Whew! It’s a roller coaster ride for sure! Then I knew it would be. We’re having a great time at camp! My WHOLE family was up here last week with the teens from their church. Actually one bro is here as cook. The rest came up with their teens and that was fun! I got several good foot rubs from my kind-hearted brother who took pity on my poor pathetic, and very dirty I might add, feet. 🙂 Happy feet!! Ahhhh! Well, we hauled our grill up here to camp so we “grilled out” each night with the fam and that was lots of fun! Nothing against most of the camp food, it’s been great! It’s just difficult for me to get the lads to meals/fed/feed myself, and get out in the allotted time, so it’s easier doing meals at our cabin. Plus it’s nice to have a certain measure of control over what we’re eating.
Apparently though, our good cooking sparked some interest in some unexpected ways. Friday night was a doozy for Stuart! He had final scoring which is always very exciting. Then he stayed up till sometime around 3 AM helping the AV guy get the camp DVD ready for the campers to take home. Whew! He got back and promptly fell asleep, but then my brain started going on photography related things and I couldn’t go back to sleep. Just about the time my eyes were really and truely closing, I heard a familar bumping sound. I just couldn’t believe that the lads were up and about at 4 in the morning! Arg! So I got out of bed, in a not so happy mood, and turned on the light, stuck my head in their room and hissed, “Go back to bed!!” But as soon as I had, I realized that they were both snoozing soundly away in their proper places. Hmmm? Strange! Oh well, I got back in bed thinking maybe one of them had kicked the wall in their sleep. A few moments later I hear more of the same banging. Only this time I was awake enough to realize that it was coming from the other side of the cabin wall…. OUTSIDE!! Now there’s this deck/ledge that goes along that side of our cabin, and on this ledge is our trash. We like to keep stinky things outside like diapers and such. Some of the leftovers from the week had also made their way into that trashcan. Suddenly I knew the truth without even looking, but just to make sure, I looked. There, right outside our window was a black bear happily helping himself to our trash!!! Like any sleep deprived, mommy of little children, my first reaction was to freak out! Poor Stuart, who was even more sleep deprived, was rudely awakened by a hyperventilating wife telling him that there was a bear out there! So much for my therorys that the noisy campers and stinky diapers would be a deterant for the critter. He had been spotted near here the weekend before. Anyway, Stu got up and made some noise out the door, and the bear kind of grabbed the tree next to the cabin as if he were ready to climb. It was then that I realized he was still a pretty young bear, though not a cub. Still…. But he was very happy about our trash and wouldn’t leave until Stuart went out and flashed a light at him. Then Stu and 2 other guys kind of “hearded” him off the camp site. My poor exhausted hubby came back to get some much needed rest only to have that determined critter come straight back to our yummy can! This time however it was empty because Stuart had taken the trash up to the camp trash trailer. I nearly laughed out loud when I looked out the window this time! The bear was sitting on the ground staring into the empty can that he had knocked over! I can almost see the thoughts passing through his little bear brain, “I was sure this was the can I was at before!” ha ha ha!! Stuart had to shoo him off again, and by that point sleep was an illusion that we could only dream about till the next night.
Still, I had been wanting to see a bear…. I think I’ll rethink my “wants” the next time though. I don’t really like the idea of those wild critters roaming around my “home” and especially where my kids play. Though he was easily chased off, you can’t be too careful with wild animals. So I will keep my “momma bear” eyes open and alert while my little monkeys are playing outside, and we will NOT be keeping any more ‘yummy’ trash at our place! Oh no!