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We’re presently on our screened in porch. About 15 minutes ago, a bear crawled up onto the surrounding deck and was standing inches from the door. Unfortunately, before we could grab a camera, he spooked, jumped off of the deck and ran from the front yard, along the ledge and into the woods beyond. That’s the 10th bear within the last month. Strangely, all but one and the  cubs have been males. We’re still waiting for the rest of this year’s issue of cubs to show up with their mothers. Gotta watch out for those. They’re very protective and can be aggressive. I’m sure this guy was totally surprised. Our place is very much integrated into the woods and very quiet. We’re merely part of the environment. He’s probably attending to his personal hygiene as I type.

Things have been a little slow around the pond during the last few days. The torrid weather has had most of the critters running for shade. I guess if I were wearing a fur coat in July, I would too. As a matter of fact and without getting into detail, I have seen a naked bear (deceased, of course, and relieved of its luxuriant fur coat). Believe me, if I were a bear deceased or otherwise, I would wear my fur coat in July also. A small woodchuck has suddenly appeared and taken its place. along with the rabbit, the squirrels, field mice and chipmunks within our inventory of small critters. While most of our critters have apparently beat the heat by hanging out in some cool spot out of the sun, we’ve come to the conclusion that the heron has devised a different scheme. It apparently does much of its fishing before the heat of the day. We’ve seen  it fishing out there even before the moon has set. Pretty smart bird. On the other hand, fish are pretty dumb, so we’ll be frugal with our praise.

Lots of bird action around the pond today. The heron had already taken up station in a tree when we arrived on the scene this morning. It disappeared not long afterward. Probably to the back of the pond where it can purloin our fish in privacy. Cursed avaricious avian. Shortly afterward two Tom turkeys sauntered through the yard and up the driveway to the road. Mating season being over, they were probably trying to out brag each other about their early spring conquests. Shari found a very small mockingbird under the hanging flower pot in which the mocking bird family had made a nest this spring. Shari thought at first that it might have fallen out, but it flew away, apparently to mock another day. A quick check of the hanging basket revealed nothing but flowers and an empty nest. Mom & dad had apparently flown off to celebrate the event, but they’ll be back. They hang around all summer and serenade us with their beautiful songs. Daryl, our small resident buck hung around most of the day. His coat turned a beautiful red/brown in early June. He makes quite a picture, when contrasted against the vivid bright greens of summer foliage. Show off.

Busy day around the pond today. Another bear visited, cast a longing eye on the pond, then sauntered off into the woods before we could lay a lens on him. We haven’t seen this guy before. Slightly smaller than the first one that dropped by but bigger than any since. He had a very healthy coat. We dress our critters well. I suspect that the bears make regular visits to the pond just to keep our little finned friends on edge. Furred sadists. And I suppose the prospect of being snatched unceremoniously from their comfy liquid home and converted into bruin poo is a constant looming threat. As though the fish didn’t have enough headaches, the heron is now a full fledged (no pun intended) member of our local critter count. Had dinner and buzzed the porch before heading home. Didn’t even leave a tip. One odd occurrence took place last week. Two ducks flew in, checked out the pond and took off a short time later. Rejected by two birds. How bad can it get. Worst of all, two dumb ducks. Migration season doesn’t start for at least a couple more months. Probably lowered the accumulative IQ of the entire pond.

Well, things are getting pretty bizarre around the pond. We’ve been without phone, Internet and TV for the last 3 days. We finally got a Spectrum service guy here to take a look at the situation. Turns out that the signal cable had been bitten apart at the base of the pole. We can only assume that the culprit was a bear, as the break was clean (no gnawing, no apparent tensile stress). The cable guy agrees. Never seen anything like it. Of course not. Weirdness is the order of the day here in the Hideaway. I didn’t know that bears were so easily irritated, but I must admit that I have sometimes felt like biting the TV signal cable apart, myself. And I’ve sometimes been accused of being able to eat anything that walks, crawls or flies. No doubt true, but I draw the line at coax. Especially coax over which so much tasteless content is transmitted. So don’t blame me. That poor bear is probably somewhere in the woods right now trying to spit out a mouthful of car commercials.

Well, things have calmed down a bit since Smokey strolled through last Wed. No bear today but Mom Deer showed up with her fawn. Hard to tell if these are new visitors or an earlier issue. Guess we should start requiring them to wear name tags. The heron seems to have taken squatters rights on the island. He flew in again this morning as usual and lurked in the high brush there most of the day. I suppose he thinks that he can carry out his dastardly assault on our fish in secret. Har. No further sign of the Wiley Coyote who loped through the yard last week. Nor of the Road Runner (beep, beep). On rare occasion, we’ve been visited by bobcats. I saw one gazing lovingly at its reflection in one of our sliders a few years ago. We still await our first cubs of the year. The mom bears are very protective of their little charges, but we figure that where there’s Smokey there’s fire. Or was. They’re out there someplace.