A Very Stinky Visitor….

It's been a really long day! Not because of hard or stressful work, but because the day started  at the early hour of 5:00AM under very unusual conditions.

There's nothing quite like waking to the sound of an excited dog sniffing really loud and right beside your head !

However, it wasn't sniffing at me but at the slightly open window.

As I slowly started to realize what was happening - I smelt what the dog was smelling! The musty, very strong odour, of a fairly large animal outside our home, was coming in through the open window.

And this smell was very familiar .... that of a Spring bear just out of hibernation!

(Once you've experienced the smell ...better to say odour...you'll never forget it.)

The bear, unseen in the darkness, continued to walk around right near the house wall. It went across the front of our house, under our deck, and down the east side of the house to the backyard, where it disappeared into the bush.

We never got back to sleep, but continued watching outside hoping to get a glimpse and maybe a picture of our visitor.  

We weren't that lucky, but the dog, who has many times the ability to detect scents, kept busy sniffing the ground and tracking the property all day.

It's that time of year when the bears leave their winter abode and start to wander, as they look for food.

For us, it's time to be bear-wise!