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Put the Kettle on....

There's a New Kid in Town.... 
 
Jul. 7, 2012 5:01 pm 
Updated: Jul. 26, 2012 1:34 am
Today was hot!  It was muggy!  And, we had some excitement!

Last night I moved up in the world of technology and got a smartphone.  My old phone decided to quit holding a charge so after dinner we made a visit to the phone store.  I now have a lot to learn so I can use my new phone like it should be used.  Today after lunch I took Suzy and a nice cold beverage out onto the porch so I could play around with my phone and figure some things out on it.  Suddenly it emitted a noise - I had a text message.  I figured out how to read my text messages and this is what I received from my next door neighbor: "The bear is here right now!".  We live in a woods and our neighbor's house is not fully visible from our house.  I quickly got up and was opening the door to put Suzy in the house when Jon met me with eyes as big as saucers.  He had just received the same text.

We quickly, yet quietly took off for the neighbor's house with cameras at the ready.  Sure enough - standing amongst their bird feeders was a young bear. He was not paying any attention to anything except the feast before him.  The four of us stood watching him, marveling at this super-cool visitor.  At one point I could have sworn he waved at us!  He would eat birdseed off the ground, then sit and rest awhile, then he went down to the creek to get a drink. We thought he had left.  But no, he came back.  Now he was standing on his hind legs to reach the feeders.  We called our daughter, who lives about 10 minutes away, and she dropped everything and came right over.  She was able to watch him about 15-20 minutes before he moved on. 

Once he emptied out the feeders he became a little destructive.  He started pulling them down and tearing them apart.  He wandered around the yard looking for more goodies.  When he realized there was nothing else he took off into the woods. 

Over the past few weeks there have been numerous sightings of a bear around our county.  One of those sightings was not too far from our house so we were all hoping we'd get a glimpse of this guy. 

While it was indeed very cool to watch him, we all agreed that there would be no more food put out for the birds for a while.  This bear needs to move on and not become dependent on humans for his meals.  Plus - I worry that we'll let Suzy out and she'll take off after him.  She's tough, but I don't think she could beat a bear!
Just a Friendly Neighborhood Bear
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He's a Hungry Bear!
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Comments
KingSparta 
Jul. 7, 2012 5:12 pm
Lets See, 1. I Put My Cell Phone In The Microwave (I thought It Was A Cup Of Coffee, But When I Turned Around I heard A Pop In The Microwave. I looked In My Hand And I still Had The Cup Of Coffee. I turned around and looked in the microwave, and there was my phone. Both Microwave and phone was toast). 2. I dropped One In The Dog Water Bowl. 3. I dropped One In the Toilet.
 
Mike Harvey, daPITA 
Jul. 7, 2012 5:14 pm
You're right! No food= no bears! He looks to be about the right age for the mama bear to have booted out so she could begin a new family. So, where's mama and the wayward papa? A bear that young didn't wander from very far away. Be careful, Mother Ann, and report this sighting to your Natural Resouces office.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 7, 2012 7:31 pm
KingSparta - you are tough on phones! I love the microwave disaster!
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 7, 2012 7:36 pm
Mike - we were guessing him to be about that age where he was kicked out, too. The neighbors were going to make that call. There have been enough sightings around the area that there have been numerous warnings of what to do. I'm glad we got the chance to see him before he either leaves the area on his own or is removed by the authorities. In a few weeks Jon & I are leaving for our annual trip to Shenandoah National Park for hiking and bear watching, and of course my annual wine stock-up. I love to hike the mountains looking for bears.
 
Candice 
Jul. 7, 2012 10:09 pm
Holy Smokes Mother Ann! What excitement! I think your neighbors have the right idea... no more bird food for the bear! Nice pictures too!
 
Candice 
Jul. 7, 2012 10:11 pm
BTW, I'm an avid Birder! Have you seen the movie "The Big Year?" If you love bird watching, you'll love this movie.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 8, 2012 4:17 am
Candice - How funny! When I finished writing this blog last night I went in to watch a movie with my husband that he said sounded good. It was "The Big Year"! We did enjoy it. I like anything with Owen Wilson or Jack Black in it.
 
Loves2Cook 
Jul. 8, 2012 4:24 am
Wow Mother Ann, what a scary but awesome experience (referring to the bear sighting and not the new phone)! We have a birdfeeder that we placed along the edge of our woods, and we keep finding pieces of it on the ground in the mornings. We are thinking raccoons are to blame, but yours is a much better story! We did have a pheasant show up one time but that's the most exciting visitor we've had.
 
