Wildlife Encounters

There is a bear hanging out in the woods around here. I saw him first one day when I was talking on the phone. Looking out my front windows you can see clear down onto the lower level of the property, especially now that it has been cleared of trees. I showed it to John, who is especially worried about his bee hives, and watched the bear from the window while John went out to scare it off. The bear, who could have been as far as 100 yards away, heard the door open and took off before John and Duke (the dog) were even off the porch. When it ran I could see how very thin it was, must be very hungry. Then a few days ago I saw something run across the road ahead of me. It was very black, about as tall as a deer and again about a football field away. I watched it as it ran through the trees, but by the time I got to the place it had crossed (between the log house down from us and the curve in our road) it was long gone. Bears must have very good hearing.

There have seen twin fawns this summer who live in our neighborhood. I have seen them here. I have also seen them clear down by the bridge. There are couple of three year old bucks who have not lost the felt on there antlers yet, that I see around, and of course the usual group of does who eat the weeds, the flowers, and even stick their head through "The Fortress" fence, eat off the top of the broccoli, and took a bite out of an other wise beautiful head of cabbage.
Yesterday, on the way into early morning seminary, Lisa hit her first deer, and totaled the van. She called and said that there was radiator fluid running out, and probably something else. She said it looked like oil. After looking at it John says it was probably power steering fluid. The whole car wasn't ruined only the front passenger side. My bumper was looking so good after the hot glue job I had done on it, but it didn't withstand the impact. It was hanging back down on the ground again. When I called the mechanic he asked, "Did it smash in the radiator?" I guess he has experience with this. It occurs to me that there aren't many people who have teenagers around here who haven't hit a deer. Then a friend pointed out that there aren't many people, adults included, in this area who haven't hit a deer, or two or three.

Last of the wildlife, (and least in my opinion) the yellow jackets have taken over the the strawberries patch again. It is that time of year when it starts to cool down and the yellow jackets start hunting for sweets. There is a hole in every ripe strawberry, and some of them have been bored all the way through. I just concede to the yellow jackets knowing that I have strawberries in the freezer that will last us. So far I have only gotten one sting. It didn't hurt that bad, only swelled half the size of normal, and only itched for a day or two. I feel lucky. I wonder if it wasn't a yellow jacket at all, but maybe a baldfaced hornet (we have plenty of those around this year), or a honey bee. We started two hives full of those this spring.