Even More Bears

Last night as I was just going to bed around 10:00, I sat on the edge of the bed getting myself together when both dogs started going crazy at the window.  I threw open the blinds and once again, Yogi was standing there next to our trash can.  I yelled at him and he threw it in reverse and quickly vanished.

A few minutes later he was spotted 2 doors down munching on someone else's discards.  I feel so badly for this bear because he's just doing what bears do.  And this boy is so big he's obviously been around awhile.

Les was out at our friend, Jeff's last night, but I called him and we decided that as he was pulling into the driveway, I'd make sure the coast was clear on the walkway to the house.  It's not that we're afraid of Yogi, but we just don't want to surprise him or make him feel cornered.  As long as he knows we're here and we know he's there, I guess it will be an edgy, but symbiotic relationship.

But I'm going to keep my 9mm on my nightstand just in case.

Other than that we've had a bunch of earthquakes lately.  They're just west of town and are very shallow so we feel the intensity a lot more than with California quakes.  Everyone is wondering if it's because of the oil and gas production and/or the coal mines. 

Who knows?

More Bears

Yesterday was a day for bears.

A very young bear by the highway

While driving in town yesterday afternoon, we ran across this little guy wandering along the walk-way nearby.  He was as cute as can be.  We pulled up next to him and I said, "Hi Honey!"  He looked at me and then turned and ambled off in the opposite direction.  He looked awfully small and young... I'm not sure where his mama was.

But then last night both of the dogs went bonkers at about 3:00.  Our bedroom floor is about 18" below ground level.  And we have 2 low windows on the west side of the bedroom.  When the dogs went crazy I flew out of bed and threw up the blinds.  Standing not more than 5' away from me was a huge bear!  And I mean huge!  Les estimated him at 450-500 pounds!

As the dogs, Les and I were standing behind the impenetrable barrier of a screen on the window (yikes!) the bear looked at us and started to walk away.  I grabbed my robe and ran to the mud room which is right next to the walkway the bear was strolling on.  He then turned around and slowly made his way into our backyard.

Les watched him from another window and lost sight of him in the darkness of the back yard.

After a few minutes Andy came to tell us that the bear was now across the street.  He had knocked someone else's trash over and was busy munching away.  But this time, he was under the street light.  He was so big!  I went out to the porch and clapped my hands.  He looked up at me and then turned and left.

I'm not sure what we're going to do about this... if anything.  We may call the Dept of Wildlife guy whose job it is to make decisions about this kind of thing.

Andy saw this bear on his way to work 

I could see tags on the bear's ears which means he's been trapped and relocated once already.  Often, if they have to trap him again then it's curtains for the bear.  I really don't want to see that happen.  But then again, it's 10:00 at night and I just got in from taking Lucy out to pee.  The thought of running into that big boy made me a little nervous.

We'll see if he makes an encore tonight....

Sleeping

I have always loved sleeping with all of the windows wide open.  I just love the cool night air.  And I generally don't have too much of a problem sleeping -- since going to the chiropractor to get my neck fixed.  Also, my wonderful Brother In Law, Larry, told me about Melatonin.  We take 3mg every night and it really takes the edge off and helps me feel like I want to sleep.  Thanks for that tip, Larry!

But lately my headaches have started to think about returning.  Sigh...

But even more than that, last Tuesday night was trash night.  That's the night where you go through the house emptying all of the trash.  Then you lug the garbage can out to the street for the early Wednesday morning pickup.  Simple enough....

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning every single dog in the neighborhood was barking.  While my deaf ear is a curse in some circumstances, it's a blessing in others.  I simply roll over and I can't hear most things.  But this night the barking was so intense that it traveled through my pillow and into my good ear and it went on all night.  Our dogs were also on alert and started this little popping noise they make that is a pre-cursor to a full blown bark-fest.  Then it was on.  They joined the noisy chorus.

We knew a bear was outside.  We heard the trash can being knocked over.  We sighed as we thought of the mess that was taking place.

We didn't sleep at all that night.

The next morning as I took the girls outside -- sure enough, there was a mess at the end of the driveway.  The trash collector, bless his heart, had picked up most of the mess.  But there were still wrappers and empty yogurt cups strewn all over -- not to mention the shredded paper from my office.  It looked like it had snowed.

Our neighbor told us that she saw a huge bear rummaging through our garbage.  She said the bear was so big he couldn't even fit into the can.  She yelled at him and he lumbered up our driveway and through our back yard.  Fortunately, he didn't find my heirloom tomatoes to his liking and left them all for me.

Oddly enough, there is probably a bigger bear problem here in town than there will be up on our mountain.  We don't intend to keep trash outside up there.  There are bear-proof trash containers at the bottom of our canyon and our trash will be kept there.  I hope to have chickens and a garden up there, so there might be a little threat from wild critters, but for the most part I don't think we'll have any problems.

