There's a bear outside!

A few minutes ago our quiet household suddenly jumped into hyper-drive.  Daphne and two of the girls were downstairs watching TV when all at once I hear Dixie start to bark frantically, and Daphne shouted "There's a bear!".  Apparently a young bear took a keen interest in the Dick Van Dyke show and came to have a look through the sliding door.  By the time the rest of us ran downstairs, the bear was gone.  We've heard that the bears are around - I just didn't expect them to show up at 8:30 in the evening! 

Daphne and I had lunch with some friends from church a couple of days ago, and they were telling us that a bear came up on their deck and tried to get in the house while the wife was sitting right there in the living room with the light on.  He ripped a hole in their screen door, then came around to the windows on the other side and pushed his nose up against the window - leaving two perfect bear "nose marks" that are still there.  The scary thing is that he would have come right on into the house if the sliding door had been open.  He was most likely attracted by the smell of the beef stroganoff they'd had for dinner that evening.  They only live about 2 miles from our house, so it's likely we're seeing the same bears.  So much for leaving our doors open at night in the summertime to enjoy the breeze! 

This isn't the same bear, but it's one that I saw two summers
ago when I was fishing with my friend Mike McCoy in Cheesman Canyon.  I believe the coloring of this bear is called
a Cinnamon Black Bear.