! Your guys are pretty little so I’d be worried too.
I think you’ll like the Frankel book! It’s just a fuzzy feel-good book.
Oh my, I hope you and your neighbors get the bear situation resolved soon. That does sound unnerving.
All of us are locking up the garbage so that will help – until fruit season, eeep.
Eek! That would scare me. We do have bears in Florida (you think they’d be hot with that big furry coat on???) but I’ve never seen one. And yes- the ones we have are black bears (at least I think- I’ve never heard of a grizzly in Florida.) But, any wild animal can be dangerous. Hopefully keeping the garbage locked up will solve the problem. We have coyotes around here- my husband and I have both seen them when we’re out running early in the morning. Our cats do go outside, but never at night, for that reason.
Yeah… I can see how you wouldn’t like that book. It’s kind of a mystery for mystery lovers, at the expense of great plot and character development. I enjoyed it (and the second one he wrote) but there are definitely better books out there!
So interesting you mention coyotes – Rex and I just came across one this morning, and it was in an elementary school playground! Hopefully it moves on before the kids get there. In our old neighbourhood in Calgary, we had them all the time, and there would be often “missing cat” posters, which made me very sad. I will say they kept the jackrabbit population in check, hashtag circle of life.
Girl!!!! I was so scared for you…going out there at 4 am to pick up the trash where the bear had just been?? No thank you! You are so brave! I wonder if there is a scarecrow of sorts for bears that you can put in your yard – a scarebear if you will.
A scarebear! I don’t think there are those, but there are “scare guns” that just make a loud noise that are supposed to help deter bears. I don’t really *want* to have to do that but…we’ll see, I guess.
First Nicole, I have to say what a good writer you are! I read this blog with knots in my stomach and that anxiousness that is created by a good suspense story or movie. Of course, I knew that you were alive and well and tapping away at your laptop. But still. That is so scary. I would be terrified to even go outside & I DEFINITELY would have woken my husband to deal with the garbage. There are occasional bear sightings at our cottage on a road where I typically run. It is uphill and I used to run up the hill singing a song, a made up “go away bear I’m just a harmless runner” song. It’s very hard to sing loudly while running up a hill, but my adrenaline and fear got me through. It certain wasn’t your typical zen morning with coffee, reading, writing & yoga, was it?
Thanks Pat! While hiking in the mountains my friends and I would always TALK REALLY LOUD to make sure not to startle a bear. Intellectually I know that most black bears will probably leave a person alone, but emotionally I am terrified!
Oh I was so scared just reading about the bear, I am amazed that you could go outside afterwards. I would probably stay in my house for a week if I saw a bear in my yard! We do have grizzlies here but we’ve never seen one on our property. Our trash service provides us with bear-proof trash cans that seem to do the job. When I take a walk or ride my bike this time of year I always carry bear spray. Fingers crossed that I will never need it!
Grizzlies are so scary! I have only seen them from afar while hiking and that is close enough for me. The woman who does my sugaring told me that a grizzly charged her husband’s truck. Aieee!
That is so freaking terrifying! Did you know that bears were common to your area? I guess so, if you know when their hibernation ends, but holy cow! Remember when we saw a bear on a hike in Shenandoah National Park last May? The bear was half that size and I was freaking out! I hope your bear heads for the mountains and that you don’t have to start naming it!
Yes, the grief books was my least favorite of Sloane’s books, but I still found it to be a good read. I think she was flat and confused from it all!
I did know, we had a few run-ins last year – I wrote about one here https://girlinaboyhouse.com/2023/09/the-bear-necessities/ and then there’s a photo at the end of this post. https://girlinaboyhouse.com/2023/09/a-grave-mistake/
It’s pretty scary, I have to say!
That bear story is WILD! We had a few bears in my general region last year which was so unexpected. I grew up in woods, but I live by a college now and am always surprised at the wildlife we get. I can’t imagine having one right outside my door. I am so glad you and Max are safe (and I would have run to my MIL and freaked her out in the same fashion – it was a MOMENT!!).
