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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Bears - by Bruce


Here are two photos furnished by a neighbor who had this bear in a tree next to their home. We have seen some bear this year but regretfully have not had a camera with us.

These guys are curious but you can tell by the look this one is liking having this photo op.

We don't have trees with limbs this big or this species tree so bears around our home are generally on the ground with nothing substantial to climb. I believe this is a limber pine tree. We are told the bear likes to climb to the top of this tree for an afternoon nap.


This is his shy look but with a little encouragement maybe he will come out from behind the tree. This neighbor seems to attract bears and they seem to like him. As long as they hang around his house they aren't over here. Seems like a good arrangement to me...








Today one of the residents was hosting a community picnic but when we got up it was raining lightly and the temperature was only 46 degrees outside with a slight wind. When it rains here in the mountains it looks like you are gazing out on a vast horizon of dull white. At a lower elevation it would be called fog and visibility is very limited. At 9,750' it is clouds, and we are right in the middle of them. No picnic for us today. Matter of fact we may have to get the wood stove cranked up to get the temperature up from its present humid 56 degrees.

Today was also set aside to gather more firewood but that does not look promising at the moment. When the ground is wet, like it presently is, it becomes extremely hazardous trying to cut and carry firewood. Rocks become slippery and so do logs. We'll just have to wait for a better day. Only about another 5 cords of wood to get in. More cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking and dirty exhausting work. That will make about 11 cords total and that should get us through next winter. Yesterday we were in shirt sleeves and today sweat shirts.

Yesterday was our day to carry water from the culvert about 100 yards down the road to our barrel for watering the garden. We carried a total of about 60 gallons. Carol and I manage to keep our watering barrel full for those dry spells when spring water is used for watering the garden. It won't be long now before we can get photo's of the garden as it is growing pretty fast. We will have radishes, spinach, lettuce and swiss chard and zucchini. Looks like lots of good salad this summer. Also have two basil plants growing inside along with a tomato plant.

Even on wet days like today we will manage to get some tasks done. We are thankful for the rain because it will wash the yellow layer of pollen off of everything. It will also give us and Bozwell some allergy relief. It comes in through the window screen and gets tracked in on our shoes. In short it is just every where. A hepa carpet cleaner is a real necessity to keep the inside allergens down.

More later, looks like today is a good day to read a book and try to stay warm. Just thinking about the work left to be done leaves me exhausted. Everyone have a really great weekend.




2 comments:

Ron and Thelma said...

The bears don't look all that ferousus but I would never trust one. All your work makes me tired and I'm just sitting here reading your blog

Mike McFall said...

Interesting story and pictures Bruce!! Nice Job....