Bear induced home improvement

Yep, still have a nuisance bear hanging around. He dropped a couple of big steaming piles in the middle of my trail to the beach. Very rude.

About 44 years ago my dad and I put in some steps to get down the steep hill leading to the beach. They were 4 foot cedar logs spiked into the ground with 2 foot long sections of pipe. Dirt was packed in behind the logs to make a series of landings. Certainly made the hike down the hill a lot safer.

Cedar is great for anything that has to touch the ground as it's resistant to rot. Resistant being the key word, not impervious. Over the years the bottom of the logs got a little punky, allowing beetles, worms and other bugs a home. Even so, the steps were still pretty good.

That is, until the bear ripped up almost half of them to get to the bugs. Now I knew the stairs would need replacing within the next few years. I'd planned on replacing them a couple at a time. Thanks to Mr. Bear, that schedule has been greatly accelerated. The first couple have already been installed.

My deck, which is over the basement doors, needs replacing. A lot of stuff was stored under the deck and had to be moved out. The bear's pulled a lot of that stuff out from under the deck to inspect my basement doors. So it looks like clearing up the stuff under the deck is about half done. Unfortunately, the bear is a very messy worker. Some of that stuff will have to be dragged back from my swamp.

As of this evening there are now motion sensor lights under the deck. I'm not sure if they will discourage the bear or give him better light for his visits.

There are also some fresh scratches around the doors of my veggie van. That's what I get for running a diesel on waste veggie oil. To a bear, my motor fuel is good enough to eat. I'm hoping that once the wild berries ripen the bear will leave my place alone.

Sure, I could shoot the beast, but even though he's given me some extra work, that's not quite a fatal offense. So far yelling at him and my barking dog get him running. Should he stop being shy I'm afraid I'm going to have to resort to more drastic measures.

Paint balls filled with cayenne pepper?

-Sixbears