The Three Bears

If I have to look at pavement and neighbors and this dang house for another week I just might crack up. I need a nice long trip to the cabin, or to take my camper to a lake and park it for a week. I get so fed up with the phone ringing, tv blasting, cleaning, and cooking on a stove that I could just throw everything out the front door. But then, I'd be one to clean up that mess too, wouldn't I? A long time ago, in another life it seems, my parents had a farm in another small town about 1 1/2 hours from where I live now. We lived in a one room house on my parents property and had no running water and generator power. I cooked on a wood cookstove from the 1920's. I loved it. It was like camping everyday. We spent the days riding horses, 4-wheeling, building forts in the bush, going trapping with my dad in the winter, Shooter and I even ran our own trapline on the large property. I worked at the gas station nearby one day a week. Life was simple, easy, and quiet. If we had money for gas, we started the generator. If we didn't, we lit the candles. Our yard was full of wild animals. It was quite normal to see a herd of deer mixed in with our herd of horses. There were grizzly bears, black bears, cougars, and moose. Between the animals and the bush, and all the property, it was heaven. One time I was up at moms house, and the kids were with their dad down at our house. There was a good walk between the two houses, and a large field to cut across. I came down the road, between the two barns and was just getting into the open field. After the field, there was a small stand of trees with a path throught the middle and then another feild and then our house. Where I was about smack dab in the middle. As I came into the first field I noticed that the whole heard of horses were staring off to the right of me, to the other side of the barn I had just come past. They were all standing at attention, nostrils flared, ears perked forward. My moms horse makes this snorting noise when she see's something she doesn't like. She did that now. I kept walking but looked to my right and there stood a mama bear with two big cubs. They were about 30 feet away from me. How and the heck I didn't see them when I had come between the barns I have no idea. I had walked right past them, and the mama was now walking towards me. I stopped. Looked toward my house. Too far to run, I decided, and I could hear the generator running, so no chance of being heard if I started screaming. I looked the other way, there were two barns, one of which, if I scaled the fence I could probly get on the roof and yell for my dad. When I had left his house, he was outside with a friend barbecuing dinner. So, I ran for the barn. As, I took off running, so did all three bears, right after me. You know that all of this is only taking a second, but it seems like forever in your mind. I ran to the fence, climbed up and jumped onto the roof. The barn is short, did I forget to mention that? If i was inside, the roof is hardly taller than my head. It suddenly dawned on me if I could climb up there, a bear definitly could. I started yelling for my dad as loud as I could. All three bears stopped and stared at me. I kept yelling, they kept staring. The horses had gone back to eating. The generator is whirring away in the distance. My dad is quite obviously deaf. After a good long 5 minutes, the bears got bored of watching me scream and head off to the bush. Not too far in the babies head up a tree and the mother starts stomping and huffing, and snapping trees. She is pissed I think. I sat on the top of that barn and yelled for my dad for a half an hour. The mother continued to do her huffing and puffing just in the bush. I yelled till I was hoarse before I seen the cubs come down the tree and heard, hopefully, all three move on.  I jumped down and ran home faster than I have ever run in my life. I ran so fast my leg and stomache muscles ached for a week. No one at either place had missed me, they each figured I was at the other and apparently my Dad needs hearing aids. that is the kind of excitement I long for now that the only wild animals I encounter are the heard of wild, mangy, half eared cats that live in the bush beside our house. They rip up my garbage and beat up my big dog to the point that he is a neurotic mess everytime he has to go outside. He honestly is scared to death of them, they have ganged up a few times and hung a licken on him. He  is constantly watching over his shoulder when he is outside at night. He's such a city dog. Him and Big Daddy make a good pair.