Thanks to Susan for the drawings especially of old outhouses and to Jesse for all his help.

Mary Lou Beattie

Susan Soderstrom

    Ten year old Matt could not believe what he was seeing. They were huge. He stared at the footprints in the mud beside the old fish pond. Grandpa had told him to watch for signs of a big bear.

    He jumped on the old four wheeler and drove back to tell Grandpa. He was allowed to drive the old Suzuki only if he drove slowly. Grandpa drove back with Matt and said “Yes those are bear prints and he’s a big one”.

    The paw prints were quite fresh so Grandpa and Matt drove their machines up the trail and across the spring where they stopped for a cold drink of spring water. Arriving at the top field they looked out over the thick oat field. This was a popular attraction for animals this time of year. But they could not see any signs of animals in the crop.

    The next day Grandpa told Matt that they were going to build a live trap to try to catch the bear. He did not want to shoot it because at the present time the bear was not a danger. So they outfitted an old culvert with a drop down door. Now they would tempt the animal with a salad of greens from the garden together with some smelly freezer burned moose meat.

     Matt said “Grandpa maybe we’ll get a whole family of coyotes too.”

    Nothing happened that night or the next day but there were fresh piles of bear poop in the yard so they left the live trap set up near the log cabin.

    Grandpa had several jobs lined up for Matt and one on the list was sweeping and cleaning the outhouse. It was rarely used but Grandpa had always tried to keep it clean and swept out because as he said. “ You never know when you gotta go”.

    Matt took the broom and began by attacking the spiders and tiny bugs. There were lots of dead flies too. Grandpa came over to inspect the outhouse and noted that the pail of lime that he kept in the outhouse had o be replaced. He used the white lime to control the insects and odor as it was a good disinfectant. Grandpa told Matt that there was a pail of lime in the red shed.