When we got to the cabin I noticed an orange container 15 feet to my right. It was a pump bottle of Fast Orange hand cleaner. It was supposed to be on the picnic table 15 feet to my left. The wind could not have been strong enough to move it since our last visit.
I saw that it was oozing a bit of white cleaner from a nice round hole. When I got closer I noticed that there were a couple of other round holes. We assumed that a bear thought the orange smell meant food and probably got a rude surprise when he tasted the detergents.
This was supposed to be an opening to another episode of "The Adventures of Superwoodsman", but I never got around to writing it. Since then I've forgotten all the various adventures and misadventures of that weekend, except one.
When I went to the well to pump some water, I saw my primer jug on the ground with a big dent. I'm not sure if a bear took a swipe at it or the wind blew it off the bench. It was almost full, and so I doubt the latter.
Today when we went to our cabin, the Fast Orange container was again on my right with a few more holes in it. Either the first bear didn't learn or another bear liked the smell but not the taste. From now on we'll keep the Fast Orange inside the cabin.
The bears have been busy in the area. I used the weed whip to clear the grass along one of our paths today. Every so often I would see big chunks of sod pulled back. A bear had been looking for grubs or other delicacies under the grass. I hope it was satisfied. I wouldn't want a really, really hungry bear prowling around.
We've had many other encounters with bears. You can read some of them in "Bear Stories", my first article for the Reader Weekly of Duluth, then called the Northland Reader. We do know enough not to deliberately feed them. See also "Misguided freedom" and "That bear's so cute..."
