I miss the black bears of central Florida where I lived for four years. I miss that place so much. Now here in central Illinois I have to put up with Canadian Geese. Their chicks are all over these days, and they're cute. I scribbled some thoughts about the geese. I am noticing them now more than I ever have before. When the lake froze in winter, a few of them froze in the water and died. I imagine them all freezing but instead of getting stuck and dying, they take the lake with them when they fly off. Maybe they'll take my sadness with them too.
I live in the mountains in Colorado and we also have bears (and lots of other animals - foxes, coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, beavers, ermines, muskrats, ospreys, hawks, eagles, ducks, geese, lots of small birds, and I'm sure I'm missing many more). The bears are pretty harmless, it's the moose I worry about. I love to see them, but not too close. They can be ornery and I know of more than one person who has been chased and terrified by them. One was even 'moose punched'. Moose can f you up, lol.
In northwestern Ontario, we also assume bears. I put a couple in my first novel, even. Seeing a bear would be similar to seeing the Aurora Borealis—not a reliable event but not unheard-of.
They were here first, so I live and let live, and try to give them the space they need.
I live way out in the sticks on a small lake — it’s paradise — with 3 big dogs and 3 cats. I swim every summer afternoon with the turtles and the snakes that I (mostly) can’t see.
Although I'm a city girl at heart, I love nature, and currently live on a "farmette" in northern Virginia. Two dogs share our house. In the pastures and barn, we have three ponies and two goats. My kids used to ride the ponies, but now they (and the goats) enjoy a life of retirement and leisure. And that's okay by me! We do have woods on the property and have an abundance of wildlife. Red-headed woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, crows, many kinds of birds. Squirrels galore (they have their own little picnic table on our back deck). Possums. Raccoons. Groundhogs (currently two groundhog babies). A full herd of deer. Geese (currently one couple past egg laying years and two couples with two batches of baby geese - one couple has 4 babies and the other couple has 5). More mice than I would like, and snakes too. But in our years here, I have only seen one black bear. But it was gargantuan! It was crossing our private dirt road when I was driving out one day. I did a double take, thinking at first that it was a very large dog, but then realizing no dog is that big! Massive paws! It stopped in the middle of the road and turned it's head slowly to look at me. I was grateful to be in my car! I was fumbling in my purse with one hand to find my phone to take a picture, but I didn't want to take my eyes off the bear. It was magnificent! Of course, it lumbered across the road in its own time, and by the time I got my phone in hand, it had disappeared into the woods.
I am still thinking of the adolescent possum that my dog caught last week. We thought it was dead, but it slowly came back to life, hissed at me when I came too close and eventually shuffled back into the trees and shrubs that border our backyard.
I have a little piece of land in the woods, and we routinely see bears, specifically a mama and her 2-3 cubs every spring. In the city this morning I saw a groundhog at the end of the alley and lots of mockingbirds pecking one piece out of my tiny strawberries. I love sharing space with animals (except for the nest of black snakes we discovered under a tarp a few springs ago, or the wasps that nest in the soffits. They deserve to live, but elsewhere, please).
A raccoon came on my fire escape yesterday. Kind of early in the evening, when it was still daylight. I could see that she's a momma nursing babies. There'd been sightings by my neighbors in recent weeks. They're all afraid of her for some reason. They think she's "too forward" and "not scared" of anyone because they tossed cardboard at her and she didn't run away. So they think she is dangerous. She's not dangerous. She's just is out searching for food for her babies. I hope she's okay.
Having grown up attuned to the natural world of Appalachia, it feels odd that I didn't learn that the honeysuckle I loved was invasive until adulthood. It's long-established and there are generations of poems and songs that reference the smell of honeysuckle, implying Japanese honeysuckle.
It may need to be controlled, and I won't go around planting invasive honeysuckle, but it has always been a part of my life and I will always love it.
As for bears - I used to laugh when people warned me about them. They were practically mythical. Their resurgence is heartening as far as the welfare of bears on the whole, but concerning for the individual bears.
