Moon Over Red Feather

 

 

Ponder

I kill an ant...

And realize my three children

Were watching.

—Shuson Kato

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Inspired by and borrowed from Rawforbeauty.com

 

A Black Bear Named Peaches

Picture this. A black bear opens your car door, sits in the driver's seat and devours five pounds of peaches that you picked up at a local farmers market that morning. In the very back of the Subaru is a plastic ice chest containing two veggie sandwiches, a hunk of cheddar, and some cold smoked salmon. The bear crawls into the back, drags the cooler up and out the door and has a picnic on a rock. Sill hungry, he goes back for the honey and a handful of almonds, and a few bananas that he decides he'd rather sit on than eat.

I didn't know that bears opened car doors like humans. Did you? I researched black bear behavior and found out that bears recognize "coolers." If we had locked the doors to our car, I saw the damage they could do, trying to get to that ice chest. They might pry the door off with those claws. They might damage windows and dent the roof. Our bear "Peaches", he just took the food and split. Good bear.

Remember how thrilled I get when I discover that wild animals visit our land? You've seen the pictures. Moose droppings, cat tracks, bear scat. I had a visitor, alright. This black bear ransacked our car, ate all our food and left me with eyes wide open and a sticky peach mess to clean up.

I don't mind. Really, I don't. I'm happy to know that bears still roam our forest. It's unfortunate that they've resorted to sniffing out people's trash and campground goodies, though. The forest isn't enough for them. And that's sad.

The Silver Moonbeam was a sight to behold. Aluminum, shining in the sun. The aspens were healthy and plentiful. Their clean white bark with quaking green leaves, dancing on a soft breeze. In such high elevation, the air was fresh and sweet and exhilarating. Wind from Raven wings flapped in my direction, as she looked down on me and welcomed me home.

Perched on a rock, I wrote.

Perched on a rock, C strummed.

Some folks drive the bears out of the wilderness

Some to see a bear would pay a fee

Me, I just bear up to my bewildered best

And some folks even see the bear in me ~ Lyle Lovett

At intermission, we spoke of the bear. And of other wild animals. We spoke of wilderness and mountains and rivers and joy.