Sunday’s winds blew the last remnants of summer out of New Mexico. My patio garden is a sad collection of drooping tomato plants, blackened basil, and a few tenacious pink petunias.
I checked the wildlife camera yesterday and for the first time in three weeks I didn’t find a picture of the bear. Instead, I found shots of a skunk, a rabbit, a chipmunk, and a bushy tail that must belong to a coyote.
The bear never got into the trash or bothered any of the pets in the neighborhood, as far as I know, just passed through every few days. Karen Eagleson of The Wildlife Center in Española gave this advice in a recent Santa Fe New Mexican editorial: Let the bears alone. They will go home soon enough.