Bear Thoughts & Human Encounters

The Blue berries are good this year, the fish down in the rivers are fat, the grass tastes sweet in the valleys but a little dry in the high alpine. The squirrels and chipmonks are far too easy to catch and it’s not much fun, but like them, who don’t have the energy to run fast, nor do I.. to chase them…. and I hate it when they’re too easy …..I’d rather do without !!

This year too, there aren’t many crunchy grubs and bugs to snack on and all the other delights that I usually depend on. But I shouldn’t complain, the Blue Berries make up for them all and I love Blue Berries, at least I don’t have to wonder too far down the mountain. In this heat, it’s much too hard, almost unbearable. I Wish it would rain soon, and I can’t wait for winter when the snow comes, but I wonder if there’s going to be much. I sure hope so ! At least I’ll go to sleep with a thick warm coat, a full belly and a good layer of fat.

What’s that smell?? ….. I must be close to one of those narrow clearings that infiltrate the forest where I occasionally see those two legged animals ….. trails or paths.....I think they call them! I don’t often come across them where I live, but I always know when I’m close to one because of the smell !

Whoops!!!!……what’s this in front of me. Can’t see it very well but I thought I saw it move!! Wish my sight was better but I guess it doesn’t matter because it sure smells rancid so why should I care what it looks like. If it looks anything like it smells then I don’t want to see it. .

It must be one of those humans because the smell is so pungent . They smell awful, especially when they’re frightened. They’re worse than skunks with raised tails. Wonder why that is? It must be what they eat or perhaps they don’t clean themselves. Maybe they can’t smell things like we can. I wonder if they realize how bad they are. It’s strange....you know, whenever I encounter one, the smell is always slightly different. They don’t all smell the same. Must be something they put on their skins ?

Come to think of it, this one isn’t too bad, almost bearable, but it doesn’t seem very big, still not even sure it’s a human, not like those big pot bellied ones that occasionally come into the valley, that make such a noise on those strange machines. They have masses of hair over their faces, but I quite like it when they come because they always bring boxes of that brown fizzy stuff that taste’s so good.

I recall late one light night last year when the moon was perfectly round and the stars twinkled in the sky, the air was warm and still…. in the thick forest. I was still feeling full from gorging myself at that huge cluster of blue berry bushes I found down in the valley earlier in the day.

I wasn’t in a hurry, as I ambled along…. At a leisurely pace, a blueberry here, some big juicy bugs in the bark of the big cedar there, and where I stopped to scratch my back. Suddenly I got the scent of those pot bellied humans and they reeked of that brown fizzy stuff, all making a noise like rolling thunder that resounded through the forest .

When I got close and saw them… lying flat on the ground, completely still except for their big bare pot bellies that pointed towards the sky, the moon reflecting its light on the big white mounds that pulsated up and down as they took huge mouthfuls of air in one resounding grunt and then expelled it with a thunderous noise that reverberated through the forest, and then... the awful smell that came with it.

I don’t want them around here anymore !!! I thought to myself at the time. Its contaminating the sweet smells of the forest trees. It was then that I saw the boxes and they looked as if they were still full of cans. I must have a few of them….. I thought but before I do I’m going to have some fun!

I got closer and closer to them as close as I dared without being overcome by the smell, then!!!!! I stood on my hind legs, made myself as tall as I could, then.... I let out one almighty growl, for as long as my deep breath could sustain it. You should have seen them…I didn’t think a human could move so fast. As they ran off into the forest screaming with fear, trying to keep the long skin things up that cover their legs, their bellies so big that they had to hold them up with their front paws and when some of them tripped over themselves. The smell became insane.

I stood there on my hind legs making myself as tall and as fearsome as I could. At the same time I had a good chuckle to myself at this ungainly sight.

................I wonder if this one, in front of me here, is another type of human, similar to those pot bellied, hairy faced ones, although this one has slightly bent white bare legs, and is much too thin to be one of my white cousins and definitely doesn’t smell like one.

Not this one though. Its staying put and its staring me right in the eyes. This makes me nervous. Its moving its mouth and making weird noises but they sound gentle and consoling . Wish I could figure out what to do. He’s sure got me confused, he must have a will of steel , I mean I’m like three times bigger than he is, I mean eh!! ….I’m a great big Canadian Grizzly bear. He should be scared witless!!

MAD

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