bear raid

Early one morning this past week, I peeked outside at dawn only to discover that the bear had been here. My Octoberfest Decorations had been torn down and thrown all over the place! My cornstalk had been ripped apart, my pumpkins tossed around. If I did not know better, I would have thought the neighborhood kids were up to mischief night pranks! At the dawns early light, I ventured out to see what else had been rifled through. My rabbits and chickens were all still tucked in tight, but the trash cans had been raided, and the trash was carried up the hillside and into the woods. I put on my work gloves, and followed the trail with my plastic glad bag in tow. The footprints of the bear are large and deep. Suddenly, I don't feel so safe. The thought occurs to me that perhaps the bear is watching me from afar, and I am picking up "his food". I decide to leave this chore for mid-afternoon when the bear might be "sleeping it off". He/ or she is not a dummy. The bear raid was just another sign of the changing seasons. The very next night our temps dropped to 26 degrees and the very next day we had our first snowfall of the season.