East winds continue and nothing good comes from an east wind around here. Cloud, drizzle, freezing rain are the recipe for today, wind should be picking up this afternoon to make for a nice fall cabin/woodstove day. Not so great for wood-cutting which seems to be sitting right atop the to-do list…
The bears are pretty quiet in this weather, if it was a few degrees cooler and this rain was snow that could be a different story but c’est la vie. A couple of old bruisers can be found at Brian Ladoon’s but they are even staying fairly elusive, likely last year’s Manitoba Conservation raid is still fresh in their memory. None of this, of course, has deterred Brian from doubling his viewing rates but that, in itself, has a certain northern charm to it.
Plus, much to my chagrin (and many Sunday drivers’ as well…) the road to the old garbage dump has washed out again! It washed out last year but was repaired, this year no such luck. What does this mean for most of us… no drunk bears! It seems like the gathering of bears that occurs at the grain tailings will have some peace and quiet this year… argh!
I suppose this is a good thing as it was definitely a public safety hazard last year (how Polar Bear Alert did not clear those guys out is still a happy mystery to me…). There were people getting out of their vehicles and likely a few shenanigans after hours…
On the bright side, I am pretty sure I have found a couple different options to still drive in there and get some pics… so stay tuned – I’ll either get stuck and eaten or post a Canadian Wheat Bear 2012 album. Either way, it should be entertaining. Anyway, there are no bears saddled up to the bar yet… signs of some fresh digging but it only sounds like one bear was spotted kicking around there so far.
Buggyland has a few bears and there has even been a little bit of sparring interaction, albeit half-hearted, by some younger males. Reports range from half a dozen to ten bears between the two camps, not too bad. Still, as usual, we need north and/or west winds to bring the bears closer to Churchill. That should bring the another wave of bears in, after that, we need frozen lakes and ponds as polar bears actually hate walking through swamps and water…
The forecast claims snow by Wednesday but don’t expect anything dramatic, the forecast always pulls this stunt in October. Its like predicting sun during a rainy summer, it always seems to be three days away… every day.
