SUNDAY WITH Hope OF SUNSHINE

[Nasoosie]

Hope progresses

June 12, 2010 – 9:41 PM CDT

Hope is becoming more of a bear every day. While she is extremely cautious, going on alert at the break of a distant twig, she is making herself known. Today we watched as she scent-marked like a big bear. She straddled small bushes and walked over them. She stomp-walked, putting her forefeet down hard and sliding them. Yet, any potential danger starts her up a tree. She’s living bold, yet smart. She’s a survivor. She’s no longer emaciated. And she is growing. When she stood up today, we estimated her to be over two feet tall. Next time she does that, we’ll try to get an exact measurement.


GOOD MORNING ALL!

The above is last night's update on the NABC about Hope. I find it interesting that she is performing 'bear things,' like marking her territory, with no training from a mother bear. Perhaps bears are born with more innate knowledge of how to live in the forest than humans previously thought. Of course, they need mother's milk and mother's warmth and protection from the elements as well as from predators when they are tiny. Someone asked why Lily left Hope, and here is what the biologists think----obviously, no one knows at this point:

We all wonder why Lily left Hope. We suspect it was because Lily is young – however, most other 3-year-old mothers in our study have been successful. We did have a young mother abandon her single male cub when he was 7 months old. He survived and denned successfully. Mature females come into season in the spring if they don’t have cubs of the year – so for most females it’s every two years. There are reports of spontaneous adoptions – but we haven’t seen that in our study.

Lily is young, but other 3-year-olds have been successful mothers so age is not the sole reason. Other mothers also play hard with their cubs.

We don’t know of any other bears in Hope’s area. We have not seen any other bears on the trail cams.
(Sue Mansfield's comments-----the research biologist in charge of Hope now)


It has been such a wonderful journey for me this winter when the days have been the darkest and longest and coldest and most depressing to follow the saga of this little bear cub. How I would have LOVED to have been involved in such a study for my life's career! I will try now to make my updates in this coffee hour shorter, but, as you can see, I have been obsessed and intrigued by this little fur ball! She and her mom, Lily, got me through some dark days with some Hope.

It's not raining here, and it's relatively warm with a temperature of about 54 degrees. Molly and I caught another mouse in the live trap here in the house last night, so we have to now go release him/her way down the road. My first order of the day will be to check and recaulk any openings where these critters are getting in. Then, if the sun comes out, I will need to mow again!

Hope you all have a fun day with at least some sunshine. Stop by for coffee and let us know what you're up to!

[dayspring39]

Good Morning Ladies... I for one read your posts with interest soos.... I also look at the bear site...
After the rain yesterday afternoon the air became very heavy with humidity... hope it cools off a bit today... everything drank in the water... they like that much better than what I give them... I took the dead flowers off yesterday and this morning my eyes are itching like crazy... so I must be allergic to something in the garden...
I have had my shower and now will get dressed head off to church then take a couple of books back that I bought last week...
Have a great day and may the wind be at your back today...
Kathleen

[BirdbyBird]

Soos, when you get focused on work camping and volunteer with site paid options...look into some of the Federal Wildlife sites that have different ongoing research grants. I heard a couple speak at the Gypsy Journal Rally last summer. They both volunteered and in their case it was with bird banding and counting and observation. They enjoyed working with the paid professionals and had an opportunity to learn a lot and because of their interest they were trained to do lots of stuff they didn't necessarily come in knowing....

Rained again yesterday afternoon so today is already hot steamy and humid. I need to replace a few fans around the house that seem to have disappeared from storage (The one that I would bring down and point towards me. ) Might try visiting Dog Fest a short while with a few pups. They usually have mist machines and pools set up for the dogs comfort. There will be bunches of dog vendors, rescue groups, doggy day cares, a few vet hospitals, dog training organizations and general doggy information groups represented in booths with planned presentations, demos and fun competitions. Our Kennel Club has an information booth and Herschel's Golden Retriever Rescue group is always there and he like to check in and let them know he still thinks of them and is thankful for all their efforts and support. (Oh, it is a dangerous site to look at.... GRRAND They are active in KY, SW OH and Southern IN.) Better head out now so that I can come back and melt on the couch later in the day.....

[bluepinecones]

Good Morning
Enjoyed the bear update, Soos. Tina's suggestion for you working with one of the research groups sounds like a good idea and something you could really get into and make a difference.
Another hot and humid day here. I ventured out yesterday only for a quick trip up the mountain. May just stay home today. I've got it nice and cool in the house.
Past couple of nights the frog and firefly populations have soared in the yard. Frogs so loud it would have been difficult to talk above the sound. Nicky was funny chasing the fireflies. Don't think he got any.
I had quit feeding the birds last year in hopes of not attracting other critters (do not need anything else for Nicky to catch). Did break down and get more birdseed yesterday as I missed watching them. If critter population doesn't increase, I will keep the feeding up. Already have cardinals and few other birds on feeder.
Enjoy your day.

