Happenings

 My best friend Susie and her husband live North of us deeper in the woods than we are.   Her husband left on a Fishing Trip so we got together for lunch, conversation and a whole bunch of giggles.   We have children the same age and used to live across the road from each other back in 1975.   That is a 50 year friendship I am so lucky to have!  It was nice to get away for the afternoon...to enjoy the company of a like minded person!  We met at a place called Ice Cracking for lunch and a bit of slot machines!  No big winners but we still had fun! 

The woods are coming to life in the warm weather.  The Pin Cherries made their presence known...usually the blooms are frozen so there are no berries...if there are berries they are tiny and although it makes great jelly it takes a lot of berries...and the birds need food too. 

Late Thursday night we had a hungry visitor.

One of the Security Cameras caught him ripping down feeders and making a mess. 

The feeders were repaired and several were taken in...only a few will remain and be placed in a bucket inside the house overnight.   Bear have awfully good memories and he/she will be back.  I believe this is just about the earliest we have seen a bear...although one night over a week ago he visited Baxter and Smudge's house and they gave him/her the what for! 

It was a day. The high was 79 F or 27 C eh.  In the afternoon we had wildfire smoke come down from Canada...I hope they get a good amount of rain up there...we are dry here also. 

I brought home a Bacon Double Thunderburger for Far Guy for supper...that and a salad was a perfect end to the day.   Far Guy's weight he lost is just not returning as we had hoped.  He had another conference with his dietician.  He will try to do more high calorie stuff...smoothies...dried fruit...he is supposed to eat 6 times a day...and sometimes he is just not hungry. 

Far Side

Oh Crap

 The bear is still in our area, eating chokecherries and messing up ant hills.  

He left a calling card.

He has all but torn down our cedar fence in the wild gardens.

Chokecherry bushes broken off in our driveway.

  

We have not seen him in the daytime ...yet.  My husband tells me that the bear would be afraid of my lawn mower when I am out mowing...and just maybe the bear has heard that I am too cranky to mess with.  

Apparently the bear likes the ants...they must be a delicious. 

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Bear

 The bear visits many times a week.  The outside cameras catch him coming from the North pausing in our yard and taking off to the South.  He is most likely hunkered down in a den someplace close to us.   So far he has been seen only at night.   He is causing heck with the chokecherries trees, he pulls them over sometimes breaking them to get at the chokecherries that are starting to ripen. 

Far Guy says when the wind is just right he thinks he can smell the bear.  he is not just a cute cuddly bear cub either. 

We have no bird feeders out for him, and our garbage that is in a locked garage is not accessible. So he is not eating here...apparently just passing through. 

Such is life in the country.

A photo I took of the video. 

Far Side

Going with the flow

 Not much we can do about anything. We can take care of each other and embrace each day as they come along. 

We can be kind...I could be kinder....so I let Far Guy cook.  I didn't even swear when the phone rang and it was a recording that said wait on the line we want to talk to you.  #iwaskindanddidntcallthemdumbasses

The bear is still visiting...I wonder if he/she knows I am a bit gimpy right now...just call me Chester.  It is only a matter of time before that bear comes out in the daylight.   He/she must have a den nearby.

 

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Big Bear

 The bear napped and lounged around in our yard for about five hours...he must have had a full tummy.  

When morning came and he woke up, he wandered off.  My husband calls this photo "Coffee with Gene" 

I am thankful I no longer sleep walk in my old age...ten years ago I was still sleep walking and would wake up outside. 

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Bear

 A bear visited us early morning on June 19th.  He just wanted the suet out of the bird feeder...so he bent the pole and took the suet. 

This is a photo of a photo but you can see him/her sitting there happily munching away at our bird feeders.  He/she was at our place about 2:30 AM.

Earlier about 11:30 PM he/she visited my baby brothers bird feeders.  He got a much better photo than we did. 

Such is life in the Northwoods. 

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My Brother's Bears

 My baby brother has a bear over at his place. 

So far he has not made it to our house.  BUT...

He made it close to my other baby brothers house! 

Uffda!

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Noah, Sadie and a bear

 We got to see our oldest Grandson Noah on the 4th of July, he came over to join us for an evening meal.  He is busy at work and really likes his job. 

His dog Aurora was kinda happy to see us too.   She likes us a little...but not as much as Sadie! 

Sadie is enjoying the pool.  Andy built the deck near the pool.

Andy helps her get out of the pool. 

The pool area is fenced in...Sadie could jump the fence but so far she has not gone swimming unattended. 

Happy tired wet dog! 

