An unexpected evening

Well it looks like I'm going to have to get a cricket gun. they are about $130. It's a 22 long bullet very small rifle  that only shoots about 50 yards. I had one in AR to shoot raccoons  and possums when I  trapped them in a trap getting after our chickens. I cried at first when I did kill them, because I didn't want to have to do it. But, the raccoons and possums killed the chickens and ate the eggs which I ate myself. I guess you could say it was survival and that is how I had to look at it. I wanted to live off the land and be self sufficient. And sharing space and food with nature's inhabitants was new to me having lived a city life until I was 50.

I wouldn't use it to shoot anything now unless it attacked me or Bernie. I would just shoot into the ground to scare it away.

Now, back to the beginning of my story.

Yesterday evening before the sun went down, while Bernie and I were sitting out on the porch as we do quite often, Bernie starts to growl all of a sudden and goes down the steps. As he reaches the sidewalk, he looks straight across the road and starts heading for it (the road). Of course I'm right behind him about 50', at 68 I'm a little slower reacting to things, hollering to him to "stop and not go across the road!!!" At this point I didn't see what he was barking at and running towards. He must have smelled something in the air or saw something moving through the bushes.

As he gets to the road, a juvenille size black bear comes out of the woods, it stops, turns it's head and looks straight at Bernie. The bear glances at Bernie, he then casually turns his head back away and circles around some trees and goes back into the woods right by a big tree.

Bernie stops for a second at the edge of the road, then continues across going right after that black bear. And I'm running down the driveway yelling after Bernie about not crossing the road and not going after that bear because he could get hurt. All the while a guy in a camaflouge painted truck is slowly braking as Bernie gets across the road and the black bear has disappeared. I stood there a minute trying to figure whether the guy in the truck had been chasing the bear, following the bear to kill it or just happened to go by at that moment.

I was beside myself. Juvenille black bears can be mean and aggressive like adult bears, if they are aggrivated about something or really hungry. I got to the edge of the road and Bernie was across the road heading for that big tree he saw the bear go behind.

Well, the bear either must have gone deeper into the woods or up a tree.  By the time Bernie got to the tree he lost the scent. I finally got Bernie to come back across the road into the yard. Boy, was I was relieved. There have been a lot of black bear sighting lately in a lot of areas and states and some have been agressive.

From now on I'm going to have to keep a tighter leash on Bernie by not letting him sit out on the porch by himself at night anymore, making sure I'm out there with him especially in the evening and making sure he doesn't just disappear into any of the woods surrounding the yard more during the day. I did that for awhile after the skunk incidents. I just hope I don't have to do a repeat scare adventure with anything bigger and/or dangerous. But I'm not holding my breath because with having Bernie and living in mountain country, I never know what just might show up at my door or what adventure Bernie might decide to go on next.

I'm just glad all is well for the moment.                        

Bernie's cousin Otis's visit

May 28th, Thursday evening, pizza is cooked and salad made waitng to be eaten. Bernie is patiently waiting for his cousin Otis to get here from Portland, ME. Otius will be staying with Bernie and me for the weekend while his mom and dad, my brother and sister-in-law, go to a wedding in NC. Bernie is excited.
Well, it's Friday morning and Otis is saying good-bye to mom and dad. After they eat their breakfast, Bernie takes Otis outside to show him the yard. he starts at one corner in the back and they run along the edge of the woods as Bernie tells Otis how they are not allowed in the tall grass because that's the property line. Bernie is warning Otis about the skunks in the neighborhood. once the how and tell is done, they get to the business at hand - playing! After chasing each other the length of the  yard several times, Bernie colapses from exhaustion, all the while, Otis is still running, through the vegetabe garden, jumping over Bernie, and finally drops, rolls over and starts scratching the heck out of his back in the grass.
Time to chill out and take nap. As evening sets in, the sky gets a little stormy, we all run for the house. Bernie and Otis start scrambling for a place to hide in the dark. Turns out they are both afraid of storms. They finally settle down for the night. Saturday is a new day and a day it seems for Otis to start feeling more comfortable in his new surroundings. He decides to wander closer to the edge of the yard near the road away from bernie and me. i start calling him and thank goodness he comes running nearly knocking me over. He seems to be havng a blast because of all the space to run. But I see that Otis is getting a little to at home here and I wonder if i need to start putting him on his leash. But so far he is staying in the yard. Otis has wore Berne out with all the running, so Bernie has just been laying out getting more tried by the hour watching Otis go. another good day coming to an end. Sunday afternoon i decide to take the boys on a road trip so they could enjoy the breeze through their faces as they stuck their head out the window. It looked like they were enjoying the ride and didn't want to get out when we got home.
Well, here it is the last day of Otis's stay. So we took one last ride in the car before Otis's mom and dad were to arrive to pick him up. Overall, it was a good visit 'so far'. then it happened. Bernie and Otis got out, Bernie heading for the sofa on the porch to chill, as usual, and Otis decided to make a b-line for the roa in the direction that he took a walk on his leash with his mom Friday before they left for NC. My life flashed before my eyes and Otis's shrt 4 year life flashed before my eyes as well. I froze for a second, started running towards Otis and turning my head back to the house to see if Bernie was still on the sofa. Not a chance, he was halfway to the driveway. So there I was chasing Otis down the street telling him to stay and come to me, and yelling back at Bernie to stay in the yard. By the time i caught up close enough to coax Otis to come to me, Bernie was at the street corner across the street from the house. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry hysterically. As Otis approached me, I thought now is my chance to grab Otis by the collar. I reached for the collar and don't you know it, that boy Otis sidestepped me and started running towards the other road at the corner. He was headed towards Browntown. I knew I couldn't catch him, so i ran back to the house grabbed my keys on the steps, i had left them there as we had just gotten home from a ride. cranked up the car, bernie jumped in thinking he was getting another ride, backed out of the driveway and headed towards Browntown. Boy, was I in luck, Otis was so busy sniffing everything, he had only gotten as far as two houses down from me. As he saw me coming over the hill towards him, i was keeping my fingers crossed that he would come running to the car. YES! Here he came. The Universe was on my side. I quickly got out, opened the back door where Bernie was waiting and Otis jumped in. HALLELUJAH!! All is safe including me. For a while there, i thought i was going to chase after Otis all the way to Maine. Thank goodness I ddn't have to face my brother and sister-in-law with bad news. From the second Otis jumped in the car til I got him in the house he was on his leash til his mom and dad got there. HAPPY ENDING FOR ALL!

