Leo's bad bear day.

Leo, never chased a bear before Jack died last Fall, but decided this Spring it was his job now to take care of them. Jack bit and chased many a bear during his five years up here and the bears never laid a paw on him. Leo wasn't so lucky today.

I was walking toward Hooke's place up the road from mine about a quarter mile. Leo was slightly ahead of me as we approached the camp. I noticed he ran as he approached the pond and thought he was anxious to get a drink.


I came up by the propane tanks to be met by Leo, looking quite scared, hair up. He ran towards me and keep going. I looked where he came from and saw a 300 pound bear down by the feeder. Just then,Scooter, my young dog also saw it and started toward it. I yelled, "No!", and he stopped as the bear ran off. Then the heavens opened up with a downpour and I headed for cover under the porch with the dogs.

I decided to call Lee on the phone to come and get us when the rain turned to hail with lightening. Leo was acting jumpy and I thought it was because of the thunderstorm. The dogs and I jumped in the car, and Lee said, "What smells? Did one of those dogs roll in something?" I swore they didn't as we drove home, but I noticed the smell too.

Once we got inside the cabin with good lighting I noticed Leo's back and side had been clawed by the bear. This explained the smell and Leo's nervousness. I put him in the tub and cleaned everything off well, peroxided it, and put antibiotic ointment on the wounds. He had three puncture wounds on his back, one is quite deep and a claw scratch on the side. He faired very well for being tagged by a bear. It is yet to be seen if he will need to go to the vet and get some antibiotics as these kind of wounds can get infected fast. I am betting Leo will be much more careful around bears as he is not the bravest dog, but definitely the luckiest dog tonight. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out!

Mountain Laurel and Snakes

Looks like the Mountain Laurel will be great this year everywhere except where the Forest Fire burnt it, between Fahneystock, Mine Hole and West Rim. It seems like it has been a long time since I have seen this much color this soon on Cedar Mountain.

The Morris Rattlesnake Roundup is this weekend and they had quite a crowd today. I don't know whose child this is touching the rattlesnake, but I do know my daughter would have nightmares for weeks thinking about it.

This little girl had no fear petting the snake while
the bitting end was inside a plastic tube. They don't get the snakes out much, but when they do it is a treat for those who would never get such a chance to interact with these amazing reptiles. The snakes are injected with a microchip and their length, sex and other information is recorded. They are then released back where they were captured. Many times the same snake makes repeated trips to the festival in following years.

A prize is awarded for the largest yellow-timber rattler and the largest black-timber rattler. In the wild these snakes avoid people and for the
most part avoid confrontation. This does not mean that people aren't bitten. In fact, last year, a man in the Slate Run area was bitten when he moved a skid a rattlesnake was under. He walked a mile before being taken to the hospital and faired fine.

The last picture is the case they keep the snakes in for people to see as they visit the festival. Next weekend is the Mountain Laurel Festival for those who prefer a different kind of beauty. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

I'm back....Update

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I had satellite internet problems that took a week to fix. Then a family reunion to prepare for. So this edition shows everyone who came for the reunion. Since people weren't in good lines for me to tell you who they are. I will just give you an overview. The youngest was my grandaughter, Ella 2 years old and the oldest my Great,great Aunt Pauline at 93, still sharp as a tack and full of great stories, some of which I will relay later.

The week before the reunion we had record cold, frost. The week of the reunion record hot in the upper 90's.
It is hard to know which would have been better. We spent most of the time in the creek cooling off.

The second picture shows the hit of the reunion, making and shooting marshmallow guns. The kids are displaying their guns. We had a kid versus adult war and I must say us Adults didn't fare too bad.

This is a great project and next blog I will give you the instructions to make your own. The last picture shows Aunt Pauline being shown how to use a leap frog pad by Ella the youngest. It is amazing the techno ability of the young.


I will cherish this picture as you never know if we will have the honor of Ella's great,great,great,great Aunt again. I promise to post more again, but I must head off to work.

Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Memorial Weekend is here!

Scooter is all tired out and ready for a nice Memorial Weekend. The weather has been unusually cold for May. We have gone through an entire row of firewood, not the normal. Usually by May we are done with the firewood burning. We had a frost this morning again at 30 degrees and the hummingbirds are not happy about the chilly mornings.

It does promise to get into the 60's over the weekend and maybe into the 70's Monday. The only plus of the cold weather has been a lack of bugs. I hope they don't return with the warm. Looks like I will be working most of the weekend in preparation for a week off when my family comes up the first weekend in June. I have heard many people saying they are making fewer trips to camp this year and trying to make them longer when they do come because of gas prices. It is yet to be seen what this summer will bring to the local business owners with what is promising to be a tight year.

To all the Veterans out there I would like to shout out a special thanks for your service and make this an opportunity to visit places which honor our Veterans. Walking to the plane crash site is always a good way to make a special tribute to the World War 2 pilot who died there. You can look it up in key words for this site by going to p47. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

It's leaning but not down

It seems like when it rains trees tend to loose their grip on the mountain. This one is a prime example at the
Bobcat camp. It uprooted and is poised to take the power lines down across the road. Only a few trees are bracing it. This is not a cutting job for amateurs. The cabin was spared by the tree deciding to make a less destructive exit.

It is a rainy day today and I am off to work. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.

Mother's Day and Blooming trees

The apple tree in the front yard announced Mother's Day with a brilliant white shout.

The trees are blooming and the allergies to trees are in full-swing so if you have any tree allergy bring your medicine.

We have had a little cold, wet spell and are still having an evening fire to take the dampness out of the air. It seems we have been very busy with work and I have had little time to write anything on the blog.

The turkey hunters have been stalking the woods with varying degrees of success. Of course the turkey's appear the most on Sunday just to spite the hunters. Last night I was at the Ruins camp and as I got ready to leave a large Black bear stood about 10' from the door. I decided to wait until he ate the hamburger one of the guys had thrown out...no wonder he was so close. This camp was like the McDonalds of the woods. I will try and take my camera with and get a few pictures for the next post. Have a great Leetonia Day. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Spring and Huckleberries

Here is the view from the top of our hill as you can see the trees are starting to leaf out. There is still a long way to go before the forest again turns dark green and shrouds the mountain floor from our eyes.

All of the small plants are blooming the wild strawberries and the wild blueberries or huckleberries. I have many large patches of huckleberries on the side of my hill and when they are bearing well they are a pleasant summer treat. Of course we have to share them with the birds and the bears, but that is part of living in the mountains of Leetonia.

Today started with a cold 27 degree frost, but the sun is promising to warm up into the 60's. I am off to work at a cabin near Cedar Run and will enjoy the peace of the woods interrupted only by my sawing. Have a great Leetonia day! Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.