I had a wake up call the other day. Farley and I were wandering down the lane, and, truth be told, I wasn’t paying much attention. I carried a pair of hedge clippers, and was cutting back alders along the side of the road. Suddenly Farley began barking. She tore up the road, full-tilt. For a second I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. Something shaggy. Something big. Really big. Like twice the size of me.
Love your black bear and turtle encounter. We see them often here on the acreage. , but not usually until late Aug.to Oct. They come to raid the fruit trees and the walnut tree. This year we had an early raider come and savage the cherry tree. Bear style pruning isn't pretty. That was in the night at the end of June. We wondered about the state of the wild berries to bring a bear down slope so early. But this bear was very healthy looking. Well the next day he came back mid day and interrupted my reading outside the kitchen. Just sauntering down from the shop ready to finish off the last of the cherries. I yelled and wave my arms around. That's usually sends them off. Note I said he before , no cubs anywhere . He just looked puzzled. I panicked bit and went looking for my landlord's air horn. Couldn't find it. The bear backed up the shop road a bit and tried to hide behind a small bush. But proceeded to bat the top of the bush with its paw. Now things are getting to the cute and comical. Then it went further up towards the shop and demonstrated how it could tear bark off chopped logs. There must be grubs in there somewhere. Then he went back into the forest. Later that night the remaining cherries disappeared and further bear like pruning was discovered in the morning.
I thought the ticks might turn out to be bad here this summer as they seemed to be starting off that way in the spring. However nada in weeks. Just speaking with a friend who works at a park near here and he mentioned that there seem to be no ticks this summer. Yet, I did a bird survey at a lake inland of here and got ticks all over me - that was in early June. They were all Black-legged. Odd year.
They haven't been as bad in the last two weeks, but it started out really poorly with lots of black-legged ones, and then dog ticks. Right now - knock wood - they seem to have subsided.
Love your black bear and turtle encounter. We see them often here on the acreage. , but not usually until late Aug.to Oct. They come to raid the fruit trees and the walnut tree. This year we had an early raider come and savage the cherry tree. Bear style pruning isn't pretty. That was in the night at the end of June. We wondered about the state of the wild berries to bring a bear down slope so early. But this bear was very healthy looking. Well the next day he came back mid day and interrupted my reading outside the kitchen. Just sauntering down from the shop ready to finish off the last of the cherries. I yelled and wave my arms around. That's usually sends them off. Note I said he before , no cubs anywhere . He just looked puzzled. I panicked bit and went looking for my landlord's air horn. Couldn't find it. The bear backed up the shop road a bit and tried to hide behind a small bush. But proceeded to bat the top of the bush with its paw. Now things are getting to the cute and comical. Then it went further up towards the shop and demonstrated how it could tear bark off chopped logs. There must be grubs in there somewhere. Then he went back into the forest. Later that night the remaining cherries disappeared and further bear like pruning was discovered in the morning.
You saw the bear up close ?!!!!!
Rainforest. Growing like mad. Especially the weeds !
We've had an unusually high number of ticks here as well. Glad to hear you didn't stumble across any bear cubs!
A great read, as always!!
I absolutely love your style of writing Charles ✍️ 😍 ❤️
I thought the ticks might turn out to be bad here this summer as they seemed to be starting off that way in the spring. However nada in weeks. Just speaking with a friend who works at a park near here and he mentioned that there seem to be no ticks this summer. Yet, I did a bird survey at a lake inland of here and got ticks all over me - that was in early June. They were all Black-legged. Odd year.
Thank you, Johanna. As always, I appreciate hearing that. Thank you for reading.
They haven't been as bad in the last two weeks, but it started out really poorly with lots of black-legged ones, and then dog ticks. Right now - knock wood - they seem to have subsided.