[Redetotry]

I'm with you Sarah I'm staying in today it is like a sauna out there already at 10:00 and think it is here for awhile I thought I would go to church but got outside and just turned around and came back inside. It's going to be a long day, I'm not good at entertaining myself without a few breaks in the outside world! Maybe I'll work on learning to resize pictures, I've edited my post on the hawks about 4 times trying different ways to make the photos larger with obviously no success.
Soos your weather sounds good I should head east! Enjoy the Dog Fest Tina & try to stay cool, maybe they will also have people misters.

[Bethers]

I hiked in the heat already. Even tho Peaches was able to cool off a couple times in little streams, when we got home, I sprayed her with some water - she pretends she dislikes it, then preens

Going to head to Walmart in a few minutes - want another external hard drive or thumb drive to continue storing all these old pictures on that I'm scanning. I think I'm going to put them on thumb drives, then get another external dard drive later that will hold all the pictures - and put that away somewhere. They are so small - and then I wouldn't worry about them disappearing. Many of the old family pictures were ruined when where my Mom had them stored got flooded. So what I have - we had to cut out damaged parts, etc. Would like to preserve them the best I can - even though I don't have children to pass them to. Another relative might be interested in them at some point.

Have a great day all.

[avalen]

good morning all
have been outside already and got stuff done, now its heating up and time to
shut the door. Somewhere in the neighborhood there is rotting fruit, the little
fruit flies are EVERYWHERE!! Must have been a hatch somewhere. Where is
a ghecko when I need it? Had to brush off the door before I shut it and luckily
I have none inside.
The neighborhood ferel cats have found my flower planter and decided it made
a good litterbox Every now and then the park sets out traps to get rid of
them. People think the reservation is a good place to dump their unwanted cats
and the cats find their way to the mobile home park.
Need to clean out my kitchen cabinets, I noticed I've started saving too many
plastic containers and such, so its time to perge. It will be a good project for
the heat of the day when I shut myself in here til sundown.
Enjoy your day everyone.

[AlmostThere]

Still under the wire for morning posts here! lol
I arrived home, from camping 2 nights, about an hour or so ago. I just went to the SP up the highway a ways. All the other SPs on the coast were full! There were only a couple open sites at the SP I was at and they were ones w/o EWS. I had a good time. My DD stopped by on her way to church last night and we got to visit for a little while. She flew out about 1/2 hr ago for Orange County, CA, meeting up with the rest of her family and inlaws (mother, father, 2 sister inlaws and 2 cousins), as they are all being treated to Disneyland and then a cruise to MX to celebrate her inlaws 50th wedding anniversary.
Anyway, yesterday was a perfect day, lots of sun and a cool breeze. Today looks to be the same. Woohoo! I need to mow grass later when it dries off the dew.
Cleaning up Little Missy and then will take her back to storage either later today or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow. She did good, and so did I!! I will empty her sewer at the storage place as they put in a new dump station there.
Thanks for sharing Hope's update, Soos. She's so precious!
Everyone else; stay dry/cool whatever your needs are. Those traveling, stay safe!

[Acadianmom]

Ava, what I do to keep my cats out of my flower pot is take one of the clear plastic pot trays you can buy at Wal-Mart and cut a slit in it to the middle and cut a hole big enough to go around the plant. I can then slip it around the plant upside down. You can still water near the plant or around the side. This works with round planters with just one plant in the center. I have a 4' tree that I have done this to for years and it doesn't seem to bother it.

Martha

[avalen]

Ava, what I do to keep my cats out of my flower pot is take one of the clear plastic pot trays you can buy at Wal-Mart and cut a slit in it to the middle and cut a hole big enough to go around the plant. I can then slip it around the plant upside down. You can still water near the plant or around the side. This works with round planters with just one plant in the center. I have a 4' tree that I have done this to for years and it doesn't seem to bother it.

Martha

thats a good idea Martha, thank you, back when I had cats I used to put big boulders
in my house plant pots that sat in front of the window. But I like your idea much
better, will help keep the soil moist too besides, these pots are out on my patio.
Even though I have nothing planted in them, I still don't want a litter box on my
patio.

[Bethers]

Ava, in pots on a patio, I once just took little stones over the top of the dirt. Never had cats try to use them - and they were pretty and you could water right through them. Just another thought.

[BarbaraRose]

That plastic tray idea could work good for keeping my ferrets from digging up potted plants! Great idea!