As we were preparing to go to bed last night we heard the unmistakable sounds of crashing bird feeders.  I grabbed a flashlight expecting to see cavorting raccoons but instead was greeted with the sight of a very large black bear feasting on the two suet feeders we normally leave out a night.  A couple of shouts and he lumbered off toward the back of the yard.  Today we discovered he simply tore down a segment of the wire fencing at the back of the lot, the very same spot where I  think a bear tried to enter the yard a couple of years ago.  Amazingly, he managed to not crush a single plant nor break any branches off the several rhododendrons he passed.  There were a few nice paw impressions in the soft soil that give an indication of the size of our hefty visitor.

In addition to making the fence repair, I had to replace insulation in the crawl space today as well. On Monday evening we noticed a wet spot on the dining room carpet near the front door. After hailing a plumber, we found we had a leak in the pipe feeding the front outside faucet so I got to spend a couple of hours soaking up water and replacing wet insulation. A busy day indeed.