A Bear Watching Day

I woke up Monday morning and decided that since I had taken three days off from posting a blog I should post this morning. I had so many pictures to go through but I finally posted an entry. While I was taking Angel and Zoey out for their morning ritual I noticed a black bear coming down the hill from us. I was so excited that I forgot about them and ran inside and grabbed the camera. Gina knew the way I was running that it was a BEAR. We had seen this bear early Sunday morning, but wasn't able to capture him on our camera. Now this morning was different. We watched this big guy for over thirty minutes. He didn’t have a care in the world, other than eating chokecherries. We followed him for a little ways and finally he realized he was being watched. He decided it was time to lay low and hide from us. It was so fascinating to watch him eat. In some of the pictures you can see his arms stretched out pulling the branches down so he could strip the berries off of them. We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed observing him. If you want to see more pictures of this bear, just click this link: online photo album.

Our first view of this guy walking across the field
Mike said he is about 280 to 300 lbs and over six feet tall


He's stripping the berries off the branch


The only shot of his teeth (at this point we're 300 feet away)


Isn't he cute??


He's checking us out (those shrubs are over three feet tall)


He's more concerned about eating than us


Here he is again checking us out.

From there we drove up to Mike & Janna’s cabin only to find that they were not there. We found Mike supervising Janna on how to fix their fence up in the pasture. Of course, Gina got on to him for trying to do things with his hands. Mike is definitely feeling better but his hands are no way near healed yet. With each day they seem to be getting better, which is a good thing.

Gina took this as we were following Mike & Janna, even Emmi is smiling


What you think about this red sunflower?


Gina couldn't resist this flower either

Around lunchtime I drove the four-wheeler back up to our home to grab an egg for Janna. As I was going down their driveway the bear from this morning was still out there eating away. I hurried back up to Mike and Janna’s and told them. We all got in the truck and rode down the driveway to see if he was still there. Sure enough he was still there eating away. Mike said it is really rare to see bears out in the middle of the day eating. Well, Gina and I are just glad he decided not to be normal today. We all watched him for a little while and then drove back up to their cabin and enjoyed a leftover lunch. Gina and I decided to ride the four-wheeler back to our home for a little while and would you believe that bear was still out there eating. He didn’t even pay any attention to us. We watched him some more until he moved behind some trees out of our view. We finally made it home and we couldn't stop talking about this bear. As John from John & Brenda adventures said, “most pictures of bears are taken of their butt because they are trying to get away from people”. This was definitely not the case today.

We just couldn't get enough of this fellow


He was just beautiful


Couldn't leave out this Mule Deer relaxing

After our excitement and we saw that Mike & Janna’s guest had left we drove back up to their cabin. Mike and I walked out to their motorhome and with Mike’s help I removed the icemaker. Janna didn’t want it because she said it just took up too much space. Well it’s not there anymore Janna. We relaxed for a little while just talking and enjoying the beautiful day. Finally, around six o’clock Gina and I boiled shrimp, potatoes and corn on the cob, Louisiana style. Janna made homemade bread and cocktail sauce to go with it. We couldn’t have thought of a better way to end a great day than with a good ole Louisiana shrimp boil. Can you say yummy? It was so good that Gina had baked a pie earlier and we couldn’t even eat any of it because we were fuller than a dog tick. (If you know what I mean) After we made it back home we sat back, relaxed and watched the movie “Notebook”.

What an amazing sight we were able to see today. It sure was the highlight of our day and one we’ll cherish for a long time. Thank you Mike & Janna for such an amazing day and allowing us to stay here on your land. We will forever be grateful.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.