Yikes!

Last night, we were treated to a dreadful racket out in the yard. Getting up and turning on the light to see what was going on didn't make us any smarter. There was nothing out there. It sounded like nails being ripped out of boards.

This afternoon, we were out in the yard taking advantage of a small window of dry to get the grass cut. Right under the bird's jacuzzi was a huge pile of...bear poop!

Then we started looking for other signs that we'd had such huge company. We've never had a bear and because all our yards have high fences, didn't really expect too. There have been black bears seen in our neighborhood, though which is not normal. They are obviously following the creeks down the mountainsides AND the blackberry trail. It's been a really good crop this year and we humans never pick more than a small fraction.

One of fences had a decidely wonky look to it and some fresh scratching on top. But, the earth beneath didn't seem disturbed at all. I'm not sure how a bear could have done that gracefully but it managed to avoid leaving any tracks at all. Maybe that's not what happened. Who knows?

Our scat clue only made the mystery more mysterious. Raccoons and skunks I can live with but bears are a huge nuisance.