Bear Hug

Our friend Benny is fighting cancer, and he wanted to have a Day of Hugs in Blogville. Due to our love of bears here, I called it "Bear Hug" Day.

First, the "Bear" part of the title. I put a trail camera in a brand new place, and voila, a bear appeared within days (that's fast in the world of trail cameras)!

I know this bear from past years. He's a male who arrives every fall. I've called him "Scarface" in the past.

I guess that he knows about my blog because he adopted the bear version of "The Tree" pose, and he held it for about 10 seconds to make sure his photo was posted. He wasn't scratching himself. Rather, he just stood there on three legs like a very silly bear.

After he broke his pose, he checked out my camera. Whenever I put a camera in a new place, I find that the bears check it out at first, and then they forget about it.

Finally, he was on his way.

Since it is bear hunting season, I'm glad to see him in such an obscure place where no one besides a bear-geek like me will find him. I hope that the other bears are just as smart. 

Now for the "Hug" part of the title. I had the honor of both dogs with me for my bike ride this morning.

They played and enjoyed themselves before it was hug time.

Long time readers will recognize that the place in these photos is called "Hug Hill", perfect for Benny's Day, I think!

Then, I started the comedy of trying to get a photo of both dogs and me hugging. First, I discovered that my remote trigger for the camera wasn't working. So, I had to start the camera countdown, and run around the camera to join the dogs before it clicked the photo.

R thought the whole photo thing was silly. On this try, he'd evacuated the area before I arrived in position. Shyla looked a little confused. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Believe me, I captured a lot of Bloopers! But, I finally Bear Hugged R, after he'd knocked Shyla into the background.

Then, the two dogs decided to gang up on me, almost bowling me over, during one photo. They had me laughing and laughing!

So, even though I hate being in photos, I did it for Benny (and I had tons of giggling fun with the Duo during our "hugging photoshoot"). Benny is an amazing dog with a strong family around him. I know that they're sharing many hugs and living life to the fullest!