Our neighborhood grapevine was working well, involving people I’ve never met. The initial participants are in the photo below, although the picture was taken at the Maggie Valley craft fair. Several days ago Connie let us know that Nathan had seen a two-hundred-pound bear on his porch. John and I walk past Nathan’s house twice a day, but we never see him or his family.

Yesterday Shawn texted us that a bear was in their back yard. He walked past the chicken enclosure and jumped atop the neighbor’s dog kennel behind them. Logan (8) knocked on our door to return the airplane that the wind blew off our roof. He said he was in front of his house and saw the bear walking behind it. He was shivering, whether from excitement or the cold, I don’t know. He wasn’t wearing a sweater, and he had only socks on his feet. This was nothing unusual, because that’s the way we often see him flying about the neighborhood, paying no attention to the weather.

As we walked this morning, neighbor Lee stopped her car to greet us. We told her about the bear sightings. She said she would let her husband know so that he would repair the dogs’ electric fence. We hooked up with Marla, and as we chatted, Lee came back. She had already called Stan, the resident bear-hunter, to give him the news.

Do you suppose animals have their own grapevine? Albert and Cat bumped noses as Marla looked on. We’ll never know what news they exchanged. If John or I see the bear, we’ll let you know. The camera is dying to take a shot at it.

I apologized to Marla for cutting off her head, but she said it didn’t hurt.