The neighborhood is getting visits from a large black bear. We don’t usually see these critters in the summer. This one is quite bold and not easily shooed away.

We had bear incursions Monday andTuesday nights and again around 4:00 a.m. this morning. What a shock, however, to see this largish black bear on our patio just a few minutes ago.  Worse, he seems totally fearless. First, I pounded on the windows… to no effect. In fact, he approached the sliding door and looked right at me through the glass. I had fortunately closed the screen portion only thirty minutes ago. He backed off, snatched one of the bird feeders and started to chow down. I banged pots together and shouted at him. No effect.  I threw my shoes at him. Unimpressed. Finally, I beaned him with a rock and he ambled away, through the portion of our fence that he tore down to get in.