Life in Big Canoe, Real Estate in the Mountains

It’s that time of year again where you do anything you can just to stretch your legs and be outside. I feel the sudden urge to rake up the leaves and wake up my plants. I even dug out all the gook in my water feature hoping to sit on the porch late into the afternoon. The funny thing is that this is not a characteristic that is unique to humans. Spring time brings out all the wildlife too. Many of them haven’t had a decent meal in a long time and others are just looking for a good time. Last night I had the windows open and heard a howling sound outside. then I went on a high deck where I could hear the “crunch, crunch, crunch” of leaves into the ravine across the street where it howled again. It was possibly a coyote or a lost dog. Either way I chose not to investigate from anywhere else but the high deck.

The turkeys are strutting their stuff right now and they should be followed in a few weeks by some adorable chicks. If you haven’t lived with turkeys before you are going to love these clowns of the forrest. They make a whole lot of noise where ever they go and if your eyes were closed you’s think they were a heard of buffalo. They sneak into your yard early in the morning and kick up the straw. (ed. cue Turkey in the Straw music) The deer start snooping around for unattended plants but we are greatly rewarded when they bring their fawns to visit as if to say “thank you”.

One of the biggest friends in the forest is the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus). They are the most common species of bear in America and are found across the United States. However they prefer wooded mountainous areas. They are quite shy and are only commonly seen on Sanderlin Mountain and the higher elevations. Since I moved more towards the back of Big Canoe I have had several neighbors tell me about the bears they have seen. My husband saw one in our back yard digging around a stump. However I was on the phone with a nervous buyer and didn’t want to rock the boat by telling her there was a bear in my yard! I have only seen one bear in my 3 years here but I look for them all the time. My kids were with me in the car when I saw one cross the street. He was not bothered by me one bit. Black bears are generally uninterested in humans but they do love birdseed and dogfood. It is wise to keep all birdfeeders in from spring until fall and play it smart. My neighbor Janelle who is an avid walker always carries a whistle in her pocket in case she runs into a bear. They don’t like loud noises! Playing dead or running might peak their curiosity. The best thing to do if you encounter one of these beautiful creatures is to remain calm and find somewhere to go. Make a loud noise and think about the story you’ll have to tell at dinner time!

One other very neat story I have about a bear is that we had a bad yellowjacket problem when we first moved to this house. I worried about my kids being stung way before I ever worried about bears! We found 2 nests and planned to get rid of them with some spray. The truth is that we were both scared out of our wits to do it and the next day we started to notice that the yellow jackets were all but gone! I thought Dan (my hubby) got out there to spray them and I was ready to buy him a big steak for his bravery but when I mentioned it he swore he didn’t do it. We inched over to the nests one by one and noticed that they had been dug up by something! After some good old internet research we found that bears will dig up bee nests around August in order to build up their protien levels for hibernation!

With all that said and done I say “GO BEARS”!!!

Karin