My goodness Yoyo, I hope you are over the trauma.. The only time I was even near a black bear was in Alberta, outside Banff where a bear was taking an evening stroll. My companions hissed to keep v-e-r-y still, which we did, some of us forgetting to even breathe. It wasn't 'til later that I was told how dangerous they are, as coming from England where there hasn't been a bear since about 1208 we don't appreciate or understand their strength or killing power.

Thank goodness we have nothing worse than wild boar which were 'reintroduced' into our area by some hippy 'animals have as much right to roam as humans' group. They cause terrible damage and when protecting their young can be really vicious with 'self-sharpening' tusks that can cause serious injury.

And in our 'new' house big hairy spiders are the only problem!

I have just finished Seven Dead by J.Jefferson Farjeon. Not the kind of Golden Age author for me though! It features an old fashion genre detective who patronises and lectures his staff and a plot that roams from England to France and beyond.

I skip-read the last few chapters. I have also his Thirteen Guests on loan so will try that to be fair but the reviews by Ginny and Vee of Mystery in White was rather damning!

Black bears are NOT naturally aggressive. If you don't physically hurt them...or threaten/hurt their cubs...they won't hurt you. Ergo...YoYo's bear made a dash for an exit as soon as it spotted YoYo. They've become over populated...and unfortunately...humanized...in Western Connecticut as well as rural parts of NY State. I would hope that if it is trapped that it's relocated to a safer area both for its sake and for YoYo's. Euthanizing an animal...black bear or other...who has done no physical harm to a human being is a terrible thing to do. IMO

I'm surrounded by woodlands and black bears are common in my area. I've actually trotted along behind a few females as they escorted their cubs into deeper underbrush. Of course, that's my personal curiosity and overwhelming interest in their habits not necessarily appreciated by others.

The bears are seeking food. Not aggressively. We're instructed by the CT DEEP to remove bird feeders and any other forms of food stuffs from our immediate home/domestic areas from March to November and to keep trash and garbage containers out of reach until "trash day".

Obviously, YoYo...you scared that poor hungry black bear more than it scared you or it wouldn't have dashed for the exit. If it ever happens again...just holler at the top of your voice showing a threatening fist for it to leave and it will.>

Yoyobon - Not to make light of your experience (which I can't even imagine!), but a bear in your kitchen is worse than, dare I say it ... cats.

Kathy .......LOL......To say the least !!

Winter.....the NYS DEC said their protocol is if a bear invades a home then they need to be euthanized. In a way I hope that it avoids getting caught by the trap. In another way, I hate to live with the fear that every time I come around a corner in my own home it could be in here again. That kind of experience sort of lingers with you !

YoYo...I wouldn't be overly enthused about having one wandering around my home either but there are preventive measures that can be taken. I never leave a door open...to a screen door...or just open...and I keep all lower level windows tightly closed, as well. Fortunately, I have air conditioning for this hot weather we're suffering but even without that luxury...my windows and doors would stay closed during this bear season.

I suppose the NY DEC figures that a once visiting bear will continue to return. Unfortunately...it's likely. But euthanizing the animal is cruel IMO. There are so many wooded and mountainous areas in the eastern NY State area that I know personally that there must be somewhere the animal can be released that would discourage its return. [It'd probably trot over to my area.🙄] Perhaps NY DEC is strapped for the funds and employees necessary to do so. In this current economy, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

I do wish you peace of mind regarding this invasion along with hopes that it was a once in a life time visit. I live alone so I appreciate how uncomfortable this experience has made you. I may follow along behind them in the wild but I wouldn't be issuing any invitations for tea.

I am relieved that others have echoed my thoughts about killing the bear.

Whenever someone gets attacked and bitten by a shark in Australia (no bears to fear here!) they usually say they don't want it killed as they were in the shark's domain.

When we encroach in unmarked territory, these encounters are bound to happen and are of course shocking and scary.

Vee, my Australian husband wasn't convinced by me that British spiders aren't poisonous and rang an expert who assured him it was so and only one kind of snake was!

Just about everything can give a nasty bite here!

