Wildlife and Small Towns + Giveaway by C.H. Admirand

I live in the wilds of northern New Jersey. We’ve lived here for 30 years, and although we thought about moving once or twice, the neighborhood kept us here. Lindy’s Lake is a small community where everyone knows everyone else’s business—at least we did while our kids were still in school—once they go off to college things change…but the one thing that we love the most aside from our Lakestyle cottage is the wildlife, flora, and fauna that are a part of the community.

In the years we’ve lived here we made the house our home by planting gardens, laying a bluestone patio, and building an arbor outside and painting and refurbishing the inside. In all the time we've lived here, we've only had bears visit the outside of the chainlink fence that surrounds the back half of our property...that is until the other night.

We were babysitting our darling grandbaby overnight since his mommy and daddy both had closing shifts at work. I had our grandson in my arms when I heard the distinctive sound of twigs snapping that got increasingly louder. From the sound, I knew it was bigger than a raccoon, possum, cat, or dog…coyotes, though in the neighborhood, rarely come close to our backyard. 

The wisteria was dark, but I could hear what I knew was a bear climbing up to the top of the arbor, breaking the tiny slats that supported the crossbeams. I had Jack on one hip, the dog whining at my side and a flashlight in my hand, but the wisteria was too thick to see anything…but I could hear him. When I called my husband, he came in and did see when the bear’s foot broke through some of the tangled vines breaking even more of them. From the deep growl, we could tell he wasn’t happy about something, and that’s when I remembered the two new cakes of suet we’d put out for our feathered friends: Blueberry Blast and Berry Treat. He was working hard to unhook the feeder.

You see not only the Nuthatches, Chickadees, House Finches, Downy and Red Bellied Woodpeckers enjoy the berry blast suet we put out...the bears do too! We've had to stop feeding the birds once or twice but haven’t had a problem like this before. Here’s a picture of the broken slats on the ground…

 The hole in the middle of the wisteria (and missing slats) where his paw went through as he snatched the suet feeder…

And the suet feeder where the bear left it…on top of the arbor! He only managed to pry one side off.

But bears aren’t the only problem we had this week…the other is our darling little black lab mix that we rescued in January. Jameson is trouble…adorably cute, but trouble just the same. Earlier this summer our oldest son designed and let me help him build a stream and pond—and in a moment of puppy exuberance…apparently he wasn’t just digging in the stream…he was chasing a toad…all of our hard word went down the drain—er pond.

Here's the puppy...

And the toad...

 

 

We now have a leak and I’ve had to pull out all of the stones we filled the stream bed with. It was a daunting task, fitting stones together and then adding the pretty round river rocks to finish the job, and now...well see for yourself, it’s just the liner while we try to pinpoint the source of the leak.

Soooo remember when you’re thinking of moving to a small town or community that there are other creatures that you will be sharing your space with. Getting along with them and living in harmony isn’t difficult, but it can be a challenge.

To celebrate life in a small town, I’m giving away a signed ARC for my November release, A WEDDING IN APPLE GROVE (Small Town USA Book #1).

Leave a comment here on the blog and I’ll draw a name at random tonight. Do you share your yard with wildlife, or do you live in a citified area? Have you ever had a run in with a wild creature that you were unprepared for?