July 5, 2007 

his morning I woke up quickly, early and rather rudely. I went out to see what our dogs were barking at so diligently and I saw a bear on the other side of my garden fence. This is a new bear. I have not seen him before. I think he is a yearling as he is not that big, though this picture makes him look smaller than the other pictures I have. The dog was barking at him until I yelled at the bear and then the dog looked at me.

Picture Above: A bear on his side of the fence, just before I chased him off.

He was just about to stand up and probably climb over the fence, when I dropped the camera (gently) and grabbed pots and pans to clank them together. The bear ran as fast as he could away, but I know he will be back. I know better.. and I shouldn't have done it.... I fed out too much meat to the dogs last night and there was a huge frozen block in the dog pen. So I need to go pick up whatever is left of bear attractant and go to the dump today.

We had an excellent trip. We went to the coast to take my 'stepson' down to his new home and this was the first trip my guy and I have ever taken together. If you ever travel in British Columbia, I highly suggest taking one of the ferries. You can take one from Port Angeles to Vancouver I believe or from Vancouver to many of the islands to the west. Visit the BC Ferry site to check for times and where they go. We went through the Strait of Georgia.

Picture Above: One of the many ferries that BC Ferries owns.

Picture Below: My guy and me on the "Queen of New Westminster" in the middle of the Strait. It is a 2 hour ferry ride and I love to ride up on deck, hence the squinty eyes and wind swept hair. And NO.. I got 'skunked' at whale watching again.

Picture Above: My friend Colleen who is a singer-songwriting and a lovely friend. I have known her since we were around 9 yrs old. We were pen pals for 20 years before we met again in our adult lives. We invaded her home, but that is OK.. we tend to do that to each other every couple years. The visit was TOO SHORT this time. I asked if she would sing for us, so we had a wonderful bonfire and she set up in the back of a pickup truck. The owner of the truck said that "was the best sound system my truck ever had".

Picture Below: Me, enjoying the Canadian scenery on the way back home.

Picture Below: On one of the Native reserves (reservations), I spied this cordwood home.

When we were about an hour away from home, we called Mary to let her know where we were at and left a message at her house, then called ours to see if she was there. She was. We had about 26 of the heirloom turkeys hatch. Mary and the boy I went mushroom hunting with had been at our house watching them hatch out. Then Mary's husband called us back to return our message and told us he had just found a baby calf that "Mudbog" had. So of course, I had to detour that way to see the new baby. "Muddy" had a nice red bull calf. Way to go "Mudbog"!!!

Picture Above: "Mudbog" licking her hours old calf. I was kinda worried about taking a better picture, as I didn't want her to slam me with her horns.