Cat Hill-Want2B Gardening 
Jul. 8, 2012 6:21 am
Good Heavens, bears in OHIO! Cool pictures but I wouldn't consider him a cool visitor. I'd be really worried about my pets. I hope he finds a new & better home along with the rest of his kin!
 
covergirl 
Jul. 8, 2012 7:12 am
Be vigilant about your garbage too. Only put it out if possible right before pick up and put it in a tight lidded container. Have someone watch your house while you are gone and try not to leave anything out that would smell good to him. This could be dangerous.
 
Mike Harvey, daPITA 
Jul. 8, 2012 7:45 am
I'm happy to see our wildlife rebounding after a couole hundred years of over-hunting and habitat abuse. It's going to be a huge job for us humans to adjust to the facts of how to live with them instead of without them. Fear must be replaced with new understanding of where we belong in natures scheme
 
Baking Nana 
Jul. 8, 2012 9:05 am
I just have to chime in. My father owned a cabin at Lake Shasta - he would often rent it out when he wasn't using it. It was a great place in the middle of no where. One of the families that was staying there went for a hike and left the front door open with just the screen shut. They came back to find a bear in the kitchen! He was helping himself to breakfast. Can you imagine? Years later when my father sold the cabin that same family bought it from him. Seems they didn't mind the visitor, too much!
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 8, 2012 1:51 pm
Loves2Cook, I find the new phone far scarier than the bear in the yard! LOL We've had wild turkeys in our yard and those are pretty cool, also.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 8, 2012 1:53 pm
Cat - I am a little concerned about our pets, but mostly because I know Suzy would chase the bear. We have a coyote that passes through on occasion and that scares me more than the bear for some reason.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 8, 2012 1:58 pm
covergirl- we keep things tightly lidded down around here. We live in a woods and there are plenty of critters just waiting to get into the garbage, etc. Since the bear sightings have started there have been plenty of warnings in the papers - even to keep your bbq grill well-cleaned as that smell can attract a bear. Many years ago a friend of ours swore he saw a bear just a few miles from our house. Of course nobody believed him because bears just aren't seen in Ohio. Well... I'm starting to think he just may have seen one. I'm only hoping somebody doesn't see this bear and shoot it or something. It really hasn't become a pest, but it is adapting to people so the wildlife officer is going to need to think about catching him and relocating him somewhere more remote; for the bear's safety as well as people's safety.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 8, 2012 2:00 pm
Mike you are so right. Many people have a "Walt Disney" outlook on wildlife or they're terribly afraid of it. We, as humans, need to respect the wildlife and leave it be wild. While it is awesome to see wild animals out in the wild, they need to be left alone. It's killing our neighbor (who loves to feed the birds) but she's promised to not put food out for a while to give this guy time to move on.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 8, 2012 2:01 pm
Baking Nana - that is a very cool story! :)
 
BigShotsMom 
Jul. 8, 2012 2:58 pm
Bears have been turning up in unexpected places quite a bit recently. Believe it or not a young one was sighted in the Bronx! We have marauded their territory and built on more and more of their feeding areas. I hope he can be relocated without harm to him or anyone else. Great pictures!
 
Lela 
Jul. 9, 2012 8:36 am
Hello, Mother Ann. Now you can text your son. I love how the cell phones connect me to my kids. My daughter sends me photos of my granddaughter. You can use your phone to take cool pictures. I use it sometimes to surf AR here. When my son was around 7 we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Co. My son asked me, " Why the mama bear and her two cubs were out of their cage? " It was a sight! We still talk about the wild bears who visited the zoo.
 
Cathy Myers 
Jul. 9, 2012 3:04 pm
Hi Mother Ann. I agree with everyone that thinks he's a fairly young bear. Take a look at our neighborhood bear. He's an old one and very destructive! Well, he at least let us humans live in his of the neighborhood! P.S. Me and electronics are NOT friends! I had to be dragged into the 21st century!
 
Cathy Myers 
Jul. 9, 2012 3:05 pm
I should have mentioned to look at my photo gallery for the picture of our bear.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 10, 2012 7:26 am
Lela - My old phone allowed me to text - I'm quite the pro at that. I can skype with the new one and that's what I'm excited about! I tried it last night with my daughter and it works! :) And the camera/video is way better than my old phone - I can actually see what I took a picture of! LOL
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 10, 2012 7:28 am
Cathy - Your neighborhood bear is quite large! Glad ours is just a "little guy"!
 
Doug Matthews 
Jul. 10, 2012 8:45 am
Hi Mother Ann - Our neighbors down the street woke up the other night and heard snoring. It wasn't the kids & it wasn't the dog. Turned out it was bear sleeping under their bedroom window.That might also explain the crushed birdfeeder in our backyard too. Birdseed has been suspended until the late fall now at our house. Stay safe.
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 11, 2012 4:33 am
Doug - Maybe I should get up and look out our window some night... I'm always blaming the dog and hubby for the loud snoring!
 