It was terrifying! And being out in the dark by myself cleaning up so it wouldn’t go back…well, I don’t want to do that again, let’s just say that!
“…locking eyes with it in the most aggressive way I could…” You are SO BRAVE. I would have locked myself into a room with no windows like it was a tornado and pretended I HAD SEEN NOTHING. Obviously I need to be more like you in times of stress.
There is a bear or two in our county, but if it EVER came into town, I think the entire place would freak out. Sheesh.
There is so much wildlife here! Rex and I came across a coyote this morning – in the playground of an elementary school!
Well I got sweaty and tense reading about your bear situation. In our area we have raccoons and coyotes – our dog got bit by a raccoon years ago and shortly after we moved in, our (last) indoor/outdoor cat got eaten by a coyote. The thought of dealing with bears too would be too much. Hoping the bear gets bored of your area and limited offerings and never comes back!
Aww, Maggie, I’m sorry about your cat. That was a frequent occurrence in my old Calgary neighbourhood, where there were a lot of coyotes. In fact, a little chihuahua in our neighbourhood has gone missing and I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.
A bear! IN YOUR YARD! I would have just fainted dead away. I know that we have had bear sightings around here; but thankfully have never witnessed one.
It was so close to me too, right beside the house! Terrifying!
The worst we have dealt with around here is coyotes (and some exceptionally stupid wild turkeys). Seeing a bear in the yard would be alarming to say the least, even if he was staring at you with heart-shaped eyes.
I quite liked Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, because I do read a lot of murder mysteries and it gets hard to find any fresh angle, and this was kind of one. I didn’t love it as much as some people I know, mostly because I found the tone a little uneven.
I LOVED the other Laurie Frankel book I read, but it sounds extremely different from this one, to the point where I had to verify that it’s the same author.
I always feel like such an asshole when I read a book by someone who underwent tragedy and had the courage to write about it and then I… don’t like it. Like, sorry that happened to you but your book is meh, that sounds assholish, doesn’t it? And yet it happens.
I really liked a couple of other Laurie Frankel books, and I didn’t dislike this one, but I did think it had a lot of plot holes in it, and was kind of contrived.
That’s exactly how I feel about grief memoirs – if someone has written about a horrible experience, I feel kind of like an asshole if I don’t like it!
Your bear story was RIVETING and I sure hope Baloo moves on now that the garbage is less accessible. Bears! Too smart and greedy for their own good!!!!!
So far we haven’t seen Baloo for a couple of days, so I’m HOPING it’s moved on!
It didn’t take me too long to start thinking about the book Bear as I was reading this, so I was delighted that you mentioned it. But yikes, it is scary to think about letting Rex out.
What you said about Everyone in My Family…I’m so jealous of Lisa for DNF’ing it.
Hahahaha we are all jealous of Lisa!
And I’m glad Bear is now burned in your brain!
Oh goodness, how terrifying! Do you keep Rex on a leash when you let him out before bed? I would hate for him to chase it! Of course, I have no idea what the right thing to do is, but am so glad that you were able to go out there and clean everything up. I think I would have had someone else come with me with a wooden spoon and a pot, to bang on and make noise if it came back. Of course, there’s always yelling…
No J, he is never on a leash at home! Last fall the bear was in my MIL’s yard and he barked but didn’t chase it, so I think he knows not to. My husband does go out with him at night though, before bed, but that’s fairly early so I don’t think the bear is out yet at that point.
The shock of encountering Real Wildlife Nearby is enough (I was TRANSFIXED by the sight of a REAL FOX just WALKING THROUGH OUR YARD), but Large Potential Dangerous Wildlife is significantly more shocking. Like: THERE IT IS. EXISTING. FOR REAL.
