As part of my usual evening routine, I let the dogs out into the yard when I came home tonight for some exercise and a bathroom break while I managed some basic household chores. 

Now, my dogs like to bark at everything that moves past the house, so a brief barking spurt emanating from the yard is nothing to be alarmed about.  However, when the barking did not stop after about five minutes, I went out to investigate.

To my surprise, a black bear hovered near my fence, less than 15 feet away from the dogs.  While the dogs were agitated, the bear appeared calm and unphased.  Only when I went out into the yard to call the dogs and make noise did the bear begin to make its way up the hill and into another neighbor's yard.

This experience gave me the opportunity to get a good look at him (or her) and he (she) is not the same bear!  This bear is young — maybe a year or so.  He/she is relatively small (for a black bear) at about 150 lbs. and quite brazen.  I hope that this one wizens up and stays away, otherwise it will suffer the same fate as many bears before — getting shot by one of my neighbors.