Aerie Visitors

We had some visitors at the Aerie this afternoon. I had just finished watering the garden at 4:30 PM when I heard a crashing and grunting in the trees less than 40 yards up the slope and saw a black bear. It stayed put as I collected all the bird feeders and brought them inside. The bear stayed put and even laid down in the powerline right of way. I thought something might be up and wondered if it might be a sow with a cub.

Turns out I was right. about 15 minutes later, the sow and her TWO cubs came down the hill and into the yard. One of the little ones was a very pale cinnamon cub. Not an albino--I don't think--but a very, very blonde bear.

As you can see, they didn't stay in the yard long. Moma heard the dishwasher going through its cycle and, I assume, the chugging sounds made her shy away from any lengthy investigation. They wandered off back up the hill and disappeared--for the time being.

Dang! These guys are clever!

(At least they went for the salad.)

Pit Bulls are Dangerous? You're kidding, right?

The next time someone tries to tell you that pit bulls are inheritly dangerous and should be banned from existence, remember these videos from Texasgirly1979:



Of course he could have been just selecting his meal, but I don’t think so—even if there are only three chicks sleeping on his back in this one:



Then there is this video taken two months later in which all the chicks appear healthy and quite a bit larger:



It’s not the breed, it’s the breeder.
It’s not the nature of the beast, it’s the nature of the owner/trainer.
When you see a “mean” dog, you are usually looking at the end result of a mean trainer/owner or a bad breeder.

Cowardly Tiger Cubs

Don't know what these tiger cubs were afraid of. The little fluffy chicks look harmless enough.

Chicks and Cubs