As I was watching Bernie, that skunk that sprayed him was walking past him about 15 feet away. The skunk was wobbling a little, but still on his feet And didn't pay much if any attention to Bernie while I was hollering for him to come inside NOW!! Of course, he happen to see the skunk and looked as if he wasn't sure What to do. Thank goodness he was already too sick with rabies to attack. I got Bernie inside and of course he was looking at me as if to say, "Mom, what did I do wrong that I have to come in". I went back out on the back step to see where that skunk was, because he had turned when I was taking Bernie in, and was headed for the house. As I stepped backed outside, guess who was walking past the wall and climbed onto the bottom step about 5 feet from me. He just seemed too busy trying to figure out where some food was or just mozing around. I slowly stepped back into the house and watched as he slowly made his way into the woods next door. Now I don't know whether to ever let Bernie out the house!

Some of the smell has diminished. I was going to give him another bath today, but last night's bath was like wrestling a crocodile just to keep him in the tub(which he got out once and putting him back in took 10 min. of him sliding out of my arms like a greased pig because he was all soaped up), let alone, try and bath him. I have a spray bottle to rub in some lemon juice instead of having another wrestling match. Now i wish i had kept the bath appointment at the pet groomers tomorrow.

well, bernie still smells like SKUNK after 2 applications of Skunk Off and a scrub down shampoo

Well, that boy has done it again. There is a skunk living in a tree trunk in the far east corner of the property. AND BERNIE FOUND IT!!! Or should I say it found Bernie. I was out rake grass and he decided to go over there to that tree. He must have seen something move in that direction. The next thing I know he was running past me like the wind, plopped down on the ground and started rubbing and flipping over and rubbing. So I went over to him and put his head in my hands to smell and ARGH!!! SKUNK STINK. AND NOW I CAN'T GET THE SMELL OUT OF MY HANDS

WHEN WILL THAT BOY LEARN TO STAY AWAY FROM THOSE STINKY ANIMALS.

There is something called Skunk Off and a shampoo that I'm fixing to go get right now. I that I could wait till Saturday (go an appt.) to take him to get shampooed, but I can't stand the smell any longer.

Well, it looks like the knee injury/surgery finally spoiled that boy to the 'unth' degree.
After finishing his rehab here and subsequent slow(?4 week back to normal?) HA, routine, he has decided that the routine he had of going out the back door (only 1step) vs. out the front (5 steps) is more fun. He's worse than a kid.

He's now sitting on back step, gets excited about something, barks to come in, turns around in circles, wants a small stick rawhide bone, with bone in mouth runs to front door to go out and jumps on sofa. Then he decides it's time for his 'biscuit' and barks to come in, runs to back door, does his version of jumping up and down, he gets his biscuit and wants out back to eat it. He tries to do this off and on all day to try and get more treats, but I only give him his big pig ear bone and at end of day give him one more small rawhide bone for his last treat. He's an absolute NUT!
One good thing about this fun routine for him is that he does get exercise running through the house from door to door.

That's My Bernie!!!