The cool Autumn morning ushered in a damp fog, and a deer and her baby showed up at the rock only moments after the morning ration of corn and sunflower. I say "a deer", because I think it was Puff and a fawn but I can't be certain. A few days ago, I saw her and two fawns. At any rate, I thought it was Annie at first but the deer weren't there long, before they got edgy and ran away, tails waving. And then my morning got even better...
The lone black bear ambled down the tree line parallel to the driveway and sauntered across the grass directly to the septic tank. Then, he proceeded to TRY TO REMOVE THE LID from it!!! From abut 35' away, my waving of hands and yelling did nothing to deter him (you'da thought the mere sight of me out there in my nightgown ...yes, barefoot .... would have been enough to send him running!!). Oh no, what could I do? Looking around (I had cleaned off the back deck because of the recent storms), the only thing I could see to throw was the tail of a tin rooster planter ~ which I quickly tossed in the direction of the bear. It landed some 10' past him in the grass between him and the rock, causing his interest to be diverted towards what had to have been, a better smelling direction!
When the bear settled in at the rock, I headed outside with the camera. Pennsylvania bears enter their hyperphagia period in late summer/early fall and judging from the intensity with which the bear ate the sunflower seed first, it was obvious that food was his primary concern. He never
glanced up when I spoke or coughed. I tossed an apple towards the rock, which actually landed behind it. The bear moved around to the grassy area and picked up the apple, balancing it on his paw! I couldn't tell, from this distance, whether it was on the top or the pad of his paw though.
I threw another apple that landed between bear and me and he started to walk towards me (no worries, I was at least 30' away) when we both heard cracking of branches off to the left. He turned and walked back away, down to the garage and off into the woods. I picked up the equipment and moved up onto the deck...heck I didn't know what we'd heard but I knew there was at least one bear which I could no longer see, and in close proximity. I'm taking no chances!!
Only moments later, a bear sauntered in from the left and situated itself at the HRD. It was my beautiful Notch... She was fidgety, and I knew the 'other' bear was not far off. Sure enough, in a matter of seconds, he came walking out from the cover of the thicket.... are they 'friends'? siblings? mates? I don't know, but I am so hopeful that next spring,
someone might bring me cubbies♥ Most of the corn and seed had been devoured by the time hubby had to leave for work, and it was the sight and sound of the car coming towards them down the driveway that caused both bears to 'pose' so beautifully! All in all, one of the best hours I've spent in many, many weeks...
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Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.
~ Standing Bear ~
Standing Bear (1829-1908) was a respected leader of the small Ponca Indian tribe that resided for years in northern Nebraska. In the late 1870s, at a crucial point in the tribe's existence, he took heroic action to reverse the wrongs inflicted upon his people at the hands of the U.S. government and its Indian agents. He remains a heroic and symbolic figure in the long struggle for Native American rights.
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There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. Being a natural man, the Indian was intensely poetical. He would deem it sacrilege to build a house for Him who may be met face to face in the mysterious, shadowy aisles of the primeval forest, or on the sunlit bosom of virgin prairies, upon dizzy spires and pinnacles of naked rock, and yonder in the jeweled vault of the night sky! He who enrobes Himself in filmy veils of cloud, there on the rim of the visible world where our Great-Grandfather Sun kindles his evening camp-fire, He who rides upon the rigorous wind of the north, or breathes forth His spirit upon aromatic southern airs, whose war-canoe is launched upon majestic rivers and inland seas -- He needs no lesser cathedral!
