Daily Obs

Yeah. In a nutshell, we have a bear problem. Actually, multiple bear problems. A few weeks ago, we saw a mama bear teaching her two cubs to climb a tree. It was the first bear sighting and we were super psyched. Then, we saw at least three bears mucking around in the yard a few evenings later. Then, around 1AM, I was awakened by barking dogs only to find a bear digging in our trash cans. I shined flashlights and yelled at it from inside the house, and eventually it ran away. The highpoint was last Friday afternoon when Mark heard the dogs barking outside and went out to see what was going on. George (mastiff) and Rocky (hound) had run a 200lb. black bear up a tree on the INSIDE of our fence. Yeah, INSIDE of the fence. Mark was able to call the dogs and get them safely inside. The bear climed down the tree and over the fence. We immediately took the garbage to the dump and brought the cans inside. Since then, we haven’t spotted any more bears. It’s kind of cool but I am hopeful that they have found other people to annoy. Who knew that I would ever consider a bear a nuisance?

Here are a few great resources on living in peace with bears:

• Bear Smart Durango
• A Guide to Safe Living and Playing in Bear Country
• Living with Black Bears in Virginia

(Photo: Mama bear in my front yard.)

This is our first spring/summer out in the country and I’m trying to not have a freak out about the insects – particularly the flying insects. We’ve got honey bees, wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, bumblebees, flies…you name it – we got it. I’ve always been a bit skeptical that nature didn’t want to hurt me. But I’m learning to live with the flying critters that are now my neighbors. The good news? Even though bumblebees are HUGE, they are not aggressive. So, I just let them fly around my head and try not to freak out. I have set-up traps for more aggressive insects, but bumblebees as long as you don’t fly in my face or bump into my head, you are welcome on my deck.

Bumblebee – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My husband often points out that I make truly bizarre observations  about the world around me. So I thought it would be fun to start a totally personal blog featuring my random thoughts about random things (like when I eavesdrop in restaurants, or my ongoing comparison of living in the rat race of Northern Virginia vs. living in the sticks). I apologize in advance for anyone that I might offend. Sometimes my words can be blunt bordering on harsh, but at the end of the day I try to be genuine. I am also open to your thoughts, feedback and ideas so please thrown them my way. Can’t wait to get  this going!

As a side note, I LOVE the movie Zero Effect thus the title “Daily Obs”. I do fancy myself quite the observer and Daryl is my hero.