On the way home we had a little excitement...we saw a very big BEAR running across the road.  Our first bear sighting of the summer.  ( It was near Zerkel MN) Just in case you think bears just stroll across the road...they can run really fast!

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Critters

A bear visited...  bent the bird feeder pole took down a bird feeder plopped down on his butt and ate two suet cakes and some bird seed.   The Trail Cam was turned off so there is no photo.  We are bringing the bird feeders in at night now. 

Baxter ate a piece of metal ( part of a fence post wire) got really sick and had emergency surgery on Sunday afternoon.  As of last night he was doing okay. 

Sadie was spayed last week and only spent a few hours quietly before she returned to her normal busy self. 

Photo taken the last time Sadie was here visiting us....it will be a bit before she can go swimming again. 

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da Bear and rain

 My other baby brother says "It is a polite bear"  because he doesn't strew garbage all over.  The other night he moved the huge garbage dumpster off of the cement pad. 

Yesterday Far Guy looked at our trail camera photos. 

da bear at our house...note there are no bird feeders out only the Hummingbird feeder....so he just moved along. He was in between the house and my small flower garden.

We are still bringing in our bird feeders every night.  When we were gone, my baby brother brought them in at night and back out in the morning.

We finally got some rain!  Some really good hard rain showers moved in and out through our area all yesterday afternoon and evening.  So thankful for rain. 

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Critters in the woods

 The trail cam caught the Impatiens eaters... She has red flowers hanging out of her mouth.  Most likely teaching the fawn about them.

We are taking in the bird and suet feeder at night.   We leave the humming bird feeder out because the Hummers are early risers and the bear has not bothered that feeder. 

HOWEVER the bear is still in the area.   

This is my other baby brothers trail cam...

Not exactly a cuddy little cub...I suppose we have a resident bear.   I have seen where he has moved logs to get at ant hills...I look for him in the day time sleeping up in the trees but haven't spotted him yet...there are lots of woods for him to stay hidden in.

 Annie went home yesterday...she never did catch that Chipmunk.

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Lakes, Deer and Bear

 When the power went out the other night we both needed to charge up our phones just in case it was an extended power outage. So we went for a ride. It ended up being about two hours.  

Shell Lake

 Bass Lake

There is a bean field catty corner from us.  Makes for fine gazing for deer.  Our deer that usually comes for a drink out of the bird bath is missing...we noticed a dead deer on the corner one day last week....most likely her.  We are not giving up on her yet...we are keeping her bird bath full.

 

Now for the bear report;  My other baby brother and she who sees Robins first saw a bear run out of our driveway about 11 PM on July 4.   The next morning a piece of decorative driftwood had been carried out into the old parking lot...there was an ant hill under it that was pawed around.  Apparently ants are tasty snacks for bear.

We did not get the bear on our trail camera....so he must have been traveling in the woods.  We bring the bird feeders in every night so there is nothing to eat.  I asked a few "Lake people" if they have seen him or if they had damage to bird feeders and no they have no problems. 

Yesterday I mowed the lawn and we are supposed to get rain! 

Far Side

Bear news and other stuff

 The bear is still around.  I forgot to bring the feeders in one night and went out in the dark very late to get them.  He is visiting my brother's dumpster every night.  I can see where he is also digging up ant hills and he tipped over a bench that we have along the back road.   He may have to be relocated....My other baby brother has one of those dumpsters that has to be unloaded by a truck...I wonder where the bear sleeps:)

In other news, I finally got the garage cleaned out and got everything put out for a garage sale the next few weekends.  We had a trial run yesterday and sold some stuff to relatives and friends.  We will see how it goes.   We got in some good visits yesterday!

We had a really nice rain yesterday...we heard thunder...a first for this year!  It sounded good!  The grass is greening up again...and I will probably have to mow soon.  We got about 4/10 of an inch of rain,

 

We have a nesting pair of Bluebirds...but I have yet to get a photo.   When I was cleaning out the garage I found my Ant tucked away...so I put her by the bird bath again this year....she makes me smile! 

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Rain and Visitors

 We got rain finally.  1 and 4/10 inches.   It was wonderful, it is our first real rain this spring/summer.

It refreshed the earth, flowers, us and apparently a bear.  Our temperatures took a nose dive it was 39 F Monday morning.  The high Monday was 60 F....cool...and I liked it!

Our feeders were down early Monday morning.  Apparently it was quite a large bear.  

Last night I took down the humming bird feeder and suet feeder and brought them inside.  We did not get the bear on the trail cam.  It apparently came in from the North and left going North. 

However I did catch these two coming in late one night this weekend. I wonder where the bear was then??

Far Side

Trail Cam : Mid July

Our yard is a pretty busy place.