MrsWolfie 
Jul. 11, 2012 3:58 pm
Yikes, Mother Ann! Be Careful- all I have seen out in our neck of the woods is deer and we can also hear the coyote packs yelping at night. I hear you about your dog.. we have our little Leo and he's so small, we have to be outside with him or a hawk might up and take him away!
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 12, 2012 4:18 am
MrsWolfie - Our dog isn't small, she's a labrador but I know she'd chase a bear and the bear probably wouldn't like that too much! Before this bear all we had were deer and coyote and an occasional fox.
 
Molly 
Jul. 12, 2012 9:23 am
That is pretty cool Mother Ann! We had an unexpected visitor in our back yard yesterday morning. Have never seen one, hope to never see it again...........it was a skunk! Have lived here 13 years and NEVER seen a skunk or bear! Yep, best to keep an eye on Suzy.
 
Molly 
Jul. 12, 2012 9:24 am
Good Luck with your phone. We are going tomorrow to change our phones to smartphones. I'm not excited as I know how to use the 8 year old flip phone that I have, but son and hubby are super excited!
 
SHORECOOK 
Jul. 13, 2012 5:36 pm
Oh my goodness, Mother Ann! The day I see a bear in my yard, I'm moving!!!
 
mauigirl.. Intermediate not a 
Jul. 13, 2012 8:52 pm
Seeing that critter would certainly wake me up. I have only been up close to a bear at the zoo....thank goodness.As far a phones, I have had an Iphone for a few years, but I am starting to miss the old dial up hardline that hung on the wall :)
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 14, 2012 4:18 am
Hi Molly! We had a skunk try to take up residence under our porch a couple years ago! Every morning I'd let Suzy out and smell that faint smell of skunk - then one day I saw him scurry under the porch! Thankfully nobody was ever sprayed and he (for some reason) decided not to stick around. I'm thinking there was too much commotion with Suzy and the hot tub makes noise, too. I will say that I've learned how to use my phone and I love it!
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 14, 2012 4:20 am
Shorecook - So far this bear only made the one appearance here, and he's been sighted other places so it appears he's moving on. That's good for both him and us! :)
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 14, 2012 4:22 am
Hi Mauigirl! I've decided I love my new phone! We haven't had a landline for several months already and we still come home and glance to where the answering machine used to sit to check for the blinking light! Old habits do die hard.
 
Marianne 
Jul. 14, 2012 5:01 am
That's exciting---the phone. The bear--scary. I still don't know half of how to use my phone. I had to get one, though, because my kids (who live very close by) text me all the time!
 
Mother Ann 
Jul. 15, 2012 5:03 am
Marianne, I think it's not too far in the future where all we can get are smartphones. A friend of ours just one and last night he was trying to figure something out on it and said "My phone may be smart, but I'm not, it is smarter than me." I felt like that, too, for a few days but I think I've mastered it! I even figured out how to read my kindle books on it. :)
 
sherky 
Jul. 26, 2012 1:34 am
as Eddie implied I'm blown away that a person able to profit $7977 in four weeks on the internet. did you look at this site NuttyRich.com
 
 
 
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Mother Ann

Home Town
Streetsboro, Ohio, USA
Living In
Ravenna, Ohio, USA

Member Since
Oct. 2009

Cooking Level
Intermediate

Cooking Interests
Baking, Grilling & BBQ, Slow Cooking, Mexican, Italian, Southern, Dessert

Hobbies
Hiking/Camping, Camping, Walking, Reading Books, Wine Tasting

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About Me
I've been married for 31 years, and live in Ohio. We have a daughter who is married and lives nearby. I am enjoying listening and watching her and her husband learn to cook new recipes. Our son recently graduated from college and moved to South Dakota. He just got his own place but still goes to visit my sister and brother-in-law and have dinner with them. We have a black lab that gets to go duck hunting with dad, 2 cats, 2 cockatiels, and an iguana (I'm the Iguana Mama until my son can come fetch his lizard from Ohio). We own a Mexican restaurant and are learning alot about the food industry. I love to eat, go camping, read, watch movies, and drink wine.
My favorite things to cook
I love to bake - anything chocolate is fine with me. Seafood, chicken dishes and slow-cooker fare.
My favorite family cooking traditions
My husband and I enjoy cooking together with wine. We pop open a bottle of wine and get cooking. :-)
My cooking triumphs
Whenever I can put together a meal that gets many compliments and leaves the diners satisfied is a triumph in my book! I love to cook meals for family and friends.
My cooking tragedies
When I was first married we had my grandparent's-in-law over for a pot roast dinner. The meat came out great, but the potatoes and carrots were still half raw. My husband's grandfather went to cut his fork into a carrot and it flew off his plate. He looked at me, winked, and said he loved his carrots that way!
 
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