Bears are apex predators and dangerous to humans. No, they don't go hunting for us but will turn on a dime if they or cubs are threatened or just for reasons unknown. Once they find food, they will always be back. Bird feeders are a lure all twelve months of the year, among other things.

Bears just arrived in my suburb last fall for the first time since colonial days. One broke into my next-door neighbor's padlocked shed to get at the chicken feed. A few weeks ago they roamed all over my area and several people posted videos of them standing on their hind legs to reach the bird feeders. This was in July, high summer.

If they are moved, either they come back--they have an amazing sense of direction--or they are driven out by the bears whose territory it is.

Bears cannot co-exist closely with humans in well populated areas. There have been serious injuries from home-invading bears. Google to find out. Just glad Yoyobon is safe.

Yoyo, what an experience. Good thing you weren't making porridge.

As to relocating a black bear......several years ago one large bear was tagged and relocated over 100 miles away and within a year had returned.

Unless you are relocating them across country, it's rarely successful.

And once they breach a home , they are no longer just a nuisance, they are dangerous.

Yoyobon, that is frightening! Inside your home? Yikes! Although black bears are not as aggressive as other breeds, they are still very powerful and dangerous once they lose their fear of humans. The closest I've come is a bear in my backyard that just would NOT go away. I stood on my patio (maybe 50-75ft from the bear, and VERY close to the house door to run into!) yelling, waving my arms, and finally banging pans and it would leave, only to climb back over the fence a few moments later. Fortunately, it left the neighborhood (apparently permanently - we all took our bird feeders down) a few months later, though not before a neighbor's Ring camera caught it playing with their dog's ball on their front walk - totally amusing, rolling around on its back and tossing the ball - think of the panda cub videos from the National Zoo. I've also read that relocating wildlife is not very successful: if they don't return, they usually die from being in a competitor's territory. Have you looked into getting yourself a bear 'unwelcome mat' for your entryways until you know the bear is gone? (A bear unwelcome mat is a large piece of plywood stuck allover with nails an inch apart. Microsoft Word - unwelcome_matvdgif.docx (virginia.gov) That was the advice I got from the Virginia Dept of Wildlife.)

Back on topic, I am reading Karen Joy Fowler's Booth. Gosh, what a depressing family, but the book is holding my interest despite my dislike of so many of the characters. So far, her fictional additions fit very well with the known facts (I've been haunting Wikipedia, and have started looking for online pdf's of Asia's writings). The only problem is that it's due back at the library in 2 days, and I'm not sure I'll finish it in time. I'm about halfway through having read the Rosalie and Edwin sections, currently in the Asia (all elder siblings of John Wilkes) section, about 1855, so 10 years to go to the assassination.

Donna, I misunderstood the Bear Unwelcome mat for a split second and thought it was a joke as bears can't read! It reminded me of my D's strange neighbour who put out birdseed with a note For the Birds as she was told it would attract rats. She wasn't joking ..

Is a writer a true author if they take their fictional characters from life and report what they do and say?

Donna, the DEC man suggested a Bear Unwelcome mat as well....but since the bear entry is also the door out of our bedroom onto a deck where a hot tub is located I know I would forget and step out onto it !!

I have been re-reading my Elswyth Thane series called the Williamsburg novels. The first is Dawn's Early Light. There are seven of them, and I have just finished No. 5. It's been years since I read them and I don't remember them too well. Each one is set during a different war or the build-up to them that America was involved in, the first, of course, being the Revolution. The first two are the best, but they are all good--written in the 1940s. They follow the descendants of a family that lived in Williamsburg, Virginia, the historic restoration of which I have visited a few times.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman has been a very popular book over here for a year or so . . . the sort of work I usually avoid, but this one really lived up to all the hype. A group of 'Senior Citizens' who live in a most desirable residential facility deep in the country-side set out to solve a murder on their doorstep, with some slight help from the police. Other bodies are discovered along the way and although I had some difficulty keeping tabs on the eventual 'who dunnits' it was an overall very enjoyable read with 'believable' characters.

I read that, Vee, and also thought it was a good one. Glad you mentioned it. It was our town-wide book selection in January. Altho my notes say, "My biggest problem was a number of killings by the ‘good guys’. So called mercy killings and killing of bad guys. How did this become acceptable?" I then read the sequel, The Man Who Died Twice, also good. Now I'm on the wait list for the next in the series, The Bullet That Missed.

