Scott, I agree with every single word you said, except for that "Roll Tide" comment. LOL I cannot imagine the wildlife management folks would do anything to harm the mountain lions and, in fact, I'd rather it not come to that. In a perfect world, they'd trap and relocate them to very remote areas and wildlife refuges, not that there's any guarantee the cougars would stay in that area since they are going to follow their food source, so to speak. Of course, it isn't a perfect world. I have watched the NW wolf re-introduction program with great interest too and feel like the feds have made some mistakes that have led to great mistrust of them and their program. I wish they'd had a better/more efficient plan to deal with the problem wolves preying on domestic ranch animals right from the start. I'm merely hoping for a better year here at our place in 2010 with no real big kitties visiting the garden. Maybe I shouldn't have planted that whole row of catnip and catmint for my kitties and it is right along that garden fenceline too. Roll Tide? So, you support Alabama? Having suffered through OU's bowl game, and then TCU's and UT's, I'm just glad the bowl game season is over. At least the Dallas Cowboys are still hanging in there, and that gives us a little something to watch as we wait for seed-starting time and planting time to arrive. With the Florida sub-species, I'd like to see them thrive and grow because they have their role in the ecosystem. What will happen, though, if they start preying on animals or being a threat to people? What will happen if they start moving into Georgia and other areas? The 'idea' of having them around is easy, but the reality seems harder to manage. Jay, I felt exactly the same way when I read the post from our visitor from Texas. At first I wasn't going to say a word but then I thought I'd make the points I made. Maybe this is a person who has no idea of the danger involved in having large predator animals hanging out in people's front and back yards. I have found there are lots of people who have no clue about wildlife. When someone tells me they think it would be "cool" to walk out their door and see wolves or bears or cougars 'out there', I just shake my head. Let's not forget the elderly couple here in Love County that was attacked by that buck this fall. The one thought that sticks in my mind is the statement that our undersheriff made about how there was so much human blood on the ground when he arrived that he figured someone had to be dead. I'm glad they survived, and now whenever I see one of "our" deer hanging out around the pond or compost pile, I head right inside the house and wait for it to leave before I come back outside. The last two weeks we've had both coyotes and bobcats on our property, and I know this because the coyotes are leaving scat and both the coyotes and bobcats left tons of tracks in the snow and mud (thankfully the mud is about to dry up.) In an odd way, seeing them around a lot is good because they become a lot more scarce when something bigger and meaner than them is nearby. Dawn

Rickey, Of course it was Fred. Who else his age is out driving around visiting gardeners in the middle of the afternoon? LOL If you see Billy Fred, do see if you can find out what he knows because he may know more details. Nowadays, when I ask Fred "who" he is talking about, he often can't remember names and will say something like 'you know...that guy that lives over yonder' and, of course, I have no clue who he means. Having said that, I hope that when I am Fred's age (and I'm not sure what it is but think right around 90?) I still get around as well as he does. Sometimes I do have to get Billy Fred to tell me who his dad is talking about because, while Fred always seems to have his facts straight, he does have trouble remembering names now and then. I had wondered about those goats....about how he keeps them safe because I've never seen any kind of guardian dog like a Great Pyrenees out there with them. I heard a loud growling this morning from the woods oddly enough (and I was inside the house and it sounded like it was right there in the room with me!) and it about scared me to death. As far away as your house is from ours, it is odd we've both heard that growling sound recently. It isn't like we're so close geographically that we'd hear the same growl at the same time. I've never heard this sound before and I pretty much thought I'd heard everything there is to hear around here. The dogs were going nuts in their dog yard, and I ran downstairs and didn't see a thing, but the cats were on the porch wanting to come inside. After that growling sound, I canceled my plans to work in the yard. James, I feel like much of what you say is true, but we have both good and bad government employees and always will. I know sometimes the local wildlife people seem to say whatever the 'official' story line is but their eyes and body language are telling you something else. Our local law enforcement officers are pretty good about telling us to 'do what you have to do' to stay safe, because they know they can't be everywhere at once. They also come as quickly as they can when called, but with only 1 or 2 or 3 county deputies/reserve deputies on duty at a time, their response time can be frustratingly slow. Game bird, I promise, if you tell me you see three dinosaurs crossing the road, I'll believe you. And. on a funnier note....Chris was 15 when we moved here and had a huge iguana named Alex. He built Alex a nice roomy outdoor pen, but somehow Alex would escape and run around although he always came back to the cage when he was hungry. We alerted our neighbors, and I showed Alex to Bill one day. We were watching Alex from the road and he climbed to the top of the pecan tree, which was then losing its leaves for autumn, so you could see Alex very clearly. At that point he was about 5' long. When Bill saw him, he said he needed to warn his wife and daughters because he feared they'd about run off the road and wreck their vehicles if Alex ever ran out into the road in front of them. Bill was afraid the women in his family would think Alex was an alligator. Carol, I do think a lot of people know exactly how to play the system. Tim and Chris both work at D-FW Airport, which is incorporated just like a city, and has a large Department of Public Safety consisting of police, fire and emergency medical personnel employees. Their department has several hundred employees and most are wonderful, but there are a couple that of virtually worthless. How people like that keep their jobs is just beyond me. Dawn

