On July 4th just before 8:30, when most were heading out to get set up to watch fireworks, I got the shock of a lifetime.
I was house sitting/dog sitting for a friend. It was still light out and the sun just had started to set. I was watching a movie, one of their dogs was laying next to me on one couch, and the other dog laying stretched across the other couch. I looked at the time and thought that maybe I should open the back door and let the dogs out for the last time the night before the fireworks began (because one of the dogs is absolutely terrified of loud noises).
Just as I looked at their glass back door from my spot on the couch, a large bear head popped up around the railing of their back porch.
I thought I was crazy! I thought I was seeing things.
But just as the thought enters my head, I saw his paw come over the railing and he preceded to pull himself over the railing, knocking into the bird feeder in the process.
I lunged at the door from my spot on the couch, to make sure it was shut, and locked it instantly.
When I did that the dogs went nuts. They both came over to the door and started barking once they saw the bear. But the bear didn’t care. He simply looked at us and then lifted his left paw up and knocked over the trash can that contains the bird feed and the rock that sits on top to keep raccoons out. Then he proceeded to lay down on the back porch and eat the spilled bird feed. The dogs continue to bark and while this is happening I still haven’t processed what was happening less than five feet in front of me.
I called my mom, well I guessed FaceTimed is more accurate. “There’s a big bear and it’s NOT scared of me or the dogs!” As I said that, I started shaking, the reality of the situation was finally setting in.
My mom quickly hung up after telling me she was leaving the house. After about ten minutes she arrives and begins honking the car horn and driving around to the back of the house. The bear didn’t even move. He simply picked up his head to look at her then went back to eating.
My mom then called a neighbor. Thankfully, because it was the Fourth of July, he had his brother and brother-in-law already at his house. In a matter of minutes, all three were there.
I think it was due to the sound of more vehicles, or maybe even their loud voices as they were talking with my mom, that “scared” the bear off the porch and into the tree line and field off to the side of the house.
It took me a couple minutes of looking through the back door and the all the back windows to finally open the door and stick my head out to look. This was SO NOT what I needed and definitely NOT how anyone intended on the evening going.
After spending the next half an hour checking around the house for any signs of damage or evidence that the bear had been there before, I could finally lock myself and the dogs in for night. (Well, after the bird feed was brought into the garage.)
I walked into the kitchen and sat down on the floor, leaning against the peninsula cabinets tears and felt like my chest was being squeezed. This was the moment everything set in. My head was running so many thoughts, most were worst case scenario situations. Like, what if the bear was upset and broke through the glass of the door? Or, what if I hadn’t closed the door before this happened?
It is definitely not a day I want to relive with any other scenario happening.
To My Anxiety 
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