I too enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club. According to my notes (I do that too, Ginny), I enjoyed the book, but was a bit impatient with the ending. My notes say, "The solution was very convoluted and a bit hard to keep track of."

I receive online updates and quizzes from Osman.

We get Pointless, a British quiz show, which he is a presenter with, in the weekday afternoons. He explains word meanings etc and I was surprised when he mentioned that Jingle Bells isn't a description of the bells but a command!

Really? I hadn't realised that but he also gives humorous deliberate misinformation!

I just ordered Thursday Murder Club

Carolyn, I was married in Williamsburg, VA and enjoyed living and working there. It was an idyllic small town, very focused on its history. I recall when the Elswyth Thane novels were popular in the 1960's but I never got around to reading any of them.

It's probably not too late, woodnymph. They are worth the trouble. It must have been a treat to live in Williamsburg. I bought the cookbook Death by Chocolate and ate the dessert in a restaurant there. I've never made it though. It has seven layers, and I've always thought it would be fun for seven cooks to make a layer each, get together, put it together, and eat it all.

Yoyobon, that must have been so scary! Thankful it was a black bear, which I understand are pretty cowardly, especially when startled. It‘s sad that it will have to be put down, but from what I‘ve read, when bears turn to breaking and entering, they are unlikely to stop.

Ginny, thanks for the recommendation. I have read When in Rome and and have it in my library somewhere, but had forgotten about it, so thanks for reminding me.

Carolyn, thank you for your recommendations. I‘ll have to see if I can find your them at the library.

Netla, New York State has a zero tolerance for bears that break and enter. Many states opt for capture and relocate. That has been tried with nuisance bears but they always return ! As of today, the bear has not been caught in the bear trap and I believe they are removing it this week. So the threat is still with us. Hopefully this might have scared the bear away from my house. Hopefully. Here's the DEC installing the trap here:

Did they bait it with butter? (-:

I see the problem but am sad about the possible outcome.

At least we can remove ourselves from the ocean and a possible return of attacking sharks here.

Spring looks like coming soon and I have replanted the raised beds outside my front window. The colourful red begonias and purple snapdragons lightened my spirits during my stay indoors because of the palsy. (I can sip carefully from a lipped cup now!)

My Support Worker got me some potting mix while doing my grocery shopping. It has been niggling me for a while that a refresh was needed. The plants I had in small pots were outgrowing them and needed to stretch and spread themselves!

Glad there is some positive news from you Annpan, this palsy seems to have been going on for quite some time. And flowers/colour always help to lighten the soul!

As for reading I've just finished Opposite the Crosskeys by Sylvia Harmon a book I 'discovered' while hunting around for a title to add to the Game.

A sort-of autobiography of Harmon dating back to her childhood in the Norwich (Norfolk East Anglia) of the 1920's. It is about the time she spent visiting the family of Maud the maid-of-all-work. The difficulty I had with this premise was that Maud came from a very poor house in a nearby village and in no way would she have been adequately equipped to run the home of a successful city architect, let along act as a nanny to the young Sylvia. When the child first visits the rural cottage she actually vomits from the terrible smell in the house an amalgamation of soot, ancient cooking and unwashed bodies.

Not only are her own family apparently happy for her to visit there but remain there for days/weeks at a time. Nor do they seem aware that she helps the mother of the family with potato picking and chicken and turkey plucking for local farmers while living on a diet of bread and marge and unmentionable 'stew' with only the most rudimentary washing taking place. . .plus sharing the 'thunder box' ie outdoor privy with several of the family females at the same time! It must have been a 'three-seater'.

Vee, the recovery is taking a long time but my doctor expected that it would, due to my age. The most annoying thing has been the change of sleeping patterns which might have happened anyway. My neighbour is having the same problem, he told me. We are still awake until the early hours of the morning and then sleep late. Just as well that we are retired. I have to set an alarm so that I am up for the Support Worker who comes at 10am. on Wednesdays. I got caught asleep once and she had to phone me to open the door!

