We're going on a bear hunt

Really. We don't have pictures of some of the neat things that have happened recently, so please use your imagination.

July and August are apparently when the bears around here are most active, and last week Tom spotted a mama and cub as he turned into our street on his way home. The girls wanted to see them, too, so we got in the car and made our way to where a bunch of neighbors were standing staring into a tree at a home near the playground. The mama and cub had climbed up there, and the cub didn't know how to get down. The mama seemed a bit perplexed--baby stuck up high, barking dogs in all the yards below her, fences partitioning everything off. We watched until she climbed down, prowled the edge of the yard, and stood on her hind legs. Then we headed carefully away, leaving the home owner to call animal rescue.

A few days later Tom and I decided to walk to a new restaurant at the entrance to our neighborhood. We got down the hill and met two cars in a row stopping to tell us that black bears, mama and cub, were around the corner. We were headed in the opposite direction and made it to the restaurant, but we did find ourselves scanning the hillside over the patio seating for the first fifteen minutes  of our meal, and we walked home in the dark a bit more briskly than we otherwise would have done.

A bear also recently has gotten into the chicken coop at the college's student farm, where Edith, Tom and I volunteered last week. It was a great day. I'd never been to the farm, nor to the green living house on campus, but both were hosting volunteers to work in the gardens. Edith spent the entire day out on the 1.3 planted acres of the farm, weeding, planting greens, harvesting garlic, finding chicken eggs, and generally enjoying herself. Tom and I were each with her half the day. She was happy as a clam. She really responds to open, outdoor spaces, where the leash is a bit longer than elsewhere and the mood is relaxed. She cottoned on to one of the student interns in particular and was his shadow all day, telling her life story ("And back in preschool, my best friends were named...") and sharing her discoveries of bugs and other critters and of the intriguing things about the plants in the garden. He claimed to enjoy it, saying first grade was his favorite year of school. If they can stand it, I think we'll continue to take Edith out there periodically until school starts. I had fun, too.