I don’t know of too many folks who like to get visitors late at night, especially hungry ones. Deb Simons and her hubby, Ron, were quite surprised to see a mother bear and one of last year’s cubs outside their kitchen window, helping themselves to a late night snack on their Lake Linden backyard deck. Deb hurried and got busy taking photos and a video. The duo put on a good show for them, biting the feeder and then of course dumping much of the sunflower seeds on the deck.

You’ll see in the video Deb recorded, after the mother bear bit the feeder, she promptly took off with it, heading behind the garage somewhere. Then a short time later the pair was back to clean up the sunflower seeds that had dropped on the deck. Deb said they could have at least brought her feeder back. Needless to say, all the feeders were taken down the next morning, so hopefully that will discourage them from visiting late at night anymore.

That was seriously so cool, from
behind glass, lol. We took the
bird feeders down now, but
according to our game cam, those
two have come back anyway and so
have 2 of their friends. And one
of them is quite large. We'll have
to check out the game cam to see
if they've been here at all since
the feeders were removed. Anyway,
once was enough.

Oh yeah....been there. I got a long story on
bears. lol...two different times in Baraga.
Suffice it to say, you bring your feeders INSIDE
at night. I left a bunch out in a tote with a
bungie cord over it one night..that just turned it
into a lunch pail. The bear took it by the bungie
cord, and hauled it way off, then sat and broke
almost every one of them to get the seed. My
neighbor checked his property....in a really
wooded part, by the Baraga Prison, he found the
tote and cover and all the busted feeders.

I was looking out the sliding glass door one
night, and in came a bear...just strolling in...(I
lived up behind the Baraga State park at the time)
and all of a sudden, the bear stood up, went over
and hugged a pine tree...and all I could think was
"WHAT scares a bear?" It was Mom, Dad and Kit Fox
coming in....

And then.....lol...oh there's more. But, that's
enough.

GREAT pics and vid Deb!~ Awesome stuff! You can
always make huge noise too...pound your pans with
your wood spoons and holler...lol...they'll go.

Black bear are pretty much more scared of you,
than you are of them. Grizzlies on the other
hand...you could be a snack.

Lol, Donna. My neighbor shoots
off fire crackers. They left a $60
bag of dog food on their porch the
other day. It is gone, lol. She
said they didn't even pay for
their food, lol.

Nice set, Deb! At first I thought they were in
the bleachers in Chicago watching a football game.

They LOVE dog food. I had a friend up near Quincy
mine sorta....she fed the bear. Had names for all
of them, and went through BAGS of dog food...she'd
sit outside with them.

Dean Oswald of Oswald's Bear Ranch out in Newberry
gets right in with his bear. I lived in Newberry
for awhile and knew Dean...one day at the post
office, he yells "Hey Donna, come here"...so I
walked over, he reached into his pickup truck and
brought out a cub in a diaper and handed it to me.
ADORABLE....stunk tho...but he snuggled right in,
just like a lil' human...tucked his head into my
neck, front paws around my neck, back paws around
the stomach...what a doll. 6 mos later a friend
came to visit...we went out to Dean's. He had the
cub in the house, and he built a huge log
cabin...with a circular stair case..so beautiful,
and there was the cub chewing on the bottom step.
Jewel (Dean's wife) took a rolled up magazine,
whacked him in his bottom, he turned, stood up and
hollered. Dean yelled "Get in the corner"...and he
went and stood in the corner with his head facing
that. lol...it was beyond cute.

Dean said "A black bear will show you who's boss.
If you are good to him, he'll be good to you. If
you aren't good..he'll come back with a little
stronger show, to show you who's boss"...That was
before he had the Ranch.

Oswald's Bear Ranch

I love that story, Donna. We've
passed that bear ranch but haven't
stopped.

Deb,
You now have the Simons Bear Ranch!! Cute, but stay outside! So, how is Ron's rehab going?

Absolutely fantastic pics & video! I know they can
be very destructive and a nuisance, but at the same
time that would seem pretty neat to witness.

Great stories too Donna.

Question, Do you think they may stop in at "The
Loading Zone" next?? :=))

Also.... Happy 79th Birthday to Michigan's own, Bob
Seger! One of my favorite musicians of all time.
Thanks, Bob, Your music has been and continues to be
a major influence and part of my life! Long may you
run, Sir!! "HEY DETROIT"!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB SEGER...(Thanks UC!!) I saw him
at the Pontiac Silverdome. (long time ago, eh) and
when he started "Turn the Page"...you could have
heard a pin drop.

If you hit the Bear Ranch...hit it early...the new
cubs will be available for pics with you...that's
just the best~ No more Pampers tho~! lol

Happy birthday, Bob Seger! When I
got my first CD player, his
greatest hits was first CD. I
just loved it. I was sad when Fire
Lake Wasn't on it, though.

Jbuck, Ron's doing well so far. He
hasn't had much pain at all. They
haven't started serious PT yet,
though. He finally stopped taking
naps, lol. We haven't put his ice
machine away in case the pain gets
worse when they really start
working that shoulder. I hope not.
Thank you for asking.