Open Thread – The Visitor…
Linda Kellen Biegel, who usually puts up a Sunday gardening post has been a little busy lately, to say the least. Between being an official watcher at the hand count of selected precincts from the Anchorage Municipal election, to being a delegate to the Alaska Democratic convention in Fairbanks, sh’e s been a little stretched for time.
In lieu of Linda giving you something to smile about in the plant department, I shall endeavor to give you something to smile about in the animal department.
I have more pictures, which I will post later, but here’s a sneak peek of who came a-callin’ this weekend. This little guy could have sat in a shoebox, and I’m guessing he was in the 10 pound neighborhood. This picture shows him looking up through the bottom of my sliding glass door.
As it turns out, he was not alone. More on that later!
I know the ‘flats is loaded with gardeners. You may be growing things organically, but are your garden tools, including the hose, leaching chemicals into your water? Find out here:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1421/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10315
I just spent the day at our Seneca Park Zoo with a second grade field trip (whew, I’m whipped!). We don’t have any black or brown bears but we do have 2 polar bears and they just might be making critter history.
With the assistance of some staff members from the Cincinnati Zoo, the team at our facility accomplished what may be the first artificial insemination of polar bears. The female has produced four cubs with a previous mate but there haven’t been any cubs produced in the last 2 years with the current male. He was last at the Milwaukee Zoo for four years with no cubs there either so the zoo staff decided to provide a little assistance for our reluctant suitor!
Apparently there is no pregnancy test for polar bears, but the female is not cycling the way she otherwise would, so everyone has their fingers crossed that we will have our very own furry little bundle of joy around Thanksgiving.
What a cutie Patootie! Good morning all. I hope every one had a great mother’s day. I made it home from Cleveland and unpacked then went over to my other son’s house for a lovely dinner. My daughter in law’s father and step mother joined us and we had a nice after dinner walk to see the spring flowers in the neighborhood.
Looks like I will be harvesting my first head of broccoli for the season today. I’ll save that as my reward for doing some weeding. It also looked like some of the swiss chard is ready but it looks so pretty i almost hate to cut it. Should have put it in the front flower gardens instead.
Guess I’ll stick with the stray cat. 🙂
A must watch and distribute ad about Romney’s real record on job creation…or should that be job destruction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWiSFwZJXwE&feature=player_embedded
Such a cute little bear.Since I have lived in Alaska I have only seen 3 “wild bears”.Not counting the bears at the Alaska Zoo. That’s amazing to alot of my friends because I have lived here since high school, and I graduated in the early seventies.
Is amazing to me too! I see that many in a week through the summer!
sure missed garden post but eagerly awaiting catch-up on Linda’s other activities 🙂
The bears are coming!
There have been more adolescent black bears than usual this year wandering my way from the Southern Tier of NY state. The mild winter and early spring has apparently led some mama bears to spring clean their youngsters right out of the den and off to independence. Even though I live only a few miles from Lake Ontario and even less from the city line of Rochester, increasing numbers of young bears have been sighted in many of the communities around me and in parts of my suburb as well over the past few years.
I suspect there will be some close visits this year…
My parents and ‘the three girls’ Volkswagoned (a Beetle!) across Europe and the US during 2 1/2 months of the summer of ’62. Most days, my folks would buy bread, chips, sodas, etc for our picnic lunches; very enjoyable to be out in nature for that meal! At Yellowstone National Park, Mom set up the day’s lunch goodies on a picnic table and we all started making our sandwiches. Next to us, there was a family of 3 doing the same. About 5 -to-10 minutes into making our creations, a big old grizzly and her two cubs ambled up.
We let out a scream and dove into our Beetle — I don’t think my feet touched the ground! (The family setting up next to us, did the same…their car was parked to our right.) Well, we all dove into the car, except for my Dad. Instead, he set about gathering up all of the food we had set out.
He was on one side of the picnic table and the grizzly was on the other. Dad would grab a loaf of bread, and the bear would grap a bag of chips; Dad would grab a package of ham, and the bear would grab a package of beef… Mom, my two sisters, and I were yelling at Dad to leave the damn food and get into the car! He kept going tit for tat with the momma grizzly. The kind gentleman sitting safe and protected in the his car rolled down his window and said to Mom: “Don’t worry, he’ll be OK,” — then he *quickly* rolled his window back up.
The grizzly and her cubs finally left and Dad came back to our car. “What were you yelling about?” he asked (as if we had all been terribly unreasonable about the whole thing); we paid good money for that food and I didn’t want the bear to get it…besides, the Rangers told us not to feed the bears.”
He never could understand how terrifying it was for us to watch that big old bear arm and paw sweep inches away from his person. We were about hoarse by the time he returned to us, and as much as my Mom wanted to stay angry as hell at him for pulling such a bonehead stunt, the relief that he was all in one piece and not bleeding anywhere, won the day.
Mom has always been the way — her capacity for forgivenes and love has always been boundless. One of the greatest compliments my late DH paid me was telling me, our children, and friends, that I grew more like my Mom every day.
Whenever I see a bear and a window, I think of that day. beth.
A charming Mother’s Day vignette!
Bet that little one was lookin for some goodies for Mom.
How sweet! I suspect his Mom was not too far away. I hope your dog stayed INSIDE during the visit.