Yesterday Rick and I were sitting in our little cozy space off the kitchen watching TV. I was knitting, making another pair of felted clogs / slippers for Rick since his are wearing through on the sole. When he crosses his legs I can see the shreds of felted wool hanging forlornly down.

We were relaxing in-between new coats of paint [Biscuit Bitz] in our dining room. I wasn’t really paying attention to where the dogs were as they had been in and out dozens of times already. They like to lay on the snow bank that formed on the deck last week when I only partially shovelled off the snow. In part, I did this because I was lazy, but also because as I shovelled from one side to the other, dogs had decided to lay on the piled up snow. So be it, I thought, I’ll leave it for you if you find it that much fun.

I didn’t see it because I was concentrating on my stitches, but Rick said the dogs flew off the deck and now we could hear them barking. He got up to see what they were barking at, turned around and said very calmly to me “I think the dogs need to come in. They have the bear treed.” I jumped up and ran to the window. Yup, there was the bear up the big oak looking worried, and two dogs barking madly and running around the base of the tree. I threw open the door and started screaming their names, or at least I thought I had the right names. Turns out I only had one right, but no matter within a few seconds of my panicked voice calling come here!  and   leave it!, they gave up their quarry and came running for the house. Good Dogs.

The bear lost no time; the minute the dogs left the base of the tree it was already halfway down, and by the time the dogs got to the house the bear was going over the fence. Whew. Another bear vs dog crisis averted. Sorry, no photo. I was too worried for the dogs to leave them in order to get my camera. I’m sure you understand. It would have made a great pic, however. It was Ursa this time, because I could see the cubs in the woods. I watched them playing for awhile, doing their dance routine and rolling around in the snow.

Last week, before the snow, the bears were quite active. I saw them nearly every day as I walked the dogs. I could almost count on them being in the same spot in the woods every day. Ursa, Major, and Minor would just sit and watch me walk by. When the snow started to fly, they retreated into their cozy storm drain cave. Today I will need to be especially watchful as it’s going to be nice and warm. A perfect day to forage around for food.

Maybe I should change my blog name to read “A Bear Walks Through it,” or “Life with Bears.” ?