For the past twenty-four hours, our side of the mountain has been bristling with wildlife. Last night, one of the kittens killed a gopher nearly as big as it was. Misha witnessed the whole event and provided play-by-play commentary of how the small but mighty hunter polished off the unfortunate rodent.
Several deer joined us for our supper picnic at Sam Owen Park last night. And on the way home, a young stag trotted down the road in front of us until oncoming traffic convinced the plucky fellow to dash into the underbrush. Once the sun went down, the mosquitos came out and forced us into our tents and cabins.
This morning, the kitchen trapline nailed a mouse by the paw, but when the first cook got down to business, the little critter pulled its tiny tootsy from the trap and skedaddled. So far, no one has spotted a mouse gimping around, and if the renegade knows what’s good for it, it’ll leave the country before the gopher-catching kitten gets hungry again. During breakfast, the bees swarmed the muffins and breakfast casserole. The minute the food was gone, the bees were, too.
I thought all the wildlife sightings were a charming amusement until announcements after breakfast at which time we were reminded to take all garbage to the log dumpster, affectionately known as the Bear Buffet. And we were assured that the contents of the Bear Buffet are hauled far, far from camp once a day. “I’m glad to hear that,” Hiram’s cousin Dave said, “because last week I saw the biggest bear I’ve ever seen just up the hill there,” and he pointed in the general vicinity of our tent.
Suddenly, I no longer considered the wildlife on our side of the mountain charming amusements. And our tent walls, which had been perfectly adequate up to that point, now look awfully flimsy. As I see it, my best option is to maneuver Hiram to the side of the bed closest to the bear sighting. If my tactics and Hiram’s bravery hold the bears at bay, I’ll make a full report on tomorrow’s blog. If my efforts fail, this will be my last post.
Sad for you, but good news for the bears. They love it when the management adds new items to the Bear Buffet steam table.
