Warm September...53º

After a few cold nights, Herb had made sure our beds were covered with down comforters (so our company would be warm and cozy) windows were closed to prepare for fall weather...After four nights of freezing temperatures, Friday night staying at a warm 55º, I spent a restless hot night, up three times  going to the bathroom and opening windows, looking for a breath of fresh air...Not the restful night I had hoped for.

A leisurely morning, we made breakfast of toast, fruit, eggs and salsa...Started outside to take a short walk but only made it to the comfy chairs on the deck...There we sat, sun shining, surrounded by flowers and the view of our Wallowa County Mountains...Pat and friend, Marietta, (visiting from Pennsylvania), stopped for a short visit.

Needing to move our bodies we climbed in the car and headed for Imnaha, down, down into the canyon on this hot day, knowing that at the Imnaha Tavern we could find a cold drink and  lunch on chicken gizzards and fries...The Imnaha Canyon is dry, brown and hot in late summer and the difference in the scenery from Joseph is startling...In the short 30 miles the elevation drops and the terrain changes dramatically...Bare canyons rising on all sides, rimrocks jutting out, not a pine tree in sight...Along the narrow river bottom, small home sites are nestled in, surrounded by orchards and gardens...Irrigated with river water these small oasis line the bottom of the canyon.

We return to Joseph, relax for a few on the deck then Mona peels apples while I roll out a pie crust and we soon have a rustic pie in the oven for our dinner...We decide to go meatless tonight and dine on fresh veggies, corn on the cob, wait an hour and then dish up pie à la mode for dessert...As we are taking our last bite, Mona says, "Is that a bear?"

I haven't talked about the bear sightings on Barton Heights even though it has been the talk of the hill for several weeks now...Supposedly a sow and 2 cubs...We (along with the neighbors) have seen the signs--bear poop in the flower beds, garbage cans disturbed, a small bear on Haines' back porch and a large "live-bear-trap" set by the ODFW, down the road in the meadow...Occasionally in the last forty years we have seen bear scat in the meadow and logs and rocks turned over by Hayes' pond but only for a few days and then winter came and the bears went away...Last night we actually saw one of the bears with our own eyes and even caught it on camera as the four of us stood on our front porch and watched it walk down the road, stop for a crab apple before ambling away down the trail and into the meadow...Now the question is will the bear (s) be trapped or will the weather turn cold and they will return to the woods?...Hugs to all....OWAV:)

Reaching for an apple

Looking back at us after Herb whistled

Ambling down the road