The Animals of the Fraser Valley

I was just getting into bed around midnight when I heard a thump in the house, loud enough to wake D. We went to explore our house, but didn't see anything unusual. I peeked through our dining room window to look out in our yard when I saw a large shadow of a shape just under the window. I was quite startled and quickly pulled up the blinds to see who was trying to break into our house. This is what I saw:

Growing up as a city girl, I was shocked to see a bear cub that was not behind a glass or barred cage. I called the non-emergency number and they gave me the number to the conservation department, but nothing was really done. The advice given to me was to let the bear be, although the guy on the phone did mention something about him looking for a foghorn. The bear eventually left and disappeared into the night as silently as it had come.
Poor bear! Separated from its mother and having to scavenge for food in time for the hibernation season. As humans, we did infringe on their territory, so we're not surprised that there were bear sightings. When I told the conservation officer my address, he said that there was a recent bear sighting in my area. When D and I first started looking at this house seriously, the real estate agent said that a few other residents had encounters with bears.
But, poor D! He didn't sleep very well after all the excitement partly because he was worried about me. I was staining our back porch that day, but I still have to do the front. Even though it was unlikely for a bear to roam our neck of the woods in the daytime, D was scared for my safety. Well, I say better a bear than a Sasquatch. Wait a second -- better nothing at all! Sigh...I miss my little hamster.
On a side note, I was disappointed that my Rubbermaid garbage can with locking handles did not deter the bear, but when we looked at the can more closely in the morning, the bear had dented the rim, so maybe that's how the lid came off. Of all the garbage cans within our vicinity, our can was chosen. D said it must be all the scraps from the good food we've been cooking! ;)

The bear was the least of my worries this morning, though. At 5:30am, I got a call to work at a high school. Today was my first of three days subbing for two Gr.9 classes and one Gr.12 class. I was very nervous not only because it'll be my first day at work since June, but because I haven't taught in a secondary school for over 5 years. During my practicum, I had the opportunity to teach Gr. 8, 10, 11, and 12 and I had a lot of fun teaching them, but I did not get to teach the Gr.9's and I've heard that they are the hardest to teach. Today, I saw a bit of why. Most of them were fairly cooperative, but of course there's always the few that kind of gets to me. Those kids were the ones who chat sneakily behind their books and when asked to refocus, they give attitude. The loud ones were actually easier to deal with than these so-called "quiet" kids who try to blend in the back. One girl gave me lip service that I ended up having to ignore (otherwise we wouldn't be able to get through the lesson); her growling tone reminded me of the silent bear and I found myself comparing the two. However some of the other kids were actually trying to goad her into cooperating with me, which was very nice and signified to me that they were used to this girl's distracting behaviour.
To deal with some of the issues, I usually use humour to thwart the problem or distract the students with a personal story before tying it back to the lesson. As an inexperienced TOC, I had difficulty trying to assert my authority in somebody else's classroom.
Two more days of this and I'll just have to grin and bear it! We'll see what character-building attributes God sends my way.