Saturday, August 15, 2020

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.

19 comments:

  1. A good quote incidentally from a Scot not appreciated or recognised in his homeland until relatively recently.

    People just don't get that we are the intruders

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    1. I've enjoyed learning about Muir's life in the last few years. Yes, these animals have been in these woods since before the Western Europeans arrived in the New World.

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  2. Hello,
    Love the bear photos, they are so cute. The cubs are adorable! Humans have taken over much of the wildlife's territory. We put our trash out right before them come to collect it now, we had raccoon's make a mess a few times. Take care, enjoy your weekend!

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    1. I'm so sorry that bears have begun to depend upon our scraps.

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  3. I didn't realize. I have usually associated bears with backwoods Canada. I have only seen one in the wild -- a cub running across a rural road up ahead of us. We turned around and walked the other way.

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    1. The Black Mountain area has become more extensive with vacationers building up the slopes of the mountains.

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  4. Replies
    1. They are lovely animals...but a bit frightening.

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  5. Hello, Barbara
    I love the bears, but not the mess they can make. I have seen a few in the wild, I kept my distance.
    Thank you for linking up and sharing your post.
    Take care and enjoy your day, wishing you a happy weekend.
    PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

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  6. Your bear photos are fantastic! I especially love the one with them crossing the street, so precious. Have a great weekend :)

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    1. I didn't take the photos, as noted at the bottom of the post, they were all on the internet. Whenever I run across bears, I can't seem to get photos.

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  7. Bears do make a mess. When we were living in the Sierra foothills the bears would come and raid our birdfeeders. They would knock them to the ground and smash them open. We moved the feeders into our fenced yard out back thinking that would deter them. Nope. They smashed a part of the fence down and then smashed open the bird feeders. We stopped feeding birds and bears. Love the bear photos and the reminder of our mountain days.

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    1. Yes, this is bear territory, and we're not allowed to have bird feeders outside our apartments. The garbage cans are all that's available for them.

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  8. We have had only one bear visit--the one that got our birdfeeder. We relocated it to the deck and so far, so good.. Perhaps the dogs keep them away--Layla bursts out the screen door occasionally in the night, barking her head off. She's a big girl--Boxer/Dane mix--so I don't worry about a bear eating her. And I don't think she'd try to take one on--just bark at it.

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    1. I imagine bears are sensitive to large barking dogs. Good for her.

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  9. The babies sure look cute but I know how much damage they can do. Living in the mts of NC I've seen a few and had some bird feeders destroyed. We have bears here in FL too and someone stopped to tell me one had been sighted recently on the trail I was on. OH MY! Love your photos! Enjoy your weekend!

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    1. Yes, the encounter when walking is one I am not eager to have. I think they smell better than see. Though I have been close enough through an open window to know that they smell themselves, after eating garbage, what would you expect?

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  10. Hi Barbara :) We don't put our garbage out until the morning of, same problem would happen here with all sorts of critters. That is a relief to know your car wasn't broken into! :)

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There is today, more than ever, the need for a compassionate regenerative world civilization.