After an unnecessarily long trip back to the new house in the north woods on Saturday (it is road construction season, after all), we arrived home just in time to set up the kids' beds and have dinner before there was a knock on our door. It was our nearest neighbor.
Hooray for the Welcome Wagon!
Except instead of a plate of cookies or the take-out menus for nearby restaurants*, she came bearing her phone, on which she showed us a picture of the bear that was in her backyard the day before.
Oh. Welcome to the north woods.
She lives only about a quarter mile down the road, and the photo was taken by their motion-activated wildlife camera at 12:10 in the afternoon the day before. It was a really big black bear, presumably there to eat the berries. She said she knew we had small children and she wanted to make sure we knew about the bear so we could be careful with them. And maybe keep the dog inside.
Righty-o. Guess I shouldn't be letting the kids out by themselves to pick berries, then.
We haven't seen any sign of the bear since then, so we can only hope it's moved on.
I'm mostly unpacked; I've been to the grocery store and the village library twice already; and I am preparing to go to the cheese factory store right now to stock up on all my dairy needs, so we're settling in nicely. Assuming the (flaky) dude actually shows up to install our internet tomorrow, I may actually be able to use a computer at my house instead of driving ten miles to the library.
If you don't hear from me tomorrow, the guy either didn't show up, or I got eaten by a bear. Anything's possible here on the frontier.
* "Nearby restaurants." HAHAHAHAHAAAAA. There are none.
5 comments:
My sister lives in the Poconos in Pa. and whenever there is a bear in the yard the neighbors just stick their heads out the door and yell to alert their neighbors. Best of luck in your new home and hope the bear doesn't eat any of you! :)
Bang two pots together and yell! That should keep the bear away! Mary in MN
I grew up with black bears coming through our yard infrequently but enough to have some encounters. They were always pretty shy and ran off when we made noise. Mom still let us run wild and pick berries with the dogs. :)
Me again: I had to laugh when you referred to the "village" library. Having living in somewhat nearby Potsdam (another "village") for 14 years, I realize just how small everything is. For restaurants, try Malone, Massena, and Potsdam, quite a ways away I realize! Mary (now) in MN
For bears: everyone wear a loud police-type whistle. See a bear? Blow long, hard, loud. That's supposed to summon help and scare the bear.
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