greenstorm | Hungry fall (Reply)

There are a LOT of bears around right now. In town there were 15 sightings yesterday of at least 5 different bears, my one bear on the back has swelled to several of different sizes, etc etc. Not sure if this is because of the drought, of a frost that nipped a lot of the flowers this spring and led to less fruit, or the fires chasing them in close, or probably all of them. Plus the last few years have been really good years for the bears with 3 cubs per sow being frequent, so a year where a bunch starved is definitely due. Starting this early, though-- it's going to be an intense fall as they all go into calorie storage mode. I clearly need to fortify.

Which is an introduction to just saying that last night I woke up at 3am and helped Thea and Avallu chase two bears away ("help" is an overstatement, I held the flashlight. Man those dogs run fast) and then went back to sleep. In my dreams a sow and three cubs came close into the yard and me and the dogs were hitting them with sticks to try and get rid of them and then a friend(?) showed up and finally shot the sow. Then we were starting to allocate meat & fat (I'm more interested in fat, for soap) when I woke up. It was one of those experiences where real life blends seamlessly into a dream, I was wearing the same thing, it was basically just a continuation.

I woke up tired into a beautiful sunny dew-drenched morning and told my dogs they were so, so, so good and came in to work.