A Fall Visitor

Now that my fiber studio is all picked up and organized and the weather is that of fall, it is a pleasure to work for hours.  That is what I was doing today when I heard a big racket right behind the studio.

 At first I thought it was the squirrel that runs around all over the sides of the building.  But when I went to investigate, it was a black bear.  It was apparently trying to get some rainwater out of one of the tubs that I wash fleece in.  We studied each other for a few minutes from a bit of a distance, and then the bear walked off into the woods and I went back to work.

Later one of the hens was cackling an alert of some kind so I went down to the barnyard.  The sheep ran up into the upper pasture and then looked over to the barn and the geese were quiet by the gate.  I looked up to the barn and there was the bear again, it had climbed over one of the fences.  The bear picked up one of the full green buckets in its mouth and carried it about 5 feet before dropping and spilling the water.  It then went over to the big tub to get a drink.  When it reappeared John yelled at it and clapped his hands.  The bear went up behind the barn out of our sight and the sheep came down from the pasture and no longer seemed concerned.  John and I went back to work and and a few minutes later Donald (the rooster) decided it was O.K. to crow.

It is interesting how quiet everyone gets when an intruder comes around.  I hope the bear doesn't use the big tub as a source of water.  I could empty that but then there is the puddle pond and of course the sheep water trough.  Maybe the bear will disappear as the bobcats did.  We know there are bear all around but we rarely see them.  It was a beautiful animal and not real big; a little bigger than Gretta and Mira and heavier looking.  Of course I did not have my camera, but if it comes around again soon, I will.