Yikes

Jax and I were enjoying a nice cup of tea on the deck this morning when suddenly he rushed to the railing, raised all his hackles and started barking like a crazy dog towards the woods ... where a very large bear was standing.  Talk about getting your heart pumping.  Hubs heard the commotion and ran out to help get Jax in - I stayed on the deck long enough to watch the bear fade into the undergrowth of the woods.

Once inside the house, Jax was patrolling all the windows ---and sure enough not 5 minutes later the same bear was seen strolling across the lane into our neighbor's yard.  This time, I had time to grab a camera and took a few shots through the glass.  At the same time, one of our other neighbor's was driving down the lane and stopped their car as the bear passed in front of them - I could see them recording with their phone.  Finally got a good enough look at the bear this time to see that he has no tags which means he has not yet come to the attention of the bear police.  What's troubling is that he doesn't show the normal fear of humans.  No doubt this is the same bear we've been seeing all spring - not to many bears this big.  I guess the good news is that he will keep other bears away (males being somewhat territorial and him being quite large so sure to win just about any encounter).

Hubs is always more nervous about the bears we see here than I am.  I spent some of my early childhood living on the Aleutian Peninsula in Alaska where Brown Bears were the abundant.  And brownies are much bigger and much more aggressive.  Black bears will usually not attack humans (NJ has had one bear death in the last 100 years in spite of having the densest black bear population in the US) although they can certainly damage property if they are looking for food.  Anyway, not a fab photo but definitely the choice for today's blip.  Two more in Extra.

Jax, having worn himself out protecting us is now sleeping soundly and apparently having dreams of glory as I hear little woofs and his feet are moving.  Good boy!

Things are still in full swing in the bluebird house with both parents carrying food in and diaper bags out.  I heard baby house finches this morning, too, although they are still up in the trees.

No decisions made yet on chocolate, but you can be certain there will be something dark in my immediate future.

xo
Debbi