Our security camera caught two young black bears wandering through our yard. We did not see the mother, but some neighbors caught her on their camera. WE ARE NONE OF US GOING ANYWHERE NEAR BABY BEARS
I tried that Benjamin Stevenson book and didn’t get very far before determining it was Not For Me. I very recently read Family Family and felt very similarly about it: like, some of this is preposterous, and yet in a way that ended up feeling touching rather than infuriating. Several times I thought, Okay, yes, I will accept this development, not because it makes sense, but because I am enjoying what’s happening.
Baby bears are a whole new level of terrifying!
Swistle, that was how I felt exactly! I will accept this preposterous plot development because that is not the point, it’s just meant to be a sweet, warm book.
Wow. I don’t know how you remained as cool as you did. We get an occasional raccoon but nothing as large as your visitor. Keep Rex safe. It’s a whole new world where you live now. 😳
The Stevenson novel looks like my kind of book. I like mysteries, but I can understand why it didn’t resonate with you.
If you like mysteries I think you’ll love it, because it’s a very unique writing style!
It was very scary and hopefully I don’t have to do that again!
I literally felt sick to my stomach reading this. Gah. A bear. I would lose my living mind, Nicole. Also, I think it just hits close in an existential way about not feeling safe at home, monitoring security cameras and being on high alert. Gah again!!!
I am so glad you’re okay and know you have a very level head and a brave and strong family and this will all be okay. But still. THIS IS NOT OKAY.
Do they do live trapping of bears in your area? I know they sometimes do that at various places in Canada and relocate them to more isolated places? Might be something that Natural Resources would consider if it was a long-term issue in your neighbourhood?
This is the problem, Elisabeth, they DON’T do live trappings. It’s destroy the bear or nothing. So we are just all doing our best to keep the attractions to a minimum, and it’s been five days without a bear so hopefully that will be that. Until fruit season! Then all bets are off, I guess.
OMG, this is terrifying! Gah. What does it say about our society that there is a debate about whether you want to encounter a man or a bear in the woods? Hmmm… I have heard this debate on a podcast and their thought was that you’d die faster at the hands of a bear but it could be a prolonged kind of torture at the hands of a man. But again, what does this say about society that there is a question of who you’d rather encounter in the woods?
Also, since Disney loves to kill off the parent, I’m kind of surprised we don’t have a bear-kills-mother plot for any Disney movies.
I have “Grief is for People” on my hold list but you are the 2nd person who felt a bit ‘meh’ about it. I liked Family Family quite a bit – I just loved India’s quirky personality. But there are some plot holes FOR SURE.
Your MIL sounds very sweet, by the way. I can’t imagine mine referring to me as “dear” but you have been in your MIL’s life for a very long time whereas I’ve only known mine for about 10 years now. All that said, that is just one encounter and I am sure it is complicated at times to share a property with her!
I’m definitely not a male apologist or a “not all men” woman, and I haven’t had any trauma, but I would much rather take my chance on a man. For one thing, I can probably run faster. For another, HAVE YOU SEEN A BEAR THEY ARE SCARY.
There are sometimes complications and there was definitely a transition period, but for the most part things are going very well on that front!
I agree re man vs bear. I think I also just tend to assume the best about most people. Most dudes solo hiking are not going to harm you; they’re just adventurer types. Bears are f*cking scary. I’m coming back to post my own Bear In Yard story as soon as I can!
I also assume the best (and I haven’t had any reason not to, I know many women cannot say the same) and I would just assume the guy is out for a constitutional, same as me.
Nicole! That bear! Just right there! How terrifying. I am so glad the story went as well as it did but I was on the edge of my seat.
We do have bears in Florida, and sometimes someone puts up a photo of one on social media, which is the closest I’ve come. But one of my friends was driving on a three-lane-each-way road, route 41 in Naples, a few months ago and a bear came out of the woods and bonked into the side of her car! Imagine explaining that to your insurance.
Aieee that would be terrible. A deer ran and hit my brother’s car once, and it caused so much damage, I am sure a bear would be so much more!
These stories are SO Gilmore Girls! Remember when the deer ran into Lorelai’s jeep the first time Rory drove it on her own??
