Sunday, May 6, 2007

Crime




Erm.. sorry for not bloggin' lately.

My mom called one sunny day this week (Thursday maybe) and said "Something destroyed our bird feeders."

Crime Scene:
A wooded yard in the Middle Of Nowhere Mountains, VA. One copper bird feeder cracked into multiple pieces and scattered about the grounds. One metal shepard's hook bent to the ground at it's base.
Suspects:
- Freakishly large and well fed squirrels with long rap sheet of bird feeder raids
- Raccoon - no confirmed sitings but bound to be living among them
- Possum - many visual sitings and great climbers but are they strong enough to bend the shepard's hook?
- Deer - often seen in the yard, enjoy birdseed, to cute to be guilty
- Bear - only one citing in 15 years but certainly the only thing strong enough to bend the shepard's hook

She called yesterday morning told me a horrific tale. She was getting ready for bed and heard a bang outside. In truth she heard multiple bangs and proceeded to tell me about the volume of each bang and what she thought might have been the object which fell and where it might have landed. She may have done this just to increase the suspense but it just ended up being more detail that I needed. Bang, bang, bang, she turned on the porch light. Eeeek! There was a bear on the front porch standing and LOOKING IN THE WINDOW! They locked eyes and he did not appear alarmed at being discovered.

Since my parents live in the wilderness they have always thought themselves immune to crime and never lock their doors. (I have been on them about this for years). Also, a large gust of wind could blow the door open.* Naturally when my mom said the bear was on the porch, I thought of the unlocked door and how the bear could simply lean on it and be inside. Thankfully, that did not happen. I can't imagine the damage and horror that would have followed. She ran upstairs to get my dad. By the time he got downstairs the bear had decided there was nothing inside the home to tempt him. I guess he didn't see the scrumptious fat black kitty laying on the couch.

By the time my dad got downstairs, the bear had wondered back into the yard. He shouted at the bear and the bear simply looked at him and casually meandered back into the woods.

They lock their doors now.


*edited (01-07-09) to add The wind did blow their locked doors open last month. sigh... They replaced the door knob.

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