When I moved to the NW, I knew that I would see more than my fair share of wildlife. Especially compared to living in the suburbs of Alabama; what I didn't expect was for that wildlife to come quite so close to my house. But now I'm getting ahead of myself, because any good story about wildlife encounters always has a beginning.....
We have had a rather cold and rainy spring here, and while that leads to lots of groans from those of us living here, it also means that all the vegetation is blooming much later than normal. And with the lack of vegetation comes the lack of blooms and berries, something that the black bears like eating. In fact, I didn't realize just how much the bears like eating berries until they started making appearances near the edge of our neighborhood looking for said berries. At first I would share and hear reports about them lurking around the woods that surround our area in a crescent shape, and then started hearing about them running by backyards. The best report came from my Chaplain's wife- she told me about a bear chasing her husband on a run on the backroads to the ranges behind our village. At this point Ritter and I decided that we should probably take a break from hiking the trails in the woods for a while. Ritter might start to look tasty to those hungry bears! Even if they are not grizzlies and much less known to attack humans. Who am I to judge a bear that hasn't been eating well this spring? Finally, for a couple of weeks the bear chatter around the block had died down, and just when I was beginning to hope that the pandaemonium...or should I say beardaemonium....had ceased, I spotted one on the way home from church! This bear was probably less than 400m from my house digging a hole only two feet from the roadside. This concerned me for the following reasons: 1- I left Ritter in the backyard, and he feels especially tough when on his own turf. 2- Did I mention the bear was next to the road and had no worries that cars were passing him, and 3- the bear had huge paws and claws! After freaking out to the degree that I believed the situation deserved, I called the MPs and were less than impressed with their response. They informed me that the bears like to live in the woods and next to the creek (where my hiking trail is!), and that I shouldn't worry because bear traps were out (which was wrong- they had been out and then were taken away probably two weeks ago). The kicker of my call to the police? They informed me that someone would come out to "scare the bear back into the woods," because that would keep the hungry bear from coming back towards our neighborhood full of tasty kids, pets, and trash cans. That moment was the first when my confidence in the police went down a few points, to say the least. Since then the bear has decided to sample our trashcan fare and run by the backyards to keep us en pointe. Welcome to the wild west of Ft. Lewis my friends, welcome.
No more major sightings have occurred since, but it has been less than a week since my run-in, so I am still on guard. And on this vein of crazy events in my neighborhood I have even more to share! There was also a major meth-lab bust in the woods next to my house a couple of weeks ago. This has since led me to speculate that perhaps the bears play a part in the drug industry of the NW. The lab was in their area, and I'm pretty sure that people and bears on meth will do crazy things for blackberries. I won't be able to confirm my suspicions until I see that our neighborhood bear is losing his teeth though, so stay posted. Beyond this, the only big news for my street is the evil road construction on the major road connecting us to the rest of post. Every evening starting at 6pm, our main road is closed, and we then have to use tiny gates to get off post (but they close at 6:30 and 6:45pm), after which we have to take a large circular route around the woods behind our neighborhood to get to the main road and any access to roads that lead off post. This means starting at 6:45pm I have to add a minimum of 12 minutes to any route I want to use if I plan to leave my house. It's not the end of the world, but I'll be darned if it isn't super frustrating.
With that tirade over, I am happy to say that Dereck has safely made it to his FOB (forward operating base) home for the next couple of months. Much of the detail he told me was over a phone call made at 3am, so the details are more than fuzzy on this side. In fact, I woke up wondering which parts he told and which parts I dreamed up while going back to sleep. I am super excited to report that I know for sure he has internet (which means Skype!), and an address- FB message me if you would like it. He still sounds to be in good spirits, and excited to finally be playing Army for real. While it may not sound amazing to be deployed to a hostile country, Dereck has a job that allows him to be moving around and using tons of Army gadgets, something that suits him very well. Other than that, we are praying that the debt ceiling crisis gets resolved quickly since it could affect government employees' pay- and therefore soldiers' pay. More than a few of Dereck's soldiers can't afford to miss a payday thanks to previous debts, bills, and general expenses, so please pray that things will be resolved before this turns into a big mess.
And to that end, I am now planning on going outside to enjoy some rare sunshine with the dog. Let's just hope the bear isn't planning the same thing!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment