Finally!

Part three of the bear story. Boy, I never expected it to last that long, but I am glad it did. I know how many of you enjoy the random life stories I share. You have to get creative when writing each week. I love sharing life and experiences with my readers. Plus, you get to know me even better. I’m sure not many of you know my fear of bears.

So where were we? Oh yes, Chris is outside in the pitch black with a slight glow from our porch light, just reaching the very edge of our woods line. He was getting the cobweb off our trail cam that is nestled in the woods and it kept causing our phone to go off with motion alerts.

When Chris came inside that night, it was probably after 10 p.m. Kenzy and I were in the bathroom brushing our teeth. Ty was sleeping over at a friend’s house that evening, so Kenzy asked if she could sleep in our room that night. We have a recliner right next to our bed, and she has a cubby she loves sleeping in, too! We live in a cape cod, so the roof line has some cool space in our bedroom. She enjoys the cubby in the winter, which is lined with Christmas lights inside, and the recliner in the warmer months, where she enjoys the air.

We all came upstairs right after brushing our teeth and got all cozy in bed. It was quite the day, and I was happy to get all snuggled up in bed. I just got comfy, wrapping my right leg around my body pillow and my hand resting on Chris’s chest after giving Kenz a kiss goodnight.

It wasn’t two minutes later, and both of our phones went off with the motion alert.

Chris said, reaching for his phone to look, “What now!? It better not be another cobweb!”

I just ignored it, figuring it was nothing.

“Holy crap!” Chris yelled. “The bear is on our front porch!”

“WHATTTT!? Are you serious!?” I said as Kenzy shot out of the recliner to come over and look on the phone with us.

Sure enough, there was a bear. He was leaning his paws up against our porch deck post, trying to reach our bird feeder. He was determined to get it. Kenzy and I ran downstairs, but there was no way I was opening the front door with just me and a screen in between us. I could hear him out there, which kind of gave me the heebie-jeebies. I flipped on the front porch light as Kenzy was looking out our bay window.

Chris yelled down, “That scared him away!”

Kenz went to grab the spotlight because she was determined to see where he went. She couldn’t find him shining through the window. Chris said he ran right out back to our second camera and then was gone.

When I went back upstairs, he asked me if I grabbed the bird feeder off the front porch.

I said, “Ummmm, heck no! Are you crazy!? I am not going anywhere outside. I don’t know where the little bugger went. Plus, you just wanted your daughter to go out and get the cobweb off the camera, and ten minutes later, a bear is on our front porch!!”

It’s pitch-black outside around our house at night. No way I am stepping outside, knowing he could be lurking right around the corner, probably mad that I scared him off the front porch from getting a midnight snack.

But I do have to say that I was really proud of how well I handled it, and even more proud that my kids have no fear of bears. This was always a fear of mine that I never wanted to pass on to my kids.

Tyler’s first day of hunting with my dad, he literally had a black bear walk right by his tree stand that sits on the ground. The bear had no clue Ty was there, and he was taking video on his phone. You can hear Ty as the bear kept getting closer whispering,

“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Holy crap.”

I WOULD HAVE DIED. The video gives me those heebie-jeebies! It is insane how close this bear got. The video is wild! Tyler really kept his cool.

Let me also say that he was in this stand — alone, with no gun. It was his first day, and my dad was teaching him the ropes. He was close by in another stand. He wasn’t ready for a gun yet. Little did he know that a bear and deer would be near his stand that close that day. A day he will never forget. I honestly didn’t believe him when he told me. I figured he was pulling my leg!

He texted me: Mom, a bear just walked right by the door of my tree stand!!

I texted back: Pics, or it didn’t happen.

The video came in minutes later.

First day of hunting!? Are you serious!?

Way too close for comfort.

And too close for comfort on our front porch, three times now! We found out that the bear on our front porch is NOT Big Jeff. This bear was much smaller and didn’t have mange. This was the bear our neighbor Mr. Schneider was telling me about. So now we know we have two bears running around the neighborhood.

A week later, another friend of ours whose dad lives near us up on the hill messaged me on Facebook. “Hey Andrea, I just want to let you know and show you pictures that Big Jeff has a big daddy. He is up on the hill right now at Dad’s.”

The pictures of this bear were hilarious because they showed his very large body drinking out of a very large tub of water. The following picture is of him taking a bath in the tub! These bears around here, I tell you what, they are mischievous! We have yet to see the big daddy of daddies, but we are keeping our eyes peeled. I just can’t believe the bear around here lately. It’s wild. I know we live in PA, and they are around, of course. But to see them the way we have been seeing them is out of the ordinary. I am glad my fear isn’t as bad as it used to be, or I’d want to move! *enter cheesy smile here*

I love our house too much to move. The bear can stay — just off our front porch.

*It’s strawberry season!!*
Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs
Ingredients:
• 1 container of strawberries, washed and cut in thirds
• 1 package of dessert shells, cut in fourths (You could use angel food cake, shortbread, or sponge cake too!)
• 1 container of icing or homemade (if you want to make your own)
• Kabob sticks
Icing:
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. milk
Directions:

Combine till smooth, then place in a small baggie and cut a small hole in the corner of the bag.

Alternate the strawberries and cake on sticks.

Then drizzle with icing! It’s that easy and so easy for a summer dessert.