Molly laughing at Paul's attempt to play the clarinet

After work, I stopped in at the town hall to see how the election was going. As of noon, about 1/4 of the registered voters had already come in. The poll workers were placing bets that we would get a 3/4 turnout. All was going well there so I came home and got ready to do my bluebird house check. First had to wait for the black bear that was in my back yard to leave. It was just a youngster and the dog barking was enough to get it running for the woods. Indy and I took off and were heading for our fourth set of houses when I saw another black bear ahead of us in a hay field. This was a much bigger bear.  Immediately put Indy on a leash. There is safety in numbers and together we would look like a more formidable foe to the bear. Next I took out my pepper spray and slipped off the safety. Thus armed I could evaluate the situation. The bear was 200 feet away and headed toward the swamp. If I just waited for a moment at the top of the hill he might not even see me. However the bear was passing very near the bird houses I was headed for and if he got too inquisitive of them, I planned on making a lot of noise and hopefully scaring him away. Probably not a wise course of action but no one messes w/ my bluebirds!