A bear-able situation.

About fifteen minutes ago, Jessica lightly shrieks, "David, there's a bear!" and sure enough, a small black bear is lumbering just beyond the rail of our apartment porch. We "follow" it, going into the next room and through the window watch it idly padding past the rest of the apartments on its way to Alexander Dr. where we lose sight of it. I, of course, did not have my glasses on, so all I saw was an even fuzzier than normal black bear, but I did see it well enough to notice it wore a tagged collar. That made me wish even more for my glasses, so I could possible read its ID number to let someone know s/he'd been spotted.

Not "our" bear, but one spotted recently in Asheville.

Not that long ago, my friend Allison's dad had a bear "greet" him as he was taking out the trash in Weaverville. My dad saw a bear crossing Rice Branch Rd. just the other day, and twice recently while Jessica and I have been out walking neighbors have told us to keep an eye out for bears. First the turkeys were everywhere, now the bears ... this may not be a coincidence.

I remember when a bear had taken up residence across the street from my Mom's library for a few days and people were excited to stand in the parking lot taking pictures and watching it. A couple years before that, it was BIG news that a bear had been seen on Merrimon Ave. Bear sightings are still told with some concern and surprise, but less and less so over time. It will be curious to see if Ashevillains becomes relatively okay with the occasional bear wandering about but taking more precautions with dogs, trash, and gardens.

Whatever happens, it made for an interesting moment this morning, and I could resist after the bear headed up Alexander: "Wanna go for a run?"