Oh yes, I live in an unincorporated area and am dealing with severe redneck neighbor problems for over 12 years now. I am convinced there are more "neighbors from he**" than normal neighbors in this world... welcome to our club. The joy of living in an unincorporated area is that nothing is a code violation unless it is a hazard to public safety (which the paintballs could be considered.) or a health code violation. No trespassing cannot be enforced without posting the no trespassing signs. Law enforcement will tell you that first off. Keep a charged up video camera on premises so you can catch them in the act. video is better than a still photo, but take photos of anything suspicious you see. (paintballed signs) Document and date all instances in a notebook used strictly for NFH documentation purposes. If you are doing construction invest the $500 in a video surveillance and put up a sign saying the premises is under video surveillance. Will discourage vandals and thieves for the most part. Construction in rural areas WILL get vandalized, it is a BIG problem here where we live. Make your local law enforcement (unincorporated usually means county sheriff) aware of the paintball problem. Or any other severe problem you are having. Don't call them for every little thing, you will have to roll with some punches now that you are out of city limits. it doesn't matter if you are just outside city limits... if you are unincorporated all sanity goes out the window at least in our county. We are living within 1 mile of $1 million plus homes. And I can write a book on what we are expected to deal with because of farm zoning. (that's another post though) Note: that we have had WAY more neighbor problems in our semi-rural unincorporated area than we had living in the city, so if you are moving to the country to get away from that... fat chance. Lots more vandalism for sure. Sometimes those country kids get bored and like to raise he**. In fact, get to know your local law enforcement agents. Mention you have small children and are worried about the paintballing. Have the law enforcement non-emergency number at the ready - on your cell phone. if you are out on the property, make sure you take the cell phone with you. If they confront YOU about anything. Don't get riled up, don't say anything. They will twist it around and make you the bad guy. Do not engage with an irrational neighbor. If you find they are continually unstable, contact them only through legal counsel or law enforcement. Get a fence put up all around the property. Get a good survey first though, don't want any neighbor crying about it. And they will - cause that is what NFH do! Electric or barbed wire is good. Or good old chain link. Document if the fence is compromised. These people have a big problem with people tellling them what to do. When you start to crack down on them - they get worse and worse and worse - an "I'll show you attitude". I can see how aggravated you would be at that minister's attitude. Nothing worse to me than religious people who can't practice what they preach. Are they reading the same bible we all are? Here's hoping your situation will get better and not escalate like mine is! Not to make you paranoide BUT some of these tips are to be used in "worst case scenarios" only, like if your neighbors DON'T back off. They are things I wished I knew when starting off in our unincorporated residence. Good luck!

Right now, I've nicknamed our place the Hillbilly Homestead. When we moved, we downsized from 3 generous outbuildings, to...none. So everything is under tarps until DH gets the garage built. Gah. It's quite a sight. The house is in desperate need of siding, Tyvek flapping in the breeze and all. Freezers on the front porch. Yikes. Our poor neighbors. It'll be pretty when it's done, though, and the views of the rolling fields, old stone fences, and sunsets over the wetlands are marvelous. So, I just stay inside and enjoy the view over the piles to the wildness beyond. ; )