Colfax Couple Gets Unwelcome Dinner Guest: A Bear

COLFAX (CBS13) – Michele and Don Machholz were doing what they do every day, working side-by-side in their living room, when an unexpected weekday visitor showed up for dinner.

You can hear the ticking of their clock and the typing of keys

"We like it up here, you can't hear anything," Michele said.

But the Machholz' remote Colfax home isn't so quiet lately.

"We had our earbuds on and we heard a thump and we looked at each other," Michele said.

They ignored the noise the first time, until it grew louder and more mysterious.

"We turn around and notice that our front door here is wide open," Michele said.

Then, another sign.

"We saw drool marks right about inside the door," Michele said.

It was time to check it out.

"I got up and started going toward the door, cautiously," Don said.

There and it was.

"There was a bear, standing right there on my porch," Don said.

The big black bear was just staring at them.

"He was checkin' us out and we didn't know it," Michele said.

Don didn't hesitate.

"I said, 'Get out of here.' And he jumped and left," Don said.

Only to realize, he forgot to snap a picture!

"But his hind-end is facing us, so I said that's not a good picture," Don said.

So they returned to work, on the lookout.

"The whole evening … we were looking for this bear," Michele said.

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The bear showed up again the very next day, same time, same place.

"And the bear was running down the side of this hill again," Michele said.

He's long gone now. But mystery remains: what was the bear after? Not just any cooking: a vegetarian meal.

"Nothing like steaks on the grill or anything like that," Michele said.

It's like a fictional script, not even this writer could come up with if she wanted to.

The big black bear hasn't been back since.