Somebody's Been Sittin' In MY Chair

Holy schnikies! We had a bear in our yard tonight. A BEAR! I know that we grow 'em here in Alaska, but I've never seen one roaming about.

I was sitting at my computer updating the blog on day 3 of Sarah's potty training when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up I saw a black bear staring at me through the window. BAHHHH! If that doesn't startle you, nothing will.

So I immediately dive for my camera and follow this bear as he wandered around the perimeter of my house. He explored almost every window and took a good look inside each time. It is almost like he heard the house was on the market and wanted to check things out. Sorry, big fella, no porridge here.

Sadly I had my flash on and most of the early pictures didn't take. Just a big old glare from the window. By the time I realized it, the bear had moved from checking out the interior of our home to exploring the rest of the yard. But I did get some good shots of that once I turned the flash off.

And I'll just casually mention, that these pics (taken with no flash) were taken at 10:30 PM. Still got daylight-a-plenty around here.

Here he is rounding the corner of our garage. Sadly my camera wouldn't cooperate when he stood up on his back feet to check out the trash can. Boy bears are tall!

Excuse the glare on this one. This was before I managed to turn off the flash. I took this pic through the glass in our front door. He had just taken a good look inside our entry. 

I consider this little encounter my reward for handling the girls on my own for two weeks while my hubby is in Houston. I've been wanting to see a bear (safely) ever since we moved to Alaska. Now that we are on our way out, I am thrilled that I got to see one before we head back to Texas.

I will say it is going to make me a lot more cautious about letting the girls play in the yard. I loved watching him from the safety of my house, but don't really desire a face to face encounter.