With the holiday this week, our regular garbage collection has been pushed back a day. But, of course, being the creatures of habit that we are, Friday rolls around and we all put our trash out, even though we know it won't get picked up until Saturday this week. (We've been well-trained by the garbage collector -- we're never quite sure when they'll actually arrive, so we've got to be ready. It could be anytime between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.)

Well, apparently this presented an opportunity for a hungry bear. I happened to catch him after he'd visited the neighbor's garbage and was on his way to mine. I managed to head him off; he wandered down to the edge of the yard and plopped down in the grass under a tree for a little rest.