It’s been an interesting day. This morning I opened the lid on the bird seed container in the garage and saw two shoe-black eyes staring back at me. A field mouse. I had not snapped the lid completely down and he had been having a feast. It’s easy getting in there, but not so easy getting out. So, I got the lid from the garbage can, put it down by him, he climbed on and as I raised his elevator, he jumped off and quickly scampered away. He and I have gone through this routine before.

The bird feeding area really needed to be cleaned up of spent sunflower shells, so I took a bucket and broom and got to work. I was pretty intent on my task and when I finally straightened up to spread the new seed, I looked over to my left and there in the driveway were Ursa, Major and Minor just observing me. Three black beary bodies all in a row. Did I panic? Heck, no. They weren’t doing anything; just standing there looking at me. I spoke softly to them, telling them that they could come and get some seed after I’d left. I went back into the garage, and they went back into the woods next to the house. I was surprised that they didn’t come to the seed right away and preferred instead to play in the woods. Maybe they wanted to be sure that the crazy woman that babbles on and on was not around anymore. After about twenty mintues they arrived for breakfast. You can see *NEW* photos here in the Bear Diary. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen them.

Then on to drop Sailor and Hailey off at the groomer’s, and on to the grocery. Have I mentioned before that I just adore our ShopRite? People shopping hum along to the oldies playing over the sound system. Wait—they’re making an announcement. It’s the store manager’s birthday (and someone else’s) so they break into the music to wish them Happy Birthday. The oldies return once again only to be interrupted by yet another birthday wish; this time from the bakery section. You gotta love it. I always find myself singing along with the oldies and don’t feel a bit out of place.

In the produce section, a sweet-looking older lady approaches me with a softly spoken “Miss?” She’s carrying a bunch of baby bananas and she asks me if I could please break the bunch in half for her. Her hands aren’t strong enough and she doesn’t want all of them. She thanks me profusely like I’d done something really wonderful. I take the other half of her banana bunch just because they look so tasty. She thanks me again. At the deli counter one of the people behind the counter is bantering back and forth with someone they know an aisle away.

On the way home just before I turn onto our street, an SUV is coming down the road out of control. They are fishtailing from one lane to the next, tires squealing. I don’t know exactly how or why they’ve lost control but I hope I can stay out of the way. All of a sudden the car veers straight off the road across my lane (not a close call for me), down the side of the road and hits a tree—hard. The speed at impact had to be 50mph or more. I sit stunned for a second, thinking what I should do. The wheels of the SUV are spinning wildly, churning up huge chunks of snow and mud. At first I’m thinking the driver is trying to back out, but then it occurs to me that the driver must not be conscious. Do I run to see if they are okay? Or do I head back down to the bottom of the hill where two police are directing traffic? I decide for the latter and speed off down the hill. The two police jump into their cars and head off in a matter of seconds with sirens blaring.

The neighbor at the end of our street is at the accident scene and the doors of the SUV are open. Good. Someone is right there to see to her (I can see it’s a woman now) and I feel good that I had the police there so quickly. I guess I could have called 911, but since the police were so close why not just get them? I told the officer what I had seen and asked him if she was okay. He said, well ... not really, but she’s alive. I didn’t stick around for the ambulance. They didn’t need another looky-loo, as by this time people from close by were starting to congregate to see what was going on.

So far the rest of the day has passed quietly. On my way home from picking up the dogs from the groomers, my neighbor was out in his driveway so I stopped to ask him about the accident. He said she was unconscious when he first opened the door, and he turned the vehicle off. We don’t really know the extent of her injuries but he did say the SUV was pretty compressed from the impact in front and they had to cut the door off in order to get her out. He said they took her by ambulance, but then airlifted her by helicopter, so she must have been pretty bad.

Now as I look out the window at 3:30 p.m., Doris is paying us a visit. She must be the laziest bear in the world—she lays down in what I call her prayer position (front feet curved inward) and just laps up seed. She’s getting a special treat as I didn’t expect another bear visit today and sprinkled some cheese popcorn out there that I had bought and didn’t like. So, both sets of bears on the same day. I guess I should be honored.

That’s enough excitement for one day I should think. Don’t you?

Doris says: “I’ve been praying for popcorn, and look, here it is!”

If you haven’t had enough about Doris or the other bears, check out the Bear Diary for all their antics of yesterday morning.

I just took this photo of this little guy spotted at my feeder this morning. He caught my eye because he was not one of the regulars. I had to look him up in the bird book, and his rusty-colored, heavily streaked breast and plump little body gave him away. Also the fact that he was scratching around in the seeds like a chicken, flinging seed with his feet. He’s a Fox Sparrow.

My bird book shows him wintering in south Jersey and says ‘is seen under seed feeders during spring and autumn migrations.’  So there you have it. He’s made it all the way from south Jersey to north Jersey so far! Spring is on its way even though it sure doesn’t feel like it today with a chill wind blowing and temps expected to plummet to the the teens by tomorrow. Lead on little sparrow!

Doris, cleaning up after the birds. We just realized yesterday after I took this photo, that it appears she’s pregnant. Oh boy. More bears to visit.

Okay, take a good look at the photo above. I want you to tell me what you see. This was taken late yesterday afternoon, looking through the leaded window of our front door. Take a very close look through the unfrosted pane and you might just see the visitors that came calling, all the way up the five steps on my front porch.