Last night mom woke up about 1 am, looked out the window and thought she saw something by the bird feeder. She woke me up and said, "I think I see something by the bird feeder--is that a bear?" Sure enough, there was a black bear sitting under the feeder--eating the bird seed. We woke up Leanna and Nate (sorry, Papa wasn't invited to the party)--and they came down to see the munching machine. We turned the flood lights on to get a better look--but that didn't bother the bear in the least. S/he was a younger bear--probably 200 pounds or so. Nate and I separately saw the same bear earlier in the week about a mile from the house. Anyway, once the bear had emptied the feeder he wandered into the woods next to the house. Moments later the mother appeared from the back of the yard. She was about 3 time as large (I think she may be pregnant--but she was BIG). She cut across the back yard and followed her youngster into the woods. End of party, we went to bed (after locking the doors!) This morning the same (smaller) bear showed up again--and Nate took this picture of the bear in the back yard. Life in the backwoods...
