THE LOST IS FOUND

Well, we aren't certain, but we think the owner of the section of dock that ended up at Ray and Cyndy Rouleau's last week retrieved it sometime this weekend. If not, it could be floating around out there somewhere. Anyway, we hope it's back in place where it belongs.

*****

A bear very much like the one in the picture sauntered up the driveway at Jamie and Marie Dimick's recently. Jamie said they hadn't removed all bird feeders they'd had up during the winter, and apparently the bear was looking for an easy snack of sunflower seeds. No harm was done and the bear finally climbed the bank next to the house and headed north into the woods. Jamie said he meant to take down the bird feeding stations, but just hadn't gotten to it. They're down now and put away for the summer.

We haven't seen a bear here at our house recently, but that's probably because we weren't looking out at the right time. Over the years we've seen signs in the woods and on our walks along West Shore Road have occasionally seen where a bear has sloshed through the ditch and then crossed the road leaving unmistakeable muddy footprints. A few years ago we spotted a mother bear with two cubs one morning as we walked up Cabot Plains Road. We backed off quietly and cut our walk short that morning. The mother bear watched us, but the cubs paid no attention to us, and playfully bounded along after their mom as she crossed the road ahead of us and disappeared into the woods.

I grew up on Cabot Plain and spent lots of time in the woods, hunting, chasing cows, or just walking for the pleasure of it. There were plenty of bear stories told and retold in my family, and after the stories ended, my father always cautioned, "never get between a mother bear and her cubs." All those years rambling through the woods, and this was the first time I'd ever needed to heed the warning.

Of course, I passed the warning on to my kids when they were growing up - and their grandfather repeated those bear stories to my sons, with the same warning, so I wonder if Jamie thought about that as he watched the bear. It wasn't the first time a bear has visited at Jamie and Marie's. They've had them peering into the windows from their deck. Too close for comfort. Even though they are not far off West Shore Road, and very close to our house, I think they have a lot more wildlife roaming their property than we do.

I've been told the bears awoke very hungry this year; they didn't have adequate food supplies last fall. I don't know if this is true or not, but I'm not going to tempt them. We are careful to not leave anything edible outside, like residue on the charcoal grill or garbage, we don't feed the birds, and our cat gets fed inside the house. We have had ant hills torn up on the lower lawn, and sometimes find remnants of bee's nests, so we know the bears have been around, but I really prefer they keep their distance.