Handyman's Encounter with a Black Bear!

Well we had just arrived back from our visit to the ranch when Holly, my daughter-in-law, asked if I could do a little project for her.  This involved putting up a curtain rail and hanging some new curtains in my granddaughters bedroom.  So an hour later there I was looking for the positions of the timber studs behind the drywall (note the US terminology here) using a powerful magnet to locate the nails (clever stuff). I am up on a pair of steps right by a second floor window when suddenly this huge black shape appears right below me.  Fortunately it was the other side of the glass!  I immediately:-

1. Knew it was a bear as it was huge and jet black and really furry!
2. Ran down the corridor shouting "there's a bear in the garden!"

The whole family then proceeded to move from room to room tracking the progress of the bear round the house.  My son Daniel was trying to get a good photo of it.  Anyway we watched it effortlessly pull the door off the compost bin I had built a few years ago, and rearrange the compost!  The last we saw of it was it gliding over the top of a five foot fence like black quick silver. 

 

Last summer whilst staying here my respect for the "wild" wild life in the family garden (yard) had risen when a bobcat dropped out of a tree a few feet away from me. Now my respect for garden wild life had reached a whole new level and when outside I find myself looking over my shoulder a lot more!

 

Well my daughter-in-law has flown off to a three day reunion in Salt Lake City and my son is at work, so Rosalind and I are left in charge of the four children.  If they become a bit of a nuisance I shall just say "would you like to go out and play!"