Yeah, this was my fault but . . .

 . . . the birds are hungry. Yesterday afternoon the bare branches of the tree by our deck were full of chickadees, nuthatches and finches, all hungrily eying the empty hook where our bird feeder usually hangs. So I put it back up. I figured I’d take it down after a couple of hours. The birds swarmed the thing in no time. It’s been snowy and cold, and food is getting scarce.

Sooooo . . . yeah, I forgot to take it down. Shortly after dark we heard something on the deck. Damn, that bear is back. He’s BIG. Some of the bears around here aren’t all that big but this guy is huge. He’s pawing at the bird feeder again. Well, last time we turned on the lights and he ran off. This time the lights are already on. Crap. Dean opened the patio door a crack and yelled at him, and he ran off the deck.

But he didn’t leave. He went just far enough up in the back yard to be out of the light and hunkered down. We could see the outline of a big dark furry mass behind some bushes. Apparently he was waiting for us to go away so he could come back. We took the bird feeder down, of course. Then Dean got out the gun. I guess I should say “gun” – it’s a little pop gun we use to scare the squirrels away. He fired off a few shots and we saw this big dark furry form move farther back into the trees.

This morning the birds are all over that tree again, waiting for me to hang up the feeder, but it’s staying down until it’s cold enough for the bears to den up for the winter. We had snow and freezing rain last night, and that bear’s big paw prints are still there on the deck. Sorry birds.