There Is A Bear In The Backyard!!!

Many times my family allows ourselves to be too busy with extra-curricular activities.  Our responsibilities just pile up and overwhelm us.  Mowing the yard in May and June is a real challenge. 

In June of 2003 my husband and son went to Atcheley Park to purchase our homeschool yearbook.   Our two daughters and I decided to stay home to catch up on such chores as organizing the kitchen, laundry, cleaning their rooms, and mowing the yard.  After speed cleaning and organizing the inside of our home together, I was to mow the yard.  It was almost to the point of needing a brush hog to come through.  I said to my two daughters, “You may stay in the house.  Watch TV.  Surf the internet.  That is great!  BUT PLEASE do not interrupt me unless it is an emergency!!!!!!!”  Together they shook their head and said yes.

I began mowing the front part of the yard.  I was so excited about what I had already accomplished and began traveling to the backyard when my oldest daughter, Stephanie, burst through the front door waving her arms in the air.  I thought, “This better be good!”  I was feeling frustrated due to the interruption!  I heard Stephanie say, “Mom, there is a bear in the backyard!”  I thought, “Yeah, right!”  But Stephanie looked frantic and she has always been trustworthy and honest so I decided to heed her warning!  I shut the lawn mower off and threw my leg of the top of the mower and sprinted to the house.

As I hopped on the front porch I looked at her in unbelief.  She said, “It is a bear!  Come see.”  She took my hand and led me to our bay window in the family room.  I passed my youngest daughter, Hannah (8 years old).  She was scared and crying!  When I looked out the window I saw a huge black hairy animal.  It appeared to be a bear?  I took a second look.  And yes, it was a black bear. 

The bear was sitting there eating a watermelon rind just outside our chain-linked fence.  Wow!  I just stared for awhile.  Our American Eskimo dog was barking and barking, while our cats sat peacefully on the table on the back porch.  We decided to grab the cats and put them in the house.  We called our dog, Nanook, to put him in the garage.  He was beginning to annoy the bear who was beginning to stand up.  I was just closing the garage door when Stephanie brought our dog in the garage.  As the door was closing, Nanook almost escaped to tackle the bear.  Thankfully, Stephanie scolded him, so he stopped running.  No telling what could have happened if he had escaped.

We called our neighbors and asked them to call the police for us while I called my husband.  Steve chuckled at my excitement.  By the time Steve arrived home the sheriff was here along with a conservation agent and the state patrol.  I saw the deputy holding a shotgun.  After the bear finished eating he walked to our pond and disappeared in the woods.  Wow!

We were all quite antsy about going outside for awhile.  We made sure all food was deposited into the woods and NOT by the backyard fence anymore.  That bear was just too close to the house.

One humorous aspect of this story is the fact that I told my daughters not to bother me unless it is an emergency!  I had really, really emphasized this!  My daughters demonstrated common sense in their decision to inform me about an unusual situation.  We all had never seen a bear in the backyard.  Bears in Missouri in the past have been uncommon, but the Missouri bear population is growing.  I have three wonderful and smart kids.