AnchorMommy

Bear!!! Bear!!! It’s a bear!!!

August 28, 2009 by Shannon

Photo by grampymoose (Flickr)

I spend a fair amount of time in the mountains in the summer, but I’m not really a girl who likes to “rough it.” What can I say — I like to hike around in the woods and be able to have a hot shower if I feel like it. So I don’t really see a whole bunch of wildlife besides the usual deer, squirrels and frogs. (Well, there was that one time I almost drove into the back end of a mountain lion. That’s another story.)

So imagine my surprise at seeing a BIG BLACK BEAR hanging out in the backyard of my dad’s vacation home in McCall, Idaho.

Michael was a couple miles away at a work retreat, and I had just put Kellan to bed. Enzo and I were hanging out on the back deck and I was about to give myself a pedicure. The temperature was perfect, the birds were chirping, and I was perfectly content listening to the sounds of the rushing river as I rubbed my feet with peppermint foot cream. Then I heard another sound — rustling bushes. Enzo heard it too, and started barking like mad as the fur stood straight up on his back. As I rose to look over the deck, I saw it.

A BIG BLACK BEAR. He was certainly no old man by bear standards, but he was no cub either. He was big, stocky and SCARY. And he was no coward. He stopped on the side of the hill — about 30 feet away from the deck — and looked back and forth from Enzo to me. Then he turned, lumbered up a few more steps and turned to stare at us again.

What was I doing during this time? Two things:

1. Freaking out.
2. Cursing at myself for not bringing my camera out on the deck with my pedicure supplies.

And by freaking out, I mean the heart-pounding, gasping-for-air kind of freaking out. It’s amazing how fast a person can go from a blissed out, pedicure-induced state of relaxation to OH MY GAWD, OH MY GAWD, OH MY GAWD.

By the time Enzo and the bear engaged in the second round of their stare-off, I knew I had to make a run for the camera. I have not run so fast since I had to bolt across the house to retrieve the camera to photograph MSNBC’s “heath care” typo. And sure enough, by the time I came back, the bear was long gone.

So, sadly enough, instead of having a picture like this to share:

Photo by peupleloup (Flickr)

My pictures for the weekend consist of wildlife like this:

But at least Enzo and I suffered no bear paw swipes. And I have learned my lesson: never perform another outdoor pedicure without a camera — and a large, protective dog — at the ready.