Finding your tribe and bears

My lovely wife and I were at a friend's birthday party over the weekend. It was your typical party by the pool: a bit of music, food on the grill, and a few drinks. Not a bad way to spend a nice summer's day. There was a great mix of people. Some were family, some where old friends and others were new friends.

One of the new friends sighed contentedly and stated, “I've found my tribe. It's taken me 10 years.”

Have you found your tribe?

It's more than just having a group of people you can go to a party with. These are people who'll help each other. It's nice to be able to get help when you really need it. Of course, the flip side of that is being there to help others.

Do I expect them all to pull together in a big crisis? No, but I'm betting that enough of them will to make a huge difference.

In other news we've got a bear hanging around the house. Sunday, in the middle of the afternoon we discovered a new pile of droppings in the yard. While grabbing the shovel to move it off into the woods my lovely wife thought it might be a big dog. I told her it looked like bear leavings to me. Sure enough, as she tossed the mess down the hill into the woods she startled a young bear. I was surprised to see it wandering around in the middle of the day with so many people around. Someone may be feeding it so that it's become accustomed to people. That rarely ends well . . . for the bear.

The day before a good friend of mine hit a very large black bear with his van. My buddy came out of it fine, but his van was totaled -didn't do the bear any good either. Critters are on the move this time of year so extra caution is called for.

In spite of the bear issues it's looking to be a great summer with the tribe.

-Sixbears