Black Bears at Camp

The bears are hungry. 

One broke into the garbage shed two nights ago and made the hole -- pparently needing a little leverage as he left his left paw print behind. The next morning my neighbor woke up to find his outside refrigerator cockeyed and unplugged with a paw print on the side and a one point indent from its nail. Yesterday late afternoon the camp staff cleaned out the garbage shed but last night someone threw trash in there and the bears came back for some easy pickings. Although, some eggs were left behind. 

Other friends at a site further from us were sitting out on their deck and from around the corner of the camper a bear came into their site. Fortunately it doesn't take too much too scare them off. 

This morning, my neighbor across the street heard a noise and looked out the window as a bear made it's way across her site. 

When walking at night I mostly don't walk alone or if I absolutely have to, I have a bright flashlight. Nothing like the idea of not seeing a big black thing and walking right into it. Yup, could just be my very active imagination. I always ask R. to walk the dogs. It's dark up here in these woods. 

This keeps a buzz going on in the campground and some interesting stories being told. 

Welcome to camp! :)

Saving A Chipmunk (a.k.a. Chippy)

Life has been busy so it was nice to go the campsite this past weekend and chill. The weather was beautiful and it was the first weekend of the campground opening where we could spend the night. The first weekend always involves reuniting with camp friends and having 'family' dinner which will continue all season on Saturday nights, then someone or more will pop over for breakfast and there's the conversations of 'how was your winter?'

With it, also came rescue. 

Sarah, from a campsite above us came into our site talking about a chipmunk being stuck. She went to the ladies bathroom, pulled her pajama pants down readying for her morning pee, only to hear something splishing and splashing. A chipmunk was swimming for it's life in the toilet. She had no idea how to help it, came running down, quickly explaining. I didn't want to help at first because I was feeling so bad for it and what if it died? and so on. R. gave me the "you want me to go save a chipmunk?" "um, yes, please." I could tell, it was not on his list of things to do that morning so I pumped up my courage, grabbed a pan and high tailed it to the ladies bathroom. There it was, still scrambling, stressed out. I lifted it out and put it on the ground. He was so exhausted, but he tried to crawl a little, most likely to try to get away from us, but it was too much work. So, Sarah and I hung out for a few minutes, watching a couple more feeble attempts at moving along. He was shivering. I petted him. He was wet, I imagine the toilet water was probably pretty cold since it had gotten quite cool during the night. I finally took off my fleece and picked him up. I've picked up distressed wild creatures before always fearing a bite, but I don't think it ever crosses their minds to bite. It's like they know. Would a chippy bite, anyway?

I cuddled him into my fleece to get him warm. His little heart was beating so fast and he continued to shiver. I brought him down to my site and R. looked at me and said, "do you have it? really?" "yes, really." Now don't get me wrong. R. has a very kind heart to creatures, but he's also a realist. In the world of the woods, there are many chippies and sometimes they die, or should be left to die. I reminded him that it's one of the reasons he loves me....compassion to animals. He gave me a look and said, with a twinkle in his eye, "are you sure?" .....yeah, he's a riot sometimes. 

So, I sat down by the fire which Mr. Sweety-Pie had blazing for me and continued to cuddle the little creature. He was happy to feel the love, I could tell. I rubbed him a bit, in quick movements, thinking it might help him. Hey, I saw it on Animal Planet with new kittens and puppies, to get them breathing. I realize, yes, he was already breathing, but it might get him warmer quicker. After awhile, I really did need to pay attention to my morning camp duties and felt he was doing OK enough to put him down. I placed him on the rock wall near the fire so he could continue getting warm until he was ready to go on his way. 

When I went back, he was gone. Yeyyy. 

The next day, R. was working out near the fire pit and little Chippy was watching him. Now, really, we don't know it was the same one, but on the other hand, you know how you know it really has to be the same one? R. came and got me. The little guy was just sitting there, looked at me with no fear in his eyes, watched. Then I went a little too close and off he went. It had to be him. These things happen and you just know. 

R. says to me, "he came back to say thank you." See? told you he really had a kind heart. :) I put out some cracker pieces for Chippy and after a few minutes, there he was, chomping away. 

I don't know if future chippies in the stone wall will be this little guy, but I'll always think of him when I see one. 

Anne Taintor Makes Cocktails

My friend Pam of RetroRenovation is having a giveaway. Anne Taintor has published a cocktail book, Pam interviewed her and is giving a copy away. Anne's captions are cheeky, clever and a lot of fun. I'm sure this book will give smiles whether there is imbibing or not.

I found this big glass at a thrift store -- 25¢ -- SCORE! It held some good ice coffees and a few tasty cocktails, too, this summer at camp.

Hurricane Irene At Camp

When Irene came along, we stayed at camp. I think R. and I were the only two there, except the owners but they have a house. Call us crazy. Plus we had Little Bug, Hanz and Bella, who I often dog sit. There was a lot of this going on....

