“Do you smell that?”

That’s how it started. Girlcub was sniffing and wrinkling her nose in dismay as the pungent odor of skunk wafted through our abode. Almost immediately, Boycub came flying up the stairs from the family room to add his two cents to the mutters and grumbles of the girl people of the house.

The little smelly skunk wasn’t IN the house, but he or she certainly left their smelly mark. Something outside must have spooked it into letting loose a spray of ugliness that spread from the great indoors into our living space. Yuk. That’s all I can say.

When it was bedtime Boycub opted to crash on the living room sofa because the floor where his room is seemed to be even more rank than the rest of the house. Not long after I’d drifted off to dreamland, I heard the Yorkie barking furiously. Boycub shooshed the dog while I laid in my bed thinking “Wow, the last time she barked like that we had a bear. I should get up and check………….” That’s as far as I got before I drifted back into slumber.

About three a.m. something woke me and I wandered into the kitchen for a drink of water. Boycub woke up and mentioned the barking and the bear possibility. We wandered downstairs to the sunroom to flip on the floodlights that would light up the part of the yard that houses my birdfeeders. Yes, we’d been “beared” once again.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr (that’s me, not the bear growling)

This pisses me off! I held off with the feeders after the last time this black demon raided my yard. I coaxed my birds back with sunflower seed and suet goodness. It has been a while without that damn furry thief stealing into my yard under the cover of darkness – I thought I was safe.

No! It destroyed one thistle feeder and stole another. It mangled a shepherd’s hook that held a hummingbird feeder and a peanut/suet feeder. It bent the peanut/suet feeder in half and laid in one of my gardens while trying to shove it’s bear face into what was left of the feeder.

This is war! I will not go quietly into the night with my tail between my legs while my happy little birds suffer sunflower seed withdrawal. I shall endeavor to defeat the furry beast that plagues me.

I’ve contemplated the value of a bear skin rug and the taste of bear sausage and decided neither appeal to me. The bear shall live. However, I’m going to show it a thing or two. My feeders will be slipped outside early each morning and brought inside each night. I refuse to feed the large furry beasts that share my woods – they can fend for themselves.

Peace