Ariana, you won’t believe it but I’ve never seen Gilmore Girls!
I would believe it and I do! I’m not going to especially recommend it, I think at this point it’s past its prime and best for those of us who have a nostalgic attachment. 😅
I will stop complaining about my garter snake encounters now.
(No. Wait. That is not true. I will keep complaining about them, because something way down deep in my brain fears snakes so much that it involuntarily moves me out of the way whenever it perceives one nearby (resulting in some memorable surprise interpretive dance moments and a recent unplanned leap into the street), but I will complain about them while also saying, “Hey, it could be a lot worse.”)
Glad you are safe! Hoping this bear relocates swiftly to greener pastures and leaves your garbage alone.
Hahahah we all have our scary things in life and yours are garter snakes! You can definitely still complain!
Listen I have had both in my yard and I would MUCH RATHER the bear. Snek: instant panic attack, much screaming. Bear: go inside, let it pass, no screaming.
I’m going to disagree with you on that one – garter snakes don’t bother me, and they aren’t tipping over my bins!
Oh, how scary, Nicole! Please be careful! Your pictures are very cool though. We haven’t had issues with bears at our house, but my SIL had one climb up into her apple tree every night during apple season. It broke so many branches, the tree will never be the same!
Michelle, I’m sure there will be lots of bear drama come fruit season around here – the widow who is a few properties down has a lot of fruit trees and she is always plagued by bears. Apparently last year she had almost no fruit because they ate it all!
Bear! That was exciting to read. I’m sure it was even more exciting to experience. I used to work in a small mountain town in Colorado over the summer, and there were regular bear sightings. One year I went to throw something out in the dumpster behind the rehearsal hall and there was this scrabbling noise and I looked in and there was a baby bear IN THE DUMPSTER. It was so sad and stuck and couldn’t get out. And I of course thought there must be a mama bear somewhere, so I quickly left (after taking a few pictures), and told the people in charge of the building and I think they called animal services.
I did enjoy “Everyone In My Family…” but I think I liked the cheeky nature of it. I thought the mystery itself was kind of… underwhelming.
Oh my goodness, the poor baby. I hope they were able to help it. Yes, “exciting” is one way to put it! It’s been five days since we’ve seen it around so hopefully it has moved on now.
That is scary. You certainly have a lot of wildlife near you. Out dangerous animals here are all spiders or snakes, which are generally fairly easy to avoid by not disturbing, wood piles, pock piles and garbage piles. And obviously in the bush, just watching where you put your feet.
Ooohh Australia has such scary snakes and spiders! Here those are harmless.
We do have a lot of wildlife, it’s kind of crazy!
this sounds terrifying! I can’t believe this is happening for real and not from the movie. is the local government doing anything about it?
This is just life here, in the Canadian wildland/urban interface! Where I live (not exactly where Nicole lives) there are bylaws against setting garbage out the night before pickup and things like that.
Coco, there is so much wildlife here! If the bear became a problem and caused damage or harm to people, it would have to be destroyed, so we are all trying to do our best to cohabitate.
Wow. That bear story is unbelievable. I can’t imagine living somewhere so close to where bears could suddenly pop into view, not to mention decide to rummage through my garbage. I laughed at your MIL saying “I’m fine.” Thank goodness Rex did not have a bear encounter.
It’s pretty crazy, there is so much wildlife here!
It is definitely bear season! I am so glad that you are all okay, your garbage is intact and that you did not let Rex out too early. In the last three days I have seen four of them and had two more about 100 feet away from me that I (1) did not notice (2) did not care to get up and look at. So yes, they are out, trying to get fat again. What makes me crazy is the amount of banana peels and apple cores and things that are on the side of the road, I guess thrown from cars, even though we all KNOW that a fed bear is a dead bear and all of that jazz.
Obviously I am camping and so it is always a concern that they are going to try and get my food! I think most black bears will run away, but I am not really looking forward to meeting up with a hungry grizzly!