Then for variety, they moved to the sofa....

So Bug had to join in the comfort, although she's not looking real happy...

We survived, lost electricity for a couple hours and got some reading done. 

Two weeks later, one of my best friends couldn't keep it to himself anymore...he told me that he was mad at me for taking a risk like that. Isn't that sweet? I assured him we felt safe and yes, the camper could have had one of many trees drop on it but it didn't and we had already planned to stay the whole rest of the week so we didn't want to come home and wait it out. Turns out that at home electricity was lost for days and damage was done to trees and power lines. I think we faired better than many. Besides, I was with R. and if any survival techniques had to be employed, he's the guy you wanted to be with... 2nd Recon Marine... need I say more? 

Bugs, Dogs and Campfire

Taking a few minutes at the little local library to show you an interesting bug...

and another...

a crazy big Black Lab with a big stick....

and some cozy fire. The weather is cool enough now here in the Berkshires that sipping tea or coffee by the fire in the morning is a cozy way to start the day...

and late afternoon into evening sipping a cocktail and having some dinner makes for a beautiful end to the day... 

especially since I had spent the entire day just reading a book. That has not happened in a very long time.  

Hanz wanted some attention, too...

 and Bug was 'snug as a ...well, bug... in a rug...'

Camping Fun

At our campground each site has a basic wood picnic table to use. Many people cover them with vinyl table cloths. That look is not quite for me so I got out paints and brushes and went to work having some fun on our picnic table.

It took what seemed like weeks to do because I would color wash colors on top of each other, then the rain wouldn't let me work a few of the weekend days we were up there, then I forgot for the last two weekends to take pictures, so finally, this past weekend the camera came out and here it is!

Much more interesting than a plain 'ol grey picnic table, don't ya think?

Four Dogs and a Car

Well, we came back unscathed from the 'dog pack' camping adventure. I was determined to not be stressed for the few days beforehand knowing I'd have 4 dogs with me that might not quite behave themselves. Well, 3 dogs, I knew Lucy would because she's a scaredy cat. Saturday morning there began a little stress due to my two dogs whining...whining and ...whining. I really dislike dog whining. I was almost over the edge when we discovered.....the CAR! I plopped them both in the car and they settled in, took naps, didn't bark at anyone passing by...and didn't WHINE!! Hallelujah! I found the answer. So, that's where they spent a lot of the weekend, especially Weezie. If Hanz was out with us he perched himself on the front step to the camper and kept a close watch on passers by, even though most often it was Mr. Chippy who seems to like the rock wall for the fire pit, the wood pile and oh, yeah, most importantly...to torment Hanz. 


As I ran around like a maniac to the grocery store, the liquor store, CVS and the gas station -- I saw this beautiful machine.

One thing I love about warm weather is that the vintage cars come out to play. I appreciate just about all of them from before 1975 and have many favorites, too, and that Chevy Impala is a beauty! The driver was still in the car and on his cell phone so I figured I wouldn't get caught taking pictures. Not that he probably would have minded and if you drive around in that type of vehicle you know you'll get cameras pointing, people waving and stopping to talk. I used to have one of these:

A 1973 VW Karmann Ghia. The last year they were made.

I loved driving around in this car. Especially with it being a convertible, you just felt good. My license plate was GHIA PET (remember the Chia Pet?) It was great when on the highway and someone 'got it' and honked at me yelling "love the car and license plate!"

I often heard peoples' fond memories of when they were younger and it was their first car, or how a family member had one, or how they should never have gotten rid of it. The thing drove hard, it really wasn't the most comfortable ride, but it was fun. It's been 4 years since I sold it and this is the first time I've felt a real ping of not having it anymore. To due it justice, it needed to have some restoration done...it looked great, paint will hide sins...and it deserved a garage. 


Anyway...enough nostalgia...I'm talking about camp. 


Lucy did great!! 

I was sooooooooo happy. She did find her spot in the camper in the back corner, hidden, but would roam a little when no one was in there...or if she thought she heard the food dish. I was so worried about putting her on a leash and trying to get her to do her duties. The first time she was a little worried and scattered, understandably, but then she got the hang of it and by the time the weekend was over, I think she was actually enjoying it. 

I just let her lead, if she wanted to walk, we walked, if she wanted to go back to the camper, we went back. 


She certainly did know where the camper door was! LOL I tried to keep her tied up outside with the other dogs for a bit but she got stressed out, so in she went. She was such a good girl. I was so proud. 


