Terrible, terrible things

I might as well keep track of this year's bear sightings here. At least I know I won't lose the notebook.

Tonight at 9:45 I heard the garbage cans go down, so I went to the front door to see what was up. Because of last year I already knew what to expect, so I made sure to shut the inner door behind me so our dog wouldn't get out and cause trouble. I flicked on the light, opened the outer door, and stuck my head out while holding a flashlight.

Lo', three bears investigating our empty garbage cans--two cubs and their momma. Damn! One bear doesn't make me nervous, but moms with their cubs sure do.

"Shoo! Shoo! G'way, cubs!"

The cubs both bleated in surprise and jerked around to see who the dork with the flashlight was. They looked up at me, tucked their tails in, and ran down the driveway and around the corner out of sight. Mom followed. Maybe they're scared of people who look like Jesus.

I closed the door, went downstairs and dragged the cans in, feeling guilty the whole time for not bringing them inside a month ago. I knew bear season was coming.

Crap. Last year momma bear must have learned where the easy food was (in town) and is now teaching her cubs all the tricks. If Animal Control can't scare them off fast enough they'll have to kill them off. It's going to be a sad year if that happens.

Anyway, the score so far this year is 3.