wildlife...

today a bear wandered into our camp. thankfuly our home is now below ground or it could have been bad. as it was it was just scary. we knew it was a bear because we made tripwires connected to jingle bells to alert us when someone or, in this case, something enters our camp.when we emerged from the tunnel, we looked around and found a bear some twenty yards away heading deeper into the Forrest. likely it was just passing through. our neighbors are different here than they were before EOW. there is a whole Forrest culture we sometimes tap into here and every one of us does their part to maintain "good fences". likely, the bear smelled the human scent and came to investigate and when it found no people present, moved on. one benefit of living in our new neighborhood is that we all seem to be losing weight and gaining muscle. no sodas, candy, or constant availability of junk food to make us gain weight. we are all used to our new diet.we ration out food, only eating at mealtimes. water comes from the stream and none of us has had soda in months. coffee and tea we still drink, though only from time to time as these things are a luxury now. we supplement our fish with rice, and sometimes beans. we also track deer for venison. one good size deer can feed us for several days. plus, the hides make excellent blankets or rugs. we use everything on the deer we can, the rest we take far into the woods for other animals to enjoy. the kids have gotten very handy with tools. they are learning knots and have become quite proficient. yesterday, they tied my husband up and he couldnt get the knots undone! my father had to undo them....we are still chuckling at that. they are also learning to identify different wildlife tracks and know safe berries and foliage from dangerous ones. all in all, i would say we are getting accustomed to our new home rather nicely.