Thankfully I can read for a while now and don't have the bother of setting up audiobooks.

Annpanagain......they bait with lots of donuts !! No bear after a week......just happy raccoons who waltz into the contraption, have a donut party and leave without tripping the hatch !

Didn't the DEC people leave a note to say that the donuts were only for the bears?

We have had a lovely burst of Spring weather today and I went to the shops by myself for the first time since February. I needed to get my D a birthday card and can't ask the Support Worker to choose! I found something plain and simple which I realised from the till slip description was meant for a Male!

My sister used to get the most sentimental and syrupy worded cards she could find for our mother's birthday as a joke!

I have a Chet and Bernie book waiting for me at the local library. I might venture out and pick it up tomorrow if this weather continues. It has been so cold and windy that I haven't been tempted to leave the house even for a walk around my Retirement Village.

Ann, I'm so glad you are finally feeling better! And that the weather is cooperating, too. :)

I'm reading Something to Hide by Elizabeth George. It took me a long time to get into the rhythm of the story. It's a very different style of writing than I've been reading, and some of the British terminology is throwing me off, but I've finally gotten really interested in the story. It concerns a murdered female police detective and a clinic performing (we think) female circumcisions. Now that I know how the many characters are connected I'm wondering if I missed the connections at the beginning of the book, or if Ms. George is cleverly revealing the connections as the story progresses.

Donna

Thank you Donna. I am sure the better weather is helping my recovery.

Vee and I are always happy to help with British terms although I have been away for twenty years so I am not up to speed on all the new meanings now.

I had to look up "Chav"!

msmeow, the Elizabeth George books are an ongoing series, if you were not aware of that. One problem is that she writes such door stoppers so far apart that you tend to forget the previous one. I would like it better if she wrote shorter books more frequently.

I'm ready to start the last Williamsburg novel, Homing, and I'll be sad to say goodby to "the family" but not the wars.

Thanks, Carolyn! I didn't know that. I'm enjoying this one pretty well, so maybe I'll read some others.

Donna

I'm very late to the bear conversation, but WOW, Yoyobon, that must have been a shock. We've had bears in our yard several times, but never trying to get into the house, thank goodness! A family not far from us had a similar experience recently, and wound up on the local news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2P41N5Aw8g 

To the best of my knowledge, they have yet to capture the bear.

When I was a kid it was rare to see a bear in the suburbs, now it's common. I feel bad for the poor bears because we've built homes and spread out through all the woodsy places around here, so where else can they go? Plus the birdseed and trash cans must feel like an all-you-can-eat buffet to them. My BIL has a mother bear and 3 cubs who regularly visit his yard and trash cans. He has a video of Mama Bear standing up and maneuvering the wheeled trash can down the driveway like a pro before tipping it over, swinging open the lid, and helping herself. And just yesterday a bear walked right into my parent's garage and came out with their giant bag of bird seed, dragged it into the next yard, and ate his fill. It's crazy!

I'm in the middle of a book by Carter Bays (who the dust jacket tells me co-created the TV series How I Met Your Mother) called The Mutual Friend. It's described as, "a hilarious and thought-provoking debut novel set in New York City, following a sprawling cast of characters as they navigate life, love, loss, ambition, and spirituality—without ever looking up from their phones. ... (it) captures in sparkling detail the chaos of contemporary life, a life lived simultaneously in two different worlds—the physical one and the one behind our screens—and reveals how connected we all truly are." I'm finding it interesting and engaging and very funny in spots. It also makes me grateful that I grew up without an iphone and the internet!

I'm back to Golden Age mysteries. This one is Calamity in Kent by John Rowland. It's a different locked room mystery where the dead body is found in the locked elevator of a seaside cliff elevator.

Sheri, ..... The man in the video is crazy. He sounds like he's coaxing a naughty dog out of a house. That bear could have turned on him and it would have been a very different story.

Bear are very fast, strong and unpredictable.

I have just finished Thirteen Guests by J. J. Farjeon and liked it much better than the last one Seven Dead. Good mystery and Inspector Kendall isn't such a sarcastic bully. I am glad I didn't give up on this author!

