Bear!

At 8:00 AM this morning we were out for our regular walk down the dirt road that is just up the hill from our house. There we are walking along with the dogs (on leashes, thank goodness!) and chatting about this and that - and I'm looking off to the right where a rather lovely hawk has just flown (too fast for me to do anything about it with my camera) - when suddenly The Husband says "Is that a BEAR???" Well! Yes, yes it was. Just strolling towards us - quite a good way down the road, I might add (this is a pretty heavy crop). He stopped and looked at us. We stopped and looked at him. I took two quick photos - all the while wishing I'd brought my bigger (heavy) camera - and then I had The Husband hold both dogs while I walked briskly in the bear's direction, clapping my hands and yelling "GIT, BEAR!!!!!" "Git" of course is southern for "get out of here."  ;-)  He turned around and ambled back into the woods. Mind you - the house that belongs to that mailbox is right there on the road. The son of the owner of the house was just - evidently - coming out to get in his truck and leave. He backed out of the driveway and stopped when he got to us to warn us that there was a bear. Indeed there was!

As you might imagine - the entire experience made me smile. For any number of reasons!

1. Bear! But not at our house stealing our bird feeders or threatening our dogs.

2. Blip taken care of early! Even fitting into the MM challenge for the day!

3. BEAR!!!!!