I saw a bar...

Well, the high point of my adventure so far was a visitation by a yearling black bear.  I was about to go out the front door to put water in the bird bath, caught some dark motion out of the corner of my eye, and there was a bear coming up the driveway.  I had just minutes before put my camera away, but with my hands shaking and my heart pounding, I grabbed the camera back out of the bag and hurried back to the door.  I was able to get a few shots through the glass of doors and windows, and they could have been sharper photos if I hadn't been so excited! 

This beautiful creature walked up the driveway, right in front of the front door, and up the hill to the next house. At that point, I bravely, or stupidly, stepped out onto the porch to see if I could get another photo.  He was peering at me through the overgrown flower bed between the yards, and we made eye contact, so I quickly stepped back in the house.  He then walked back down the hill, right in front of the door again, and toward the back of the yard, around by the garage.  And that was the last I saw of him.  He really did move pretty fast, and his speed coupled with my excitement kept me from getting better pictures.  But wow, what a moment!  I had hopes of seeing a bear while I was here, but had no thought of seeing one coming up the driveway!

Coming up the driveway

Heading to the next house which is empty and for sale.  I was worried about whether he was hungry enough to bother a robin nest that is on the front porch over there.

Awful picture, but this was just before "eye contact" when he was peering through the foliage.

At the top of the driveway, heading toward the garage.

And going behind the garage, right by the trash cans.  I had been a little irritated that the rental agreement states that I have to haul my trash down to a dumpster rather than use the cans at the house, but now I'm really glad for that! They are just rubber trash cans with snap on lids.  I would not have wanted there to be food in the cans for this wild creature to discover and perhaps develop a habit of going into trash cans for food. That might have led to it  becoming a nuisance animal with an unfortunate fate.