‘My friend’s large dog started barking, then my little puppy daughter started in. What has got the dogs all riled up at 4 o’clock on a sunny afternoon?’
One beautifully, warm summer afternoon, one of my friends popped over for Happy Hour, followed by a BBQ dinner. His wife was in the city and not at the lake, and so we invited him over to ‘break bread’ and share in our evening. Naturally, as he always does, he brought his lovely dog, who was perfectly happy to remain snoozing on his pontoon boat, while my little pooch stayed up on the porch with us. As we sipped bevies and were visiting, my friend’s dog started to bark, then my little yapper started in. My husband and our friend were at the outdoor deck table chatting at the time, and I was over at the BBQ checking on the sizzling chicken. Apparently, we were not the only ones enjoying the delicious, aromatic scents coming from the BBQ. We all turned to look at what the dogs were noticing as they were protesting loudly now in a steady stream of frantically noisy barking. There, up on the cliff, gallivanting downwards towards the base of our back bay was a little black bear. He was most likely a young bear, a slight brazen, apparently, and not particularly familiar about getting so close to humans and the dogs. He was however, I think, realizing his folly, and so we watched as he rapidly scampered across the cliffs and down into the back bay. I am quite sure the dogs now had him spooked. Then, amongst all the trees in the forest back there, he disappeared, and the dogs finally stopped barking.
I have to say that for these 55+ years here I am fully aware that I live in a remote forest amongst several wild animals, and I respect that, but I have never, ever, ever, seen a bear in person here until that sunny afternoon. I have heard stories from others, but the bears here pretty much don’t want any human contact, and so they just stay out of the immediate area of our cabins. Even when we are not in residence they do not come around, at least, I have never heard of them coming around. I suspect this little bear hung around for a couple of days, having seen a broken step next to the cabin one morning. However, I have not seen this bear again, nor any bear again, through the years since this one incident, and it has been several years ago now. As a funny reminder that we do live near so much fish and wildlife, including bears, I found a little yellow sign that said ‘Bear X-ing’ in a shop, and now it is mounted on the back bay Outhouse 2 door. It was my tongue-in-cheek way of reminding my family that we should always respect and be aware of nature and the wildlife living here. Do not fear, Dear Reader, if should you find yourself at my little lake, that you might run into a bear. However, may I suggest that Bear Bell be attached to your belt, or something to make a bit noise with as you walk out in the woods, just in case you do?