The last time the trail cam caught the bear was July 15...that was seven days ago...so maybe he has moved on.  We are still bringing all the bird feeders in at night.

The deer come and go.

My baby brothers dog...Einstein..Stiney for short...he is deaf and doesn't see very much...but his nose keeps him busy.

One of our rabbits.

We got 3 inches of rain on Tuesday early morning.  I mowed down a bunch of weeds in the old parking lot and around the raspberry patch.   Far Guy serviced my lawn mower a blade was loose and it needed oil and the air cleaner needed cleaning...I am good to go for a little while.

We finished some more Christmas Ornaments 74 are done and ready to package up.   The carving is all completed...just painting and sealing left to do.  My carving tools are put away...not sure what I will carve next...maybe nothing for awhile!  Far Guy is working on some more flowers...his favorite thing to carve.

I made some of the Poison Ivy rounds yesterday afternoon...still have some more to do. 
Far Side

Night Visitors

Want a peek at what goes through our yard at night?

The white and black kitty cat.  It must be feral...Far Guy has seen it and tried to call to it...no dice...it probably eats mice and chippys!!

The Raccoons...double trouble...they drink all the water out of the bird baths and they like the seed that was dropped on the ground by the bear

BEAR!

We may have two bears...they frequent the yard between three and four in the morning and at ten o'clock at night.  They were caught on the game cam two days in a row at those times.

This is no teeny tiny cuddly bear.

It is however a bear that appreciates my flowers and didn't mess them up.
We figured we were pretty safe leaving the feeders out...it had been 16 days since their last visit.
All the feeders are safely tucked away at night now.

My lawn mower needs some kind of holder for a very sharp stick or a rifle....or I need a super charged lawn mower instead of one that putts along...bears can run faster than my lawn mower.

Far Side

June 29 Bear

It is late in the season for us to have a bear.   However no one told the bear that.
He visited our bird feeders in the night time.  Our trail cam did not capture him...sadly we have no photos of him...just what he did to the feeders.

He didn't even step in my flowers.  What a considerate bear.  He drank all the water out of the bird bath.

He left his calling card.

We restored order to all the feeders that could be repaired.  We are leaving one bird feeder out the rest have been collected for overnight.  Far Guy wants to see a photo of him so the trail cam was moved.

I mowed for several hours in the neighborhood and I am glad to be done with mowing for a few days.  Far Guy cut down the Wild Roses and I mowed over the top of them.  They will come back...or not.
Far Side

Deer and Bear oh my

My baby brother lives 1/2 mile from us.  On June 7 a bear attacked his bird feeder...destroyed them.

Friday night he said an even bigger bear was there....and destroyed his last bird feeder.

Must be a hungry bear...no berries in the woods yet.

We decided to check our trail cam and see if we had a bear....nope only deer.

8 AM Deer

5:16 AM deer and fawn...you can barely see the fawn. ..it is right behind it's mother.
The other day when Far Guy was woodcarving she brought her fawn into the yard near the bird bath...she was probably thirsty.   Far Guy did not have his cell phone so no photos of that.

Far Guy can't figure out how to switch the AM and the PM on the Trail Cam.

Every time I get down on my hands and knees to weed my flower bed I think of the bear that came through our yard a few years ago.  I suppose I should just lay there and play dead under the bird feeders.
Far Side

Bear

We had a nightime visitor. A black bear…about 5 plus feet tall.

He tried to chew into a wire mesh feeder and knocked down another feeder.  After that we load up the feeders in the wheelbarrow at night and put them in the garage.

I let Chance smell of the damaged feeder he didn’t seem interested or impressed at all.  The bear left us a poopy present near the sauna.  The bear poop looked like a cow pie only darker and full of seeds ( just incase you were curious).

Exciting times out here in the boonies!  The bear visited homes over on the lake too…he/she was caught on a trail cam over there.

Wild life

We saw another bear, I did not get a photo…it was at a dead run…for big animals they can run really fast.  Way faster than me.  Chance missed it because he was snoozing.  Far Guy and I shout almost in unison A bear…a  bad word bear.  It is our second bear sighting for this year.  Since that one was in our yard at our window we always wonder when we are outside…what we will do if another one shows up in the yard….besides the obvious…messy drawers situation with much swearing.

I saw something on Facebook that fits us to a tee.  “Relationships are just two people constantly asking each other what they want to eat, until one of them dies.”  At our house sometimes it goes like this “What do you want for supper?”  “I don’t know, what do you want?”  “ No fair I asked you first!” Then there is the big who is cooking question…I have learned if I am napping I can skip my turn.  Yesiree that is about as wild and crazy as we get around here.