Mr. Bear visits

Disposal...disposing of waste...disposition of discards.

Once a week, Fridays, our trash is collected into a big truck. It sits (the trash) in several garbage cans until that time. But kitchen waste, usually everyone has some by the end of the week, has been placed into "bear proof" plastic cans.  They failed last night (this is Fri. morning when I'm writing this.)

We had a bear who managed to get into all the bear proof garbage cans last night. So the maintenance man is out shoveling up all the garbage he left lying about. We are supposed to save our other household garbage and put it in the other cans just Fri. morning (which is how I found out the mess Mr. bear had made.)

Black bears are in the woods of North Carolina

These bear-proof cans have 2 "D-ring" closures...and maybe they were closed, with the long pin having been threaded through the ring, and the wire cord closing the lid. But the lids are a bit smashed today. Somehow a heavy pawed individual (I'm thinking a male but not necessarily) has managed to root out lots of goodies from our kitchens. Perhaps there was some food inadvertently put into the other bins (where only paper goods are supposed to be until Fridays.) They are easily tipped over.

But this also hits close to home for me. My car is parked about 2 spaces away from the collection of garbage bins. I don't eat in my car any more, thanks to cutting out all fast food meals. But there's a tiny container of cranberry raisins on my console, for when I might get light headed and need some sugar. (So far that hasn't happened since I've given up sugar.)

I'm glad craisins didn't invite Mr. Bear to punch in my windows of my little car. I'm sure if I'd had any left over fish sandwich he could have found a way to get it. What a relief, both ways.

I know many people in neighboring homes have a tendency to put their garbage out the night before pick-up. But they've also been having nighttime visitors, so have to wait till Fri. morning to haul those bins out. Fortunately we have seldom had bears traveling around in the daytime hours...but a few years ago I saw one that could climb a 6 foot privacy fence easily at the corner of the yard, and he helped himself to some berries that were ripe in that yard. He just sat on that corner of the fence and pulled them into his mouth.

Thus Black Mountain feels more like a country town at times. There are many mountainous woods around where all kinds of wildlife still live. We've taken a lot of their territory and paved it over and made our homes. And when the bears are well fed by eating some of our wonderful waste, they become more prolific.

A Facebook posting "Walker St. 2pm Aug. 14" the next block over from mine.

Today's quote:
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (21 Apr 1838-1914)

Photos from the internet.