K romps and first bear!

I've been worried about K all week. First, we had our bad news on Monday. Then, K started acting very fearful, about all the "usual" things that have scared her over her lifetime. Usually, an escalation in fearfulness means that K isn't feeling well. So, I was worried, worried, worried. I'm sure that my worry didn't help her fearfulness but I couldn't help it.

I am very relieved to say that the fearfulness is fading. K romped with joy this morning. This photo says it all.

I'm feeling overjoyed that K is happy! I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

On another front, I went to check an obscurely-placed trail camera today, and I got a huge surprise! A medium-sized male black bear marked a "whammy" tree about 10 days ago. "Whammy" trees are pine saplings that bears rub their fur on in order to leave a scent marking.

This guy started by standing on his hind legs while facing the tree. Perhaps he was smelling the tree to see who else has marked it or perhaps he's a youngster still learning how to mark a tree. The white streaks are snow that was falling.

Then, the bear departed the picture frame for a half minute. When he returned, he sniffed the ground near the base of the whammy tree.

Then, as snow torpedoed out of the sky, he did a proper marking of the tree. At first, he almost fell over backwards into the tree. You can barely see his head in this photo.

Then, he balanced himself a little better as he rubbed his back all over the sapling.

I know that those photos are not great. They were taken with my oldest and worst trail camera (I'll be putting a better camera in that spot). Just so you know what a bear marking a tree looks like, here's one from daylight last year.

So, bear photography season has officially begun. This is the earliest that it has ever started! I love my trail cameras and our bears!