Bears

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia 9/21/18 5:00 PM

This afternoon when I drove into my driveway, I saw a strange car in my yard. The couple standing next to it turned out to be George and Susan who were visiting the area and had stopped by to see my house where George had lived as a boy way back in the 70's with his parents a brother and two sisters.

I was happy to invite them in to see the house as it is today and have George answer some of my questions about its history. In the process, I got some of the answers I was looking for and one I wasn't which has given me some pause.

George told me that my massive big maple tree which mysteriously has both red and green leaves is actually two trees one red and one green planted by his mother so close together that you'd now swear they were one.  So now, at long last, I finally have the answer to this mystery.

We toured the house and I learned that the large fireplace was added after George lived here as well as the kitchen cabinets and wood paneling in one of the downstairs rooms.  His family added the little "secret" playroom upstairs hidden behind a corner for one of his sisters as well as the upstairs bathroom and the front bedroom which was his.

George's family came right after the first owners of the house, the Walls family for whom the nearby Walls Lake, the Walls pond across the road and the Walls brook which forms the Western boundary of my land are named.  There was a sawmill here powered by the brook as well as a stagecoach terminal both back in the day but before George's time here.

Fortunately, a couple of days ago, I had cut the path to the shore through the woods and tall grass and so I was able to invite them down to the shore with its spectacular view of the cove, the islands, and the lighthouse 3 miles out to sea.

We climbed up on my "Rock of Ages" and as we looked back at the forest's edge, George told me that a guy who lives in the nearby town of Lockeport who knows about these things said it was the best place for finding Indian artifacts.  I'll have to look him up and learn more about this.

George also told me that the "scat" (wild animal poop)_we saw on the Rock was from bears.  He recalled seeing them frequently when he lived here.  And although he said they weren't a problem for him, he was concerned about his small dog which as it turned out was smart enough to run back with its tail between its legs when it had a close encounter with the momma bear and her cubs.

While George and I stood on the Rock, Susan went back to their car to get her camera and when she came back she walked down the other path to the shore.  She reported large scat in the tall grass along the shore and a particularly large pressed down areas where one of the bears, the mother (since she told me the bear dads don't stick around) must have been bedding down at night.  There are a number of these pressed down spots on the seagrass at the shore which I had previously, but no longer, thought were beds for deer which I occasionally see on my property.

I've seen the scat in previous years but nothing like the amount this year.  A friend once saw a bear cross the road and walk into my property when she was driving by,  but I've never seen any.

Last year and this I have noticed the nearby haunting mournful moan of coyotes so I thought the scat might be from them.  But George and Susan say no,  it's from the bears.

I have a wooden bench which I put on my Rock of Ages and take down when I leave in the winter to save it from the winter storms.  And on a clear night, there is no better place to view the stars as you can see all the way to the horizon to the South and almost to the horizon in both East and West directions.  And best of all there is that rarest of things today:  no light pollution.  No man-made light at all other than the occasional blinking light from an airplane high up in the sky heading to Europe or the twinkling of the Gull Rock lighthouse far out to sea.

Sitting on this rock on a pitch black night my thoughts soar to the stars and galaxies light years away.  At the same time, I've also had dark thoughts about creatures lurking near at hand to disturb my reverie or even my very existence.

George said I could get some "bear spray" at the "corner" store a few miles away, but he said he wouldn't count on it.  Susan who grew up on a farm said bears don't like noise and suggested a whistle.  And maybe I can find the very loud air pressure horn I had on my sailboat and keep that handy.

When we came back through the path in the forest Susan said she didn't see any scat so that was nice to know.  After stargazing I should be OK walking back through the woods from the shore to my house.

That's something I've wondered about. At night the forest path seems to grow much longer as I walk back in the dark.

However, they did tell me that bears like apples and I have several trees in my yard.  The apples will soon be starting to fall now as autumn is upon us.  Susan says the bears smell the apples and so I wonder if they'll be visiting me nearer at hand.

In the middle of last night, I awoke to what sounded like someone rapping on my back door.  I don't think I dreamed this.  It happened two different times.  Could it be a bear?

A lot of thoughts are swirling in my head.  I'd like to get a picture of the bears.  I'd like to put my chair back up on the rock and view the stars as in previous years.

But first I think I need to learn more about these bears and how best we can coexist.