I happened to look out in my orchard the other day, only to notice a group of bratty bicyclists trespassing and stealing fruit from my orchard. I can overlook the occasional sampling of an apple or peach, but these little turds were taking peaches by the handful, and chucking them at each other. They were not enjoying the peachy little orbs of sunshine the way Mother Nature intended and they were stealing from me. Not a good combination.

After telling my children to put on their earmuffs, I spewed a load of profanities to let them know they were on private property and I didn't appreciate their peach fight. Call me cranky but these peaches were meant for my family and friends - not the little heathens who obviously had no respect for the property of others. I watched the boys scamper off and ride their bikes up into my neighbor's driveway and then down into their front yard as they obviously felt there was some sort of bicycle path established for their ease of travel.

Later that night, I marched the family over to the orchard and we picked all the ripe peaches and noticed the mess the boys had made. It really pissed me off to see the mess of squished peach goo and it also concerned me. Rotten fruit attracts animals - and I'm not talking about butterflies and bunnies. I'm not too fond of Yogi and I certainly don't want him and his "pic-a-nic" at my house.

My worries about the urus americanus came true last night as my headlights hit a large black creature scampering across the street into my neighbor's house; and no, it wasn't a bunny. The bear wasn't huge but big enough to scare the crap out of me and honk my horn until Hubby would turn on the porch light. I know he's probably more afraid of me that I have of him but I've got plenty of body fat to feed him for a couple of days and he looked mighty hungry.

I am now trying to be diligent with our downed fruit but I can't help the blackberries. Oh the delicious blackberries that are now sitting in my fridge begging to be eaten, thanks to Taterbug's diligence in picking:

As much as I love the blackberries, so do all the critters. I'm doing what I can to protect myself and property but tis the season of bounty and the bears and other scary critters are well aware of this. Do what you can to protect yourself too. Here's a coupla things we've done:

* Pick up and discard all downed fruit.
* If your BBQ'er is outside, keep the grill clean of burnt items.
* Secure your garbage cans - talk about a smorgasbord for a hungry bear.
* Keep your windows and doors closed so that you don't have a nighttime visitor.

Here's an excellent resource if you want to learn more.

Be careful! Visit the da bears at da zoo rather than at your house!

(Sequoia Park Zoo - Is that bear real?!)