Bearly There

About 4 a.m. day before yesterday, I heard what was obviously a good-sized animal bumbling about outside, first on the east side of the cabin, then around on the deck on the south side, then on around the deck to the west side.  At that point, there was quite an increase in the bumbling and it dawned on me that I had thoughtlessly pushed the table, which I had left outside on the deck covered with a drop cloth, right under the large hummingbird feeder.  I got up and turned on the porch light and opened the top panel of the door, but couldn't see anything nor could I see anything out the west window.  I finally opened the bottom panel in the front door and craned my neck to look as far north as I could and, sure enough, there was a little bear haunch.  It appeared the bear was sitting on the deck.  I didn't have nerve enough to open the door and the noise soon ceased, so I assumed the bear had departed, but I  had to wait until morning to determine what had transpired.  

First thing when I got up I opened the door and found the hummingbird feeder, which looks like an apple...

...on the deck.  The stem of the apple had been pulled out and there was sugar water all over the deck.  I finally thought to take this yesterday....

 

 ...so we need a good hard rain to wash away the sugar syrup.  I moved the table further north that morning and haven't had a repeat performance and really wish I had had the gumption to open the door and get a quick shot.  It sounded as if the bear was rolling the hummingbird feeder around and I can just imagine it sitting with it between its legs like a little kid with a ball.  I'll never know.

In the meantime, Vixen, once she convinced herself it was true, is totally enjoying the fact that Apollo has moved.  It took her several days of running around on the south side of the cabin and peering anxiously to the east to finally be assured he was gone.  This morning she spent quite a bit of time in the yard and on the deck while I was washing dishes outside.  I looked out the west window about an hour ago and she was curled up like a cat in the meadow looking so relaxed...

That darn deck railing.  I knew the minute I opened the door she'd get up, so took this through the west window and couldn't get high enough to get her entire body.  But you can tell from her face, that she's relaxed. Dixie has not been here today, so she was in a dog-free environment.  I gave her some kibble and topped it with part of a can of corn since I was out of eggs.  That very first night she came to eat I gave her some leftover corn and she ate every bit of it.  Well, I can tell she isn't really all that fond of corn...she was just starving that night...I don't know if this is a commentary on the corn...

...but she ate around it and left it for the magpies...

I have a friend who detests magpies.  I think they are rather striking, but may have read that they, at least in days of yore, scavenged battlefields.  Maybe my friend is having a past life experience?!

Brrr!  My thermometer says it's 55F degrees, but it seems colder.  It is overcast.  This is the western sky at 7:30 p.m. NOAA is predicting a low of 39F degrees tonight and a chance of snow after midnight and a high tomorrow of only 49F degrees.  Poor hummingbirds!

I just started a fire in the wood range...I picked up more pine cones today when I went to the spring to get water...so it should warm up in here fairly quickly.  

I checked out a couple of books at the library today.  I've been having quite a lot of luck in the "Mcs," so today I got Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid and Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry.  I'm turning on my electric blanket and heading to bed to read.  I'll do book reports!  Happy Friday!  Teddee