Today I had one student, so we threw the usual schedule to the wind and randomly mixed our subjects. It was awesome! Snowshoeing with Sanford for PE, sewing christmas presents for art, some one-on-one math tutoring, and a shared reading of Zlata's Diary, which is a book consisting of actual diary entries by an 11-year-old girl living in war-shocked Sarajevo (Bosnia) in the early 90s. Very eye-opening material for all of us who have spent our childhoods growing up in a peaceful country.
The grizz was still here this morning. I eagerly looked out all the windows as my water boiled for my morning oatmeal and I didn't see him. Good! Cool while it lasted but I'm glad he's gone I thought as I started getting dressed for work. A quick second glance out my bedroom window and some movement caught my eye. He had climbed a tree and was mauling the branches with his claws and teeth, scraping the tiny berries into his mouth. Great. At least with him in this position I could move my garbage. We have to take our trash to the dump here, no curb-side pickup for this tiny town--although we don't even have curbs or sidewalks--and living alone I have about a month of garbage build-up stored in my little shed. The door is SUPER easy to push open, and buddy bear was camping out right behind the shed over the past couple of days. I moved the pail to the sturdy red barn shed, collected another armful of wood, stoked up the fire, and off I went to school.
Bear in tree...
Not sure how I missed this overly large tree ornament on the first look.
Hahahaha... for you, PB.
I arrived home this afternoon to a message from the Conservation Officer saying that he is aware of the bear and that he has sent some rubber bullets up with a resident in town to deter the animal from spending its time in the area. Hopefully it is old enough to know how to hibernate! If I see the bear again I'll give another ring to Bob to see what the protocol is if the rubber bullet trick goes unsuccessfully. Fingers crossed that this little guy was eating his last breakfast on the road before searching out a cozy winter den.
My student's Mom caught her first doe on her hunting trip today. Today is the last day of doe season, with four-point buck season lasting until Dec. 15 ("points" refer to the number of points or tips on the antlers of a buck). She was with a couple of experienced hunters, and they shot a four-point buck the size of a small horse and another large doe in addition to the doe she got. They were hanging them at my neighbour's place (although everyone is basically my neighbour) and I am going to help them skin the animals tomorrow after school. My student kept asking me if I was okay while we touched the deer and watched them hang their gutted bodies. They had to saw off part of the buck's leg so it would fit in the shed. I suppose I looked a little worried. It was just that the deer looked so alive still, like they would blink at me at any moment.
We are so far removed from the preparation of our food when we enter a grocery store that it's interesting to finally be involved in helping prepare some food that has been organically raised and caught in the mountains. A much better situation for the animal and for our bodies than the factory farm scenario, in my opinion.
Scroll for pics of the deer.
WARNING... The following pictures are of dead and hanging animals... not for the faint of heart...
Doesn't she look like she is going to blink?
The third deer is hanging in the back...
I just had a very intelligent thought. Perhaps my pet bear is camping out with the fresh meat selection at my neighbour's place! Let's just hope he is out deep in the forest searching out a cave for the winter...
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