Another reason for a dog-sitting car? Bears. See, at night, Weezie and sometimes Hanz would get me up to take them out. I was always a little nervous not knowing what creatures were out there in the dark ready to eat the furry beings and attack me. Nothing ever happened, I'm just not real good with dark in the woods. Well, this year, my anxiety was a little higher, maybe because the signs that were posted everywhere seemed more urgent this year. You know, the ones about the bears that will eat your children. After discovering the car as sitter, I decided I'd try them there for the nighttime hours as well. Voila!! they slept through the night. There were no accidents (I had them in their crates just in case) and no complaints. The best part? I got some sleep. I was able to sleep through the night, do you know how amazing that is???? OK, so Sunday night I woke up in the middle of the night for no reason, then heard crinkling and couldn't fall back to sleep, but at least I couldn't blame it on the dogs! It was probably one of those pesky bears because even R. heard the crinkling of leaves behind us. 


On Saturday we actually witnessed two bears. They apparently were hungry. I was sitting up at a friend's site having a cocktail and R. had the dogs down at our site and I hear "BEER BEER BEER clang clang clang" I'm thinking "oh, someone's getting ready for partying this weekend!" it was later in the afternoon and it was cocktail hour after all. Then I hear "it's a BEAR!" Ahhhhhhhhh, DING! "BEARS! BEARS! BEARS!" and the clanging of pots was to scare them away! Well, they headed to the garbage shed which is about 20 yards upwind from our site but downwind from where I was. We all come running from our relaxed positions down to where the bears are. Some people were getting a little too close for my comfort, I stayed just far enough away ...you know...just in case. Well, due to their sizes we figured it was a male and female. The female actually got into the garbage shed after much banging and creating a little damage and stole a bag of trash. There must have been some super good smelling stuff in that bag for her to want it so badly. As I'm watching this, I can see R. at our site keeping an eye, I didn't see any dogs so I figured they were in the camper (they were) R. scooted them in real fast when he first caught site of the bears which were at first much closer to him when they traveled through the neighboring site to the garbage. The female chomped away at the bag of garbage as the male just sat close by watching. Then, he walked into the road oblivious to about 15 onlookers, plopped himself down, and waited. I wish I had pictures. Many pulled out their camera phones and cameras, my friend just made sure she had her glass of wine with her. If she was going down, it would be with cocktail in hand! 


It was funny to watch everyone that was closer to them freak out when they started to move. What? did they think they were just going to lounge around there all day? The owners of the campsite came up and let off some firecrackers so they went running down into the woods. Then you heard the dogs barking and people scurrying...yup, other sites are down there. The male was tagged in his ear with a red marker which means he was visiting from CT. Hey, he was gettin' some lovin' from some sweet girl in the Berkshires, he was willing to travel. 

I'm not lost, just couldn't be found

If you've been checking up on me, I've been away and since back, catching up with things. Five weeks on vacation...the best 5 weeks weather-wise of the whole summer. Oh, how the sun shone and the air was warm. 5 weeks you ask? oh, yes... Don't think it was all glamorous on an isolated island somewhere...only one week was like that, the rest was in the Mountains of the Berkshires prettying up a newly acquired camper and campsite. 

Who knew I'd ever be a camper? Actually, it's quite beautiful and only an hour and a half away from home so if for some reason you need to fly back for something, it's not too much of a problem...especially when we have the motorcycles with us. It's a beautiful ride on the bike. 


It's quite peaceful and relaxing and just far enough away so all those thoughts that go on in your head when you aren't home...about the house, work, etc....are gone. Even though we're working around the site, it's outside, the weather was great, and we all work as a team. Like on this....

Well, R. did the work, we just put a rock in now and again to fill up a space and help it's structure. He's been doing all the heavy lifting....and loves it. But, his girls and I are proving ourselves as wonderful assistants....and food makers. Hey, a man has to eat in order to keep working hard!

One week was spent on Nantucket, though. We visited with friend's there that own a home about a half mile from the beach. I've been there several times during the Winter months to do artwork on their walls, but this was the first time during the summer. They have such a wonderful feeling home and 3 of my traveling co-horts were instantly comfortable. The weather was absolutely perfect for us. We spent time on the beach and collected many seashells. We took early morning walks to the beach and saw 'Mr. Seal' bobbing his head up every once in awhile checking out to see if we were still there. We had wonderful dinners together at night and enjoyed reading and relaxing all day. Town Center can be a little crazy so we only ventured in for a few hours of window shopping and, of course, got an ice cream cone. Love ice cream. AND, we happen to be there the weekend of the Nantucket Demolition Derby. We watched 3 heats (I learned that that is what they are called) and it was kind of exciting. We all picked a car to win, I think it was that that made it exciting -- the competition -- well, for me anyway. Although, you couldn't really help but shout something out when you saw a good hit.


So, I'm back, getting back into the swing of meeting with clients, working on some jobs and the forever on-going task of house stuff. Maybe it will be done before I die -- I'm thinking there's a better chance it won't be -- and I don't plan on dying anytime soon.