But back to sleeping... Wednesday night Les came home from our friend Jeff's house with some sort of stomach bug.  He was up and down all night, but felt much better last night.  Then sleeping last night --- like a baby!

Lucy

"You got some 'splainin' to do!"

Lucy, so far, has been a joy to have around.  She is so mellow.  She could just sit and stare at you and have you pet her all day.

I don't know much about her "pre-Byington" life, but I do know that she was rescued from the freeway.  It seems that some wonderful woman saw her in the median on Interstate 25 just north of here.  It was by the rest stop, so I don't know if someone dumped her there or if she got lost there.  But a very kind and good woman stopped and called her and she jumped right into her car.

The woman brought her to our vet and asked if he could keep her.  He told her to take her to the shelter here in town.  She had been at the shelter over 2 weeks when I came along and fell in love with her.  When I took her into our vet to get her rabies and rattlesnake vaccine, he recognized her from before and told me what he knew of her story.  He also said that she was really sick and having trouble breathing.  But he took care of that once she was checked into the shelter.

I can only imagine what her life was like before.  But it's just guessing.  She's a little shy and she has peed in the house a few times so I'm guessing that she was an outside dog before.  She probably didn't have much indoor loving by her people.  She didn't know sit or come or any other commands, but she's learning all of that now.  She sometimes gets up on the coffee table and is learning that is unacceptable for a 50 pound dog... or any dog for that matter!  She gets up on our bed and while I want to tell her to get off, she just cutes me up there.  So I let that one go.

She has accepted all of us as her pack now.  She stays close, for the most part.  We're having a little trouble keeping her inside the fence in the front yard.  Of course, Mindy would get out of the fence too, but that was when we first got her and she has since learned that she needs to stay in the yard.  I'm sure Lucy will learn that, too.

When we go up to the property, they both play and play.  Les told me that last Thursday we had a downpour  (I missed it -- was with a client in New Mexico all day) and the dogs just played and romped in the mud.  They'd dive face first into mud puddles.  They'd run at a full run and scoop up water from the puddles.

Mindy and Lucy, Made for each other.

Having a great time!

Mindy likes to sleep on her back in the hall.

Such a pretty girl!

Dogs

I love dogs.  Even though I'm allergic, I just love dogs.

The loss of Schultz was devastating.  My buddy, my companion, my shadow.  But with every life there's a death.  With every death... life goes on.

I've been quite lonely here at the house.  Les and Mindy go up to the property to work every day.  He cuts up fallen trees or pulls up scrub oak.  He builds an outhouse or improves drainage on the property.  He goes in the morning and returns late afternoon.  And I am in my office so much.

I used to love it when Schultz would come in and put his chin on my knee.  He'd look up at me with those beautiful brown eyes.  He could look right into my soul.  And I missed that so much that I started looking at www.Petfinder.com for dogs.  I wanted another German Shepherd to take Schultz's place.

That very evening Les came home to tell me that he stopped by our friend, Jack's home.  There was a stray German Shepherd.  Jack didn't know who she belonged to.  Before the words were even out of his mouth I was running down the hall and grabbing my keys.  Les was objecting the whole time but all of that fell on deaf ears.  We drove over to the canyon.  Jack was gone.  There was no sign of the dog.  But I whistled and here she came.

We brought her home.  Mindy was thrilled to have a play mate.  The next day I was so happy to have a furry friend here while Les and Mindy went up to the property.  But trouble started as soon as they got home.  The new dog showed quite a bit of aggression toward Mindy.  This would not do.  Sadly, I took her to the shelter.  As she is a pure breed, there should be no problem finding a home for her.

And that left another dog-shaped hole in my heart.

Les was adamant that he didn't want another dog yet.  And as much as I want to respect his feelings, I'm the one here all by myself all the time.  I told him that I'd even settle for a smaller dog if that's what he wanted.  After some "discussion" I went into my office and cool off a little.  Shortly thereafter, Les comes in and asks me what I'm doing.  "Working," I replied.  "I thought you were going to the shelter," he questioned.  "You will always do what you want no matter what I say anyway."  (He knows me all too well.)

With that I ran down the hall and grabbed my keys again.  And with Les in reluctant agreement, we trekked over to the shelter.  One look at the adoptable dogs and Les was putty in their paws.  We looked at all of their little faces and the choice came down to two.  The shelter staff took one out for us and we fell in love right then and there.

She had kennel cough so we didn't want to bring her home until she was better.  But every day last week I'd go to the shelter and brush her and love her.  I finally brought her home last Thursday.  She's a Red Heeler -- an Australian Cattle Dog.  It looks to me like she's a pure bred, but I don't know.  I do know that she's 2-3 years old.  And she's sweet as can be.  She and Mindy are a perfect match.  They're the same size and breed.    She's a good mellow match to Mindy's puppy exuberance.

We named her Lucy.  She's a red-head.  And Thursday would have been Lucille Ball's 100th birthday.  We thought it fitting.
Welcome Home Lucy!!!!