Differences in Dinner Conversations

I grew up on a cul de sac in New Jersey, and there were five main families on that street, all with kids around the same age. We became our own extended family spending holidays together, gathering for an impromptu BBQ, and us kids, well, we are all still in touch and were in each other's weddings. We're close-knit.

Now, because we gathered together so much and because us kids typically hung out separately from our parents, I only remember bits of so many of the grown-ups' conversations: dance school gossip (us girls were all enrolled at one point or another); PTA, Booster Club, Project Graduation, and other school shenanigans; local politics; movies and TV programs. You name it, it was on the table for discussion. One topic I don't recall the grown-ups discussing was local wildlife. Sure, there was that period of time when raccoons were getting into the garbage cans, but other than that, animals other than household pets weren't discussed. Apparently there wasn't anything to discuss.

Fast-forward to last Saturday. I had some neighbors and friends at my home in the Poconos to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday. One of the first topics of conversation? The local wildlife. And we discussed it for well over an hour. During that time we discussed the following:

• white-tail deer, of course (the official animal of PA)
• skunks
• squirrels
• red foxes
• mice
• bats
• green mallard ducks
• black bears
• bobcats

Of the animals discussed, the scariest we've encountered is the black bear. (We've only heard the bobcat's cry from afar.) There is one in my neighborhood. In fact, when we moved in eight years ago one of neighbors warned us about it. They told us it lived in the woods behind their house and sometimes during the warmer months it came through the neighborhood to pick through the garbage. All that time my husband and I had never seen the bear.

Until recently.

(Please note: this is just a picture of a black bear,
not THE neighborhood black bear.)

We first spotted it back in November. A neighbor called to say it was on our property line. The bear didn't seem that big and was almost cute. But then winter came and while bears don't truly hibernate, it entered into a very deep slumber, not to be seen again.

Until recently.

It seems my next door neighbor -- the house between mine and the one that alerted us to bear visiting our property back in November -- continually has something in his trash that attracts the bear, hungry from its long, winter's nap. Some sort of bearnip, if there is such a thing. To add fuel to the fire, he doesn't secure his garbage cans. And since the first signs of spring the bear has been hungry for whatever is in those cans. Every night the bear makes its way over for a late-night snack, leaving trash littered across the ground.

Then there's Monday nights, garbage nights. An all-you-can-eat buffet for the bear. This past Monday, the bear hit cans at six houses. My husband secures the lids on our cans with a bungee cord, but sadly, there's not much else we can do. The Monday before that, the bear brought a not-so-little friend to the buffet.

So for now, we will try to co-exist with the bear and stay safe.

Just another day here in the Poconos.