I miss the black bears of central Florida where I lived for four years. I miss that place so much. Now here in central Illinois I have to put up with Canadian Geese. Their chicks are all over these days, and they're cute. I scribbled some thoughts about the geese. I am noticing them now more than I ever have before. When the lake froze in winter, a few of them froze in the water and died. I imagine them all freezing but instead of getting stuck and dying, they take the lake with them when they fly off. Maybe they'll take my sadness with them too.
I live in the mountains in Colorado and we also have bears (and lots of other animals - foxes, coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, beavers, ermines, muskrats, ospreys, hawks, eagles, ducks, geese, lots of small birds, and I'm sure I'm missing many more). The bears are pretty harmless, it's the moose I worry about. I love to see them, but not too close. They can be ornery and I know of more than one person who has been chased and terrified by them. One was even 'moose punched'. Moose can f you up, lol.
In northwestern Ontario, we also assume bears. I put a couple in my first novel, even. Seeing a bear would be similar to seeing the Aurora Borealis—not a reliable event but not unheard-of.
They were here first, so I live and let live, and try to give them the space they need.
I live way out in the sticks on a small lake — it’s paradise — with 3 big dogs and 3 cats. I swim every summer afternoon with the turtles and the snakes that I (mostly) can’t see.
It’s heaven on earth.
Although I'm a city girl at heart, I love nature, and currently live on a "farmette" in northern Virginia. Two dogs share our house. In the pastures and barn, we have three ponies and two goats. My kids used to ride the ponies, but now they (and the goats) enjoy a life of retirement and leisure. And that's okay by me! We do have woods on the property and have an abundance of wildlife. Red-headed woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, crows, many kinds of birds. Squirrels galore (they have their own little picnic table on our back deck). Possums. Raccoons. Groundhogs (currently two groundhog babies). A full herd of deer. Geese (currently one couple past egg laying years and two couples with two batches of baby geese - one couple has 4 babies and the other couple has 5). More mice than I would like, and snakes too. But in our years here, I have only seen one black bear. But it was gargantuan! It was crossing our private dirt road when I was driving out one day. I did a double take, thinking at first that it was a very large dog, but then realizing no dog is that big! Massive paws! It stopped in the middle of the road and turned it's head slowly to look at me. I was grateful to be in my car! I was fumbling in my purse with one hand to find my phone to take a picture, but I didn't want to take my eyes off the bear. It was magnificent! Of course, it lumbered across the road in its own time, and by the time I got my phone in hand, it had disappeared into the woods.
I am still thinking of the adolescent possum that my dog caught last week. We thought it was dead, but it slowly came back to life, hissed at me when I came too close and eventually shuffled back into the trees and shrubs that border our backyard.
I have a little piece of land in the woods, and we routinely see bears, specifically a mama and her 2-3 cubs every spring. In the city this morning I saw a groundhog at the end of the alley and lots of mockingbirds pecking one piece out of my tiny strawberries. I love sharing space with animals (except for the nest of black snakes we discovered under a tarp a few springs ago, or the wasps that nest in the soffits. They deserve to live, but elsewhere, please).
A raccoon came on my fire escape yesterday. Kind of early in the evening, when it was still daylight. I could see that she's a momma nursing babies. There'd been sightings by my neighbors in recent weeks. They're all afraid of her for some reason. They think she's "too forward" and "not scared" of anyone because they tossed cardboard at her and she didn't run away. So they think she is dangerous. She's not dangerous. She's just is out searching for food for her babies. I hope she's okay.
Having grown up attuned to the natural world of Appalachia, it feels odd that I didn't learn that the honeysuckle I loved was invasive until adulthood. It's long-established and there are generations of poems and songs that reference the smell of honeysuckle, implying Japanese honeysuckle.
It may need to be controlled, and I won't go around planting invasive honeysuckle, but it has always been a part of my life and I will always love it.
As for bears - I used to laugh when people warned me about them. They were practically mythical. Their resurgence is heartening as far as the welfare of bears on the whole, but concerning for the individual bears.
I also grew up with honeysuckle. I have a hard time considering it invasive, even though I know it is. So is wisteria.