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Quondamopolis

a deliberate deterritorialization

14 May

2014.05.14 10:48

As of yesterday afternoon, there's a 150 lb. bear loose in my neighborhood--actually sighted at the juncture of Pennypack Park, Fox Chase Farm, Lorimer Park and the Medical Mission Sisters' property, aka 'deer and cow country' and just down the hill from where I'm sitting right now. I'm still enjoying going out deer spotting in the early evenings, but I did avoid going on the horse trails last night; I stayed on the paved path along the creek, where you could tell there were less people out than usual, but noticeably more bikers.

I just realized there might be some significance to a strange little story from last week. One of the regular evening dog-walkers (in Pennypack Park) told me that his dog was suddenly afraid to cross the foot-bridge over Rockledge Brook (which runs into Pennypack Creek). I said, "Sometimes they know something [that we don't]," and the owner smiled with an appreciative glance. The bear was sighted yesterday right along Rockledge Brook less than a quarter mile upstream from the foot-bridge.

Spoke with the mailman a couple of hours ago regarding the bear in the area, and told him about the dog afraid to cross the foot-bridge. He then mentioned another strange little story from last week--while delivering mail to the houses whose yards back up to Pennypack Park, particularly the section that Rockledge Brook runs through, a dog from one of the houses was barking like crazy for so long that one of the neighbors called 911. The mailman also told me that a trap for the bear has been set on the Medical Mission Sisters' property.

Some of the local news reports are saying that the bear here is the same bear sighted at the Philadelphia/Bucks County border, like almost 10 miles away. I have a feeling that that is incorrect, and that the bear sighted here yesterday has been around here for over a week now. (Yes, Tony, if we had gone deer spotting along the entire length of the Shady Lane trail last week, we may have encountered more than just those five deer.)

Coincidentally, one of the items the mailman delivered today was a copy of Tracing Eisenman, which I successfully/cheaply bid on last week. To my surprise, the book is signed by Peter Eisenman himself, twice even.

Just got back from a short walk in the park--no deer and no bear sighted, but right at the end of the walk a young woman jogging wearing black sweat pants, a gray tank top and black boxing gloves passed by. I'll tell ya, there's all kinds of unexpected wildlife around here.

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