New (old?) neighbor

Here's a question for everyone...suppose you have a new neighbor, one that makes you a little nervous. What do you do? Do you try to stay out of the way or make a point of tracking the neighbor down? What if you are afraid of the neighbor or feel the neighbor is encroaching on your family's safety zone? Are you curious yet? What kind of neighbor has moved into my quiet valley that would make me feel this way? What if then you found out that the neighbor actually has been in the area for possibly quite awhile, that this is just the first time you have found evidence of this neighbor being there? Any quesses who my neighbor could be?







Do I have your attention and curiousity piqued?







Give up? I'll tell you...






I think we have bear in the valley, yes, I did say BEAR!




We have heard stories for years of bears in the area, but miles away. We have seen pictures of the bear(s) that are living in the GrandDad's Bluff vicinity. I just never considered that there was any possiblity of bears living in MY area. Warning: The next description may be a little gross, skip further down if you want. I went for a walk on the road back to our cabin and found something strange. I found a strange pile of "scat" or animal feces. Yuck, I know. Looking at it, I tried to think of all the animals that live in the Midwest that eat berries and have that large of a "scat pile". Why was I thinking of those things? Visibile evidence. Well, I got home and mentioned it to Rich, his response? "Oh yeah, I believe it. I told you about the bow hunter that saw a bear a couple of years ago, right across the road from our driveway." No, he didn't tell me. I think I would have remembered that info, wouldn't you? You mean to tell me that I have had a bear in my neighborhood and didn't know it? I don't know if I like that idea. Are we safe? I think so, considering it may have been living around here for awhile and has hardly been seen. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions, I only have a story and a pile of unknown animal scat. What do you think? How would you feel if you has this suspicion of a strange animal neighbor? Trust me, everyone will know if I ever do see this new neighbor, oh, yeah, the whole world will hear me scream.