Saturday, May 22, 2010

Bears, Bears They're Everywhere

I haven't check our trail camera for a few days. I did today and much to my delight I saw this sight.

He or she is the cutest.  Just look at it's fluffy body of fur and cute little face.   He even has a round little bottom.   How could you not fall for the cuteness factor?!

This little one decided to come in the day I happened to be having lunch with the girls at school.  So of course I didn't get any pictures with my camera.  Darn it anyway!  He or she is one of the 2 year old cubs we had here last fall.  They are such amazing creatures we are lucky to see.  I prefer not to have them on my deck or tearing down my feeders though.
The first photo is of the rascal is climbing up the side of our feeder we use to feed the deer and turkeys to view them.  I am not sure how he got up there but I sure wish I would have been home to watch him.  Next photo's he is climbing up the ladder we use to fill the barrel.  I think he was trying to figure out how he could get more food!

We have saw 4 of the 5 bears here at Sweet Pea's Heaven.  The littlest member of the bear family has not made it's appearance as of yet.  We know it's here as we have witnessed the claw marks in the birch bark.  We probably won't see it til the fall since the Momma Bear keeps it up in trees and teaches it everything it needs to know.  She doesn't want us pesky humans seeing her baby just yet.

We get to watch the cubs from a couple years ago, Momma, and the Big Daddy.   As long as they leave my family and my stuff alone we won't have any issues.  If we do, I have a gun and I am not afraid to use it, just to scare them off not kill them.  I will leave that up to my more experienced hunter, my bear.

Til next time.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Sites I love to see...

One of the sites I'm thankful to view.  Bear fishing!  One week before this was taken, he laid in a hospital bed hoping he'd make it out of there alive.  Such a strong and loving man, the love of my life, my Bear.

Dad and his little girls.  They were having fun catching fish until they quit biting.  Fun in the sun with gee imagine this Mom and Dad.  Another site that made me teary eyed and I wasn't even PMSing..

Sometimes I say, remember to take a look around and notice the beauty that surrounds you.  Two days ago I looked up to see this beautiful moth.  It's not a butterfly but close.  I looked it up on the internet to find out what it's called, it's commonly called a  Robin's Moth.
When we moved here last year I brought as many flowers, bushes and vines that I could.  Normally Iris' get kind of shocked when they are transplanted, well not these hardy buggers some of which spent the winter in the original dirt still in the burlap sacks!  I didn't have what I needed to plant most of them last fall before snow fell so I hoped and prayed they'd make it through til spring.  As of right now I have 4 Iris' that will be blooming this year.  Most of them have the greenery but no signs of flowering.  They are all flowers from my grandmother that passed away 5 years ago.  She could tell you what type they were and where she got them from and when and even who.  I wish I had that information to pass down to my children but it was one of those things that was in Grandma's mind not written down.  The Peonies are doing wonderful.  Four out of the many I brought will be blooming too!  Much to my surprise we have some miniature roses that I thought for sure were dead to this world.  Not sure if they will flower this year.Many more flowers I am looking forward to seeing pop up this year.  Oriental Poppies in bright orange may flower if I can keep the rabbits and deer from chewing them down to nubs.  Tomorrow I will be looking for a home in the yard for my grapevines we brought with us from the L.P. .  You guessed it they are still in their dirt in burlap sacks.. I hope they have survived as well as everything else did in those sacks.  We shall see.  The house we lived in down in the L.P. was extremely close to the rode.  As in when you stepped off the bottom step you were on the gravel on the side of the road.  As a dust repellent my grandma planted the grave vines.  They took years to take over the entire front porch, they provided a dust barrier, sound barrier and privacy.  We could sit on the porch and no one knew you were there.  I miss that place and the porch is bare without all the vines all over it.  I hope to have them grow into the vines they used to be but they will not cover my porch and block my view of the woods and critters I love to watch everyday.  When the flowers bloom I will post pictures.
til' next time.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Thankful

SweetPea's Heaven has been a little shaken these past few weeks.
First with my son.
Then my husband.
Son is still in jail. Most think, how awful, I think it's a safe place for him to be. He will have a chance to sober up and think a little. It's tough love, it hurts like hell but must be done to help him realize there are consequences in life. Do I love him? Yes with all my heart! Someday things will be different, not necessarily perfect but hopefully better.
Now for our scare. Bear somehow came in contact with someone that had or carried the viral spinal meningitis virus!! He was extremely sick, felt like he could possibly die, maybe even wanted to a few times. He was in the hospital for 5 days and then came home for a week to recover. Thank goodness it was the viral not bacterial. Both can be fatal but the latter of the two is more so than the other. Bear received great care during his stay. He had all sorts of doctors and nurses to care for him, but that didn't stop me from wanting to be by his side. He insisted that I stay home and make my trip to see my Mom for Mother's Day. I was torn in two inside, tried to put a smile on my face to hide the worried eyes. Bear is still weaker than he likes but he has to realize there was a major viral infection in his body and it takes time to bounce back. I am just thankful he's here with us! Thankful to hear his voice, see his face, to be able to reach out and touch him. He's a wonderful, strong man and I don't know what I'd do without him. Our Bear is back to work in the big city.
While Bear was home we had our bear visitors. They have been wreaking havoc on my bird feeders. They are all so beautiful, and we love to watch them but the bears have got to go! Have you ever been woken up out of a dead sleep by the sounds of " Get out of here bear!! BOOM BOOM!!" (gun shots)? Well til last week I hadn't! Another morning shots fired again to try to deter yet another bear! Then last night around 9:15 while on the phone saying good night to Bear, we had another one come in! Aye!! I told him the bears in, went to get the shotgun. Opened the door and fired twice with the girls yelling in the background for the bear to leave! I am all about living in the woods and watching the animals but those bears,they scare me! They are huge and can easily hurt one of us. If we can't deter it from coming in we may just have a bear rug on the wall! I would love it!! As for the bird feeders they are now 10 foot in the air on a cable system my hubby made up for us! What a great idea! The first time we put it up, it wasn't high enough, darn bear can sure stretch! Now I think we got it. We think the bear count on our property is 5! Yikes!! There is the boar, sow, 2- 2year old cubs, and then a baby cub possibly born this winter! We applied for our permit the other day, hoping for a chance to shoot one.
Bear and I took the girls fishing on the last and only nice day he was home. They all skunked me! But I just kept watching them interact with tears thanking God for being able to see those sights! We finished our day with a little fire, roasted some dogs, and of course S'mores! It was a perfect day! Pixie said so and that she didn't want it to end!
Hope you have been able to take time to look around and enjoy the people and beauty that surround you.
Til' next time

P.S. I had pictures to add to this but they wouldn't upload :(