Odysseus has been away from Ithaca for twenty years, and Telemachos is just beginning to take control of his family in the last six months or so. So who's been ruling Ithaca? That's right: Penelope.
The description of how Odysseus' famous bow is strung makes clear it's actually a recurve bow, that has to be strung in a completely different way from a straight bow, looks like one when unstrung, and was a new technological development in the time of the Odyssey. All of this explains why the suitors couldn't string it: they had no idea what they were dealing with. As Penelope obviously knew - hence why she came up with that contest.
Speaking of the bow, one would wonder why it was left home - likely because the Achaeans expected the expedition to Troy to be solved with Priam taking a good look at just how many ships had arrived and turn over Paris (who had also broken Sacred Hospitality), Helen, and the stolen treasure, so Odysseus didn't bother - and when that didn't happen he had to make do with something found there. Luckily, it was easier to find recurve bows there.
It's said that human flesh tastes like pork, hence the euphemism of "long pork" and the trope The Secret of Long Pork Pies. The Odyssey may well be one of the earliest instances of recorded recognition of this, since Circe turns Odysseus' crewmates into pigs, in some versions with the intention of eating them.
