Winter 2007 Newsletter
BEAR-LY CHRISTMAS
We are not surprised any longer at the sighting and near misses with the wildlife on our mountain. Over the years we've seen just about all the animals the area has to offer from mountain lions and bobcats to porcupines and ring-tailed cats. We've even seen a California black bear — a magnificent specimen — high-tailing it into the woods just north of Navarro, all sinew and rippling fat reserves. The deer, it goes without saying, are a part of our daily lives. The most fun is in the fall when the rut is on and the big boys come out to court. We fed the turkeys for a while which was fun until they started roosting on our tile roof. They are big birds. They can cause some serious damage to your surroundings. Now we are content to feed the robins and the juncos and we are thrilled to have yellow finches in the summer. Those of you who know our property know that we have fenced about a half acre to keep the deer from mowing down the edible and inedible. We call the area affectionately, Fort Chacon.
On December 17th, I awoke at about 6:30 to a hard frost. This frost coats our decks on the east and north leaving them a sparkling white. Whomever of us has the misfortune to wake up first, traditionally lets the dogs out after their "tough night" on the foot of our bed. I was in the barrel that morning and looked out at the pristine frost on the east deck, then let the girls out and watched the little darlings take a quick squat and come back in, leaving nothing but their tiny little paw prints in the frost.
I fired up the old computer and started on the overnight email when Gracie Joy, the Maltese, and Zoë Chacon, the Lhasa Apso, began barking. My annoyance was that they would wake Ernie who was sleeping in until 7:30 A.M. I kept trying to silence them, but no dice.
Ernie gave up, got up and got dressed and went out to warm up the car for our trek to Fort Bragg for physical therapy and exercise. When he came in he said. "Did you go out on the deck in your bare feet this morning?" (This to a woman with a new artificial knee who hasn't walked barefoot in 5 weeks, plus it's 35 degrees out there.)
"I don't think I would do that dear."
"Well," says he, "somebody was walking on the deck in what looks like bare (pun) feet." Here is what we saw:
So out comes the Animal Tracks book and indeed a California black bear had been cavorting on our deck — and I could have seen him had I heeded the dogs' warnings.
At first we couldn't imagine how he got in, but Darling had opened the service yard gate and left it open the night before. Our bruin invited himself in then hoisted himself/herself up a wall and over another fence, flattening the wire, and heading straight for the:
We hadn't picked all our apples and they looked like big red Christmas ornaments on our tree until Mr. Bear shook most of them off and then sampled a few. The dogs, it turns out, might have sent him on his way, but he managed a lap around the house — big, frosty indents in the grass were quite visible.
Moral: If the dogs bark, sometimes it isn't the dishwasher cycle that sets them off.
Best wishes to you in 2007, and may the true meaning of the season bring you joy and happiness all through the New Year.
Cheers!
Gio
January 2007
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