Critters

Sage and a deer in the backyard

Run-in #1:
Recently I was waiting Shane's arrival after work. It was late, the house was dark and I was upstairs. I heard a bang and some shuffling, thinking my hubby was home I ran downstairs and yelled out my "hello." No answer. More shuffling. Suddenly I remembered that the back door was open. My adrenaline started pumping. Thinking there was an intruder I started flipping on lights and made my way to the mud room by the back door. Heart pounding, I turned the corner and saw....a wily raccoon in my kitchen trash. He hissed at me and not knowing what else to do I stomped my feet loudly and off he ran.

Run-in #2:
Early one morning a few weeks back Shane heard a crash outside. He looked out the window and saw a bear in our trash. In the light of morning we assessed the damage: backyard full of dirty diapers and two big piles of bear poo. Lovely.

Run-in #3:
Shane hitched a ride with a friend to Priesthood Session on Saturday night while the kids and I went off for a night with some friends. Shane arrived home around 8:15 PM and knocked but no answer. As he waited on the porch he saw a bear a couple houses down. The bear lumbered along on the sidewalk and then crossed the street. Waaaaay too close for comfort.

Our neighbor next door has had a bear cub and mama in her tree. Bears have also been spotted strolling around the alleys in the neighborhood.

The neighbor 3 doors down kept finding decapitated raccoons lying around his yard. He wanted to know what was creeping around at night and killing those 'coons so he set-up a motion sensor camera. After a few days he had a photo of a great big mountain lion.

This is why we don't go out in our backyard after dark.