A Bear Story

My DH was enjoying a rare evening out with the guys so I was home alone with the animals. Patches was outside patrolling for DH.

I was feeling a bit cool and built a fire. Once I got it good and hot with the dry wood inside the house, I was going to use some damp wood from outside. I stepped over to the sliding glass door to go outside and found a large bear sitting on the deck. Standing less than two feet from the bear was our very excited dog. She was not barking, yet. Both animals were a couple of feet from the door. In that first instant, what went through my mind was that this was going to come out badly.

In the next instant, I shrieked. I would like to say it is because loud noises are supposed to scare bears, but I think it's because I was terrified and startled, and that's how it came out. Surprisingly, the bear looked annoyed, stood up, and started walking away. So in this case, a loud noise did scare the bear. Patches started to *chase* the bear.

I opened the door and called the dog. She stopped, looked at me, looked at the bear ambling away, and continued chasing (it was a low speed chase). I called her again, maybe a little frantically this time, and she came running into the house.

I was relieved. We stayed inside until DH came home. Generally, I'm on the fence about the bear hunt, but tonight I want a bearskin rug.