It will be bear season here now until hibernation, I think! Hopefully they will fatten up elsewhere though. Stay safe – not sure if you are in the Rockies, but definitely you don’t want to come across any grizzlies!
WHAT?! A bear???? That’s so wild (pun intended lol).We only got deer but since we put up a fence they can’t come in. So I can grow lettuces again.
We also have a fence around our garden for the deer – they will eat everything if not!
You’re a badass for looking that bear in the eye through the window. I’m the person who reads comments on a social media drama post through holes in the blanket. I can’t imagine how scary that was for you! Will your garden also attract bears? I only know that gardens attract deer and bunnies; I know nothing about bears (thank goodness).
Kari, our garden is fenced but it will have berries, so that is a bit of a concern. I think a bear could take down wire fencing with no problem if it wanted to. But by the time the berries are ripe so will the grapes and other fruit, and that will be more attractive to them.
Nicole! We had a bear wander through our FENCED BACKYARD a few weeks ago at dinnertime! It was bananas! Certainly there are tons of bears in town, but we do not live near the forest or anywhere one would EXPECT them to be, AND ALSO our backyard is not open! It hopped a short section of 3-foot fence behind our garage, ambled through, and snuck under some cedars on the other side (made a big hole there, thanks bear 🤪). It was a young, brown black bear. I got a picture of the corner of its butt through my blinds. 😂
It was VERY exciting and my youngest was really afraid of the outdoors in general for a few days. Then that evening we (hubby and I with our friends, no kids thankfully) got rear-ended, so that took mental and emotional precedence. Weirdest day!
ARIANA!!!! YOUR BACKYARD! That is terrifying. Out here in the sticks it’s kind of expected but a fenced backyard!!!
Wow, what a dramatic day, hope you are okay. Was your car in bad shape? Hope you two weren’t hurt at all.
It was a bit scary, because the kids often play in the yard at that time of day! But it was such an anomaly I feel certain it will never happen again, and the kids are so loud I can’t see a bear willingly going anywhere near them.
We and the car were a bit banged up, but on the mend! Mild whiplash, lots of chiropractic/massage appointments. Very thankful it wasn’t worse!
Awww….sweet Baloo, just looking for an easy meal! I’m glad it wasn’t a grizzly, because those are scary as F&%$!
There is a phrase in the mountain area where our place is: A fed bear is a dead bear. If they get used to finding people food, they will be around people with no issue and then they’ll have to be euthanized. We keep bear spray around each door in GA, so if they even come close to the house/decks, we spray that to deter them.
Honestly, I don’t think your garden berries will survive bear season. Sorry!
The berries are fenced, so I am hoping that’s enough to keep them out. Since we are on the vineyard, the grapes are a lot easier for the bears to get, so hopefully they will just eat them…well, I guess we’ll see! I suppose they could climb the fence, but it would be easier for them to eat the grapes.
I worry about the spray getting back into the house and bothering Rex – but if you haven’t had an issue with it, maybe it’s not an issue at all!
There was just a story about a bear roaming around my area and I was like, “Wait, we also have to worry about BEARS?” We have enough stories of people finding alligators INSIDE THEIR HOMES. And I just saw a video of an alligator climbing a fence so there’s that, too. I’m amazed that you locked eyes with a BEAR. You, my friend, are a badass.
An alligator! Climbing a fence! Inside a home! I can’t even!
We have some wildlife around like racoons, possums, squirrels, wild turkey and the occasional coyote which I am not too thrilled about, but everything better than facing a bear through the kitchen window. I wouldn’t even know what to do! I feel like you stayed reasonably calm. Do you not have bear proof garbage cans in Canada?
San, we have city-issued garbage cans that are just black bins, easily emptied into the big garbage collecting truck, so they are not bear proof. The city recommends taking the bins and securing them inside, during bear season, so like in a garage or shed. Or I guess your house, but that seems a bit gross and smelly.