BEAR ATTACK!!!

Okay, so, we didn't see a bear.  But all signs are pointing to a bear (or a dinosaur, or an elephant, or - something big!) helping him or herself (gotta be politically correct, people! we just can't just assume it was a he) to our garbage last night.

Garret took Murgy out before bed last night as is typical.  Murgy has a variety of barks and cries that she employs for different situations.  For example, she barks in this high-pitched "hello?!?" way when she wants you to do something with her.  She cries the saddest little mourning cry ever when she accidentally kills one of her moth friends.  And she growls if Garret or I are giving another dog attention, teeth and all. What an overly protective dog.

So anyway Garret takes her out last night and she's apparently doing her sad/curious/I Really Want To Go Over There cry toward the road.  Garret didn't think much of it because as of late, it's been apparent to us that Murgy is preparing to film her audition tape for Best Dog Chipmunk Hunter.  She always wants to go somewhere, because there just might be a chipmunk there.  In hindsight, I guess she was "spooked" but another reason this didn't get mentioned to me is that Garret was spooked due to there being new neighbors across the street who he didn't realize were home and yet were still watching TV and lighting candles in their house (GHOSTS!).

Well, this morning, Garret took Murgy out again (dogs! they always need to go out!) and he found a surprise at the end of the driveway at the very place Murgy had been crying toward.  Our garbage can, which is a wooden box that is supposedly "bear proof" had been knocked over, and all of the garbage bags have been ripped open.

The scene of the crime. BEAR ATTACK IN VERMONT!

The normally nailed down garbage bin, completely turned over.

We're figuring it must have been a bear because:

-  If it were a person trying to steal our identity by going through our garbage, this is a supremely strange neighborhood to go identity huntin' in and also why not just open the can like a normal person.

-  If it were a deer, fox, possum, turkey, beaver, or raccoon, the task of knocking the entire wooden box over (it's heavy!) seems a bit extreme/impossible.

-  As Hanna-Barbera allowed to enter the history books of cartoonish time, bears do really love pic-a-nic baskets.

-  On the other hand, Hanna-Barbera also taught us that not all bears are smart, as Yogi who was (no offense) no genius was "Smarter than the average bear." But then again, it doesn't take a brilliant mind to knock over a garbage can, just a hungry one.


Anyway, hopefully this does not become a recurring problem.  Our garbage is always tied up and everything.  We'll have to see if it happens again.