scherzo
Oh my! I've spent the past two days participating in patrols of my neighbourhood with other neighbours on the watch for pizza hungry bears.
It's definitely spring in the canyon that I live in. The bears have woken from their months long hibernation with growling tummies and attitudes to match, and have set off in search of something yummy. So they came a-callin' yesterday, led by their acute olfactory sense and penchant for freshly prepared food left out for the taking by fickle human beings. Three bears found what they were looking for at my neighbour's house two doors away from me. My neighbours had baked four rustic pizzas in a wood fired oven situated in their backyard kitchen(this is California, we do things a little differently here...) ready for an al fresco meal for their out of town guests. They placed these hot delicacies and a big salad on a shelf in front of the oven while they enjoyed aperitifs.
The next thing that they beheld were three large furry shapes growling and having their way with the hot cheesy lunch items. The salad was finished, appropriately with lip-smacking relish, following the main course. After fighting for the few orts that remained, the bears ambled over to the creek outside my kitchen window for a cool refreshing quaff, then jaunted off to whatever business they had lined up next.
An agency in charge of wild animal control encouraged our neighbourhood watch group to be in an alert state. We've been patrolling, in groups of four or more, armed with walkie talkies, loud hailers, and baseball and cricket bats. The better to report any bear activities in the residential vicinity and on the lookout for illegal poachers who might prey upon the ursine visitors for their valuable vital organs which are so unfortunately popular on the asian blackmarket.
Really, we must be more mindful of the cooking scents that we waft upon the spring breezes. One never knows what other kinds of guests the winds might bring to the next meal...
