Oh, deer

One morning, as Todd and I were out hitting up garage sales, we came across these little culprits gnawing on a neighbor's trees.

Naughty!

When animals go urban it always makes me chuckle.

More bear

Here's another photo of me and the bears outside Yellowstone.

I didn't have this one handy when I posted the others.

We were pretty darn close!

BEAR!

I have wanted desperately to see a bear in the wild.

Desperately.  

But they have inevitably eluded me.

I will go through an area and not see a thing and someone I know will go through there later and basically run smack dab into one.

It's like I was born with a natural bear repellent (which will be helpful if I ever do run smack dab into one).  

A couple weeks ago, my coworkers Matt and Scott and I spent a day traveling through Teton and Yellowstone National Parks seeing everything but a bear.  I told the guys I didn't care if the bear was dumpster diving - I just wanted to see one!  

Then, on our way out of the East Gate of Yellowstone there it was: A gaggle of cars pulled over staring at something on the side road.

We pulled over too and sure 'nuff...

BEARS!!!!!

And not just any ol' bears - Grizzlies!

I could have just died!

At first we saw just the one bear... (Ok, so they very strangely look like pandas, but I swear I'm not at a zoo. And that they are Grizzlies...)

Then up popped the cub...

One of the coolest days EVER!  

Out of stock

I got several comments on the "How much is the doggie in the window" post encouraging me to go back and spring ol' Ray Romano from the clink.

Out of curiosity I just called the animal shelter to see if he was still available...

He was adopted LAST NIGHT!

I don't know if I should be happy he was adopted by someone, or sad that someone wasn't me.

I'm thinking...maybe Ray Romano was like the outfit in a window you fall in love with and run in to buy, but wish you had never bought once you get it home. (Ok, I'm telling myself this to cheer up.)

To stick with the shopping metaphor: I sadly scrolled through the shelter's catalog of available dogs thinking none of them would compare to Ray when I saw this...

This little 4-month-old girl's name is Tomato! She has three sisters and one brother. Apparently, they are a border collie/heeler mix.

I don't know anything about a heeler, but darn it if she isn't freaking cute!

Back to the store!