Sunday, October 29, 2017

The Legend of Teresa and the Bear


We have had our cabin in the Chirichua Mountains since 1960.  Our family bought it with two other families.  Throughout the years we have seen many wild animals, snakes, and exotic birds.   However, we rarely see any animals right at the cabin.  We do get to see the birds that people come from all of the world to see.  They are often in the trees around the cabin.

When I was up there last year, I went outside just at dusk and there was a skunk.  That is the first time I have ever seen a skunk.   I know that one time when our cousins were up there, the left some food on the front porch and the javelina came, but I have never seen them around. We have seen a couple of wild turkeys through the years In all of the years and times spent up there, I have only seen a rattlesnake twice.  The only time I have ever seen a bear was many years ago when I was at a Girl Scout camp out and we were up at 10,000 feet.  The one animal we see a lot of are deer.


Through the years of having the cabin, we have survived a couple of very bad forest fires as well as flooding after the fires when the creek came down viciously. Bears are usually up much higher but because of the water issues that has been in the west the last several years, they have come down from the higher elevations.   


The pictures above show the damage that a bear or more than one bear has done to the posts on the two porches of our cabin.


Now to the "Legend of Teresa and the Bear...." Several years ago, Teresa took some of the kids up to the cabin during the summer.   The kids were all on a hike and she was the only one at the cabin.   In typical Teresa fashion, she was sitting back by the creek saying her Novenas when a bear appeared.   Teresa said that when she looked up and saw the bear, he was looking right at her.  So she very calmly told him to please leave as she didn't want him around.   She continued to calmly talk to the bear (while being fairly frightened) and the bear turned around and walked quietly away.

Teresa told that story for years.  She always said it was because God was watching over her.  And I believe that to be true!!!  Or maybe she was a "bear whisperer!"

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