Yoyobon, you are so right. This isn't Disneyland.

Yoyobon, I totally agree!

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson is the latest in her Jackson Brody series, a couple of which I have read and enjoyed before. Atkinson expects her readers to keep up with her clever 'asides' plus the pace she sets for her readers. Perhaps I should read more whodunnits/crime as I quickly forget who-is-who especially in these large-cast stories. This book deals with the nasty subject of paedophilia and the trafficking of women from third-world countries . . . no doubt based on the recent horrific cases in the N of England where girls often from 'underprivileged' homes or 'in care' were being abused by gangs of mainly Asian men for years with the authorities turning a blind eye or just taking no action to catch the perps'.

The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly written in 1958. It's not quite a Golden Ager, but it is listed in Crime Classics and doesn't have descriptive violence or bad words.

The newest book in Ilona Andrews' Hidden Legacy series just arrived and I'm doing a speed-read through the first six books to refresh my memory before I dive into the long-awaited Ruby Fever. These books are adventure-fantasy-romance set in an alternate-history United States where magic exists and great houses rule and war behind the scenes. The main characters (who may or may not have magical powers themselves) run a detective agency and keep getting pulled into magical mysteries. I absolutely adore this husband and wife team of authors. Not everyone's genre, I know, but if you like these types of books, these two are masters.

Robert Galbraith's (JK Rowling) newest Cormoran Strike novel, The Ink Black Heart, arrived today, and I'm rather daunted as it is an utter doorstop of a hardcover that clocks in at 1,012 pages. Not sure when I'll get to it, but I'm delighted to have it. All the prior books have been terrific, IMO.

Yoyobon, I've been away from the forum for a while so I'm just reading this now. What a frightening experience! I'm glad you came through it okay. And while I hope the bear has sensibly relocated himself and spared us all some anguish, I do understand the need to euthanize a bear who enters houses. It is a recipe for disaster.

Annpan, I'm glad you are feeling better recently.

While I have done some quick, junk reading while traveling (we went hiking along the coast of Maine), I haven't read anything that excited me since the Darcie Wilde Regency era mysteries I mentioned last. I tried The Lost Apothecary but simply could not get into it. Next I read Lessons in Chemistry. Unlike the previous novel, it did hold my interest long enough to finish it. The story is based on the difficulties a woman scientist faced in the mid-Century era and has a bit of humor to liven it. However it is already slipping from my memory. The Dictionary of Lost Words, a historical novel based on the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary was actually quite decent. I did enjoy it.

I just haven't read anything I loved!

Sheri, I've been on the library's waitlist for The Ink Black Heart for quite a while. It sounds like I may get a copy soon! Yesterday I got another one I'd been waiting for, so I need to hurry up and finish Something to Hide. It's 554 pages on my iPad, so taking me a while to get through it.

Donna

Thank you Vee for the recommendation of Murder before Evensong. I have just started it and have been chuckling from the first page!

As is the way, four of my requests suddenly arrived at the local library for me. Actually I was sent the book of Operation Mincemeat by mistake as I wanted the DVD. I saw the movie The Man Who Never Was years ago and was interested to see the remake of this wonderful story of deception.

Annpan, I'm glad you are enjoying Murder before Evensong . . .I ordered a copy from the library and am probably still way down the list!

The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn........I really enjoy her books !

Yoyobon, did you know she has two new books coming? The first is about older ladies who just happen to be retired assassins. It has a September 6 release date - https://www.amazon.com/Killers-Certain-Age-Deanna-Raybourn-ebook/dp/B09N6VX4K7/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1662120901&refinements=p_27%3ARaybourn++Deanna&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Raybourn++Deanna

The other is A Sinister Revenge, the newest Veronica Speedwell. I can't wait and have already pre-ordered. But it's not out until March 7 of next year. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593545923/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

OK, that's weird. The Deanna Raybourn message above was from me, I don't know why it's tagged with HU-whatever as a name ... Houzz occasionally moves in mysterious ways.

We do have an occasional poster who uses the name HU-227902826. Somehow Houzz must have scrambled the two of you.

Thanks for the Raebourn titles. I have made a note of them.