Mary Lu, I love your multiple line clothesline! Really a very great addition to a cottage property IMO. I had a clothesline at our last property and used it a lot. It was close to the basement door and laundry so was very convenient. I should have planned this house better as there's really no good place for one here. For the first couple of years I had one at the end of the kitchen deck which was 15' off the ground and I was afraid I'd unbalance as I leaned out over the deck railing to hang big sheets. It's either carry heavy baskets of clothes a long distance or risk breaking my neck so I use a dryer or hang things on a folding rack in the basement. I hang many of my clothes after a quick spin in the dryer anyhow as they look better. I must check out the retractable lines - might work somewhere. My DM had an umbrella type which I didn't mind using when we visited. I've had dishwashers for over 40 years except for our first year in Europe and I'd rather eat at McD's (my least fav place to eat) than go without a DW! Different strokes, and all, altho I do think it may be quicker to wash dishes by hand and I could get along with fewer cutlery and dishes. Just never been my fav job and my DH knows how to load the DW, which is even better! ;-D

I don't think cougars (or panthers either) are a big risk factor for humans. We've seen both in our yard and even though they will growl or snarl, or maybe even roar, they pretty much turn their back and walk away. However, there are recorded instances of cougars killing people from time to time, so I never turn my back on them......I do all the standard stuff, backing away slowly while still facing them, waving my arms to make myself look larger, etc. Cougars (and, of course, panthers, coyotes, bobcats, etc.) are a threat to dogs, cats, poultry, etc., so all our animals are locked up securely inside predator-proof buildings at night. Every year some of our neighbors lose domestic animals to wildlife. At least three times we've had neighbors in different locations lose a dozen or more cats in one summer (usually 2 or 3 mamas and their litters of kittens). One of our neighbors heard her little dog bark, walked out the door and saw it in the jaws of a coyote. She ran right at the coyote, yelling and waving her arms, and it dropped her little dog, unharmed. We lost one cat, probably to a coyote (he was spotted near our house the day the cat disappeared) just a few weeks ago. I do take the feral pigs seriously. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, I get the heck out of there if I hear or see feral pigs. They are more common in the more sparsely populated western part of Love County than they are here in central Love County, although the Chickasaw nation has had a lot of trouble with them tearing up the golf course near the casino at Thackerville. The roar/scream of a cougar scares me although I don't mind hearing it from a distance. I am not so crazy about hearing it up close, but that's a very rare occurrence. I enjoy living in the midst of lots of wildlife, but sometimes they come a little too close and that makes me nervous. One of my neighbors, who has lived here for all of his 87 or 88 years, insists he has seen a lynx several times the last few years on his property adjacent to the Red River. I am not convinced it is a lynx, but he insists it is not a bobcat, so who knows? Once, while I was walking three large dogs (a circus in itself), I saw an animal I was convinced was a red wolf, which isn't likely, but I know what I saw! The best logical explanation is that, if it wasn't a red wolf, then it might have been a coyote/Irish Setter cross, but it looked more like a wolf than anything. I can tolerate just about any wild thing here around the house, but not skunks and not venomous snakes. This winter, a neighbor who lives about a mile and a half from us fed stale bread, crackers, etc. to a "starving" coyote that always raises its pups in an area near their stock tank. I don't think I'll ever feed coyotes though. We have had a very large, fearless coyote/dog hybrid around for about 6 or 8 months now. He looks like a cross between a coyote and a golden retriever. One of my "old rancher" neighbors is the one who told me that this very bold and seemingly fearless coyote was a cross between a dog and a coyote. He told me that the only coyotes that have ever killed his calves are the ones that have crossed with dogs.....he says they are fearless and, based on what I have personally observed, I know this one is not afraid of me or our dogs. Around here, it is usually feral dogs, heartlessly dumped "in the country" by their one-time owners, that form packs, roam and kill farm animals. Everyone here shoots them if they catch them killing their calves, colts, goats, etc.

Holy crap...and that's putting it mildly. I got a big kick out of the comments section of that article, too. This sighting is close to where I work...and where my kids live. Since I live rural north of Lake Thunderbird...I've been cautious since Dawn's encounters a coupla years ago. We've had something getting into our garbage recently for the first time since I moved out here 6 years ago. We put a trail camera up and finally caught a pic. My heart stopped when I saw the image because the shape of the body & head, along with the stance said "cat"...and it was a BIG cat at that. DH convinced me it was a dog because of the two large shadows on it's body. I say "convinced"....but not really. They were shadows - not clearly marked "spots". I wish he hadn't erased it so I could post it! This animal was walking around our dumpster just after it knocked it over like it was stalking...checking it out for danger. I can understand and appreciate Scott's point of water & food. Unfortunately, I'm very near the water as a major creek from the lake runs just a mile and a half west from our place. We also have many neighbors with cattle and new calves. I'm hoping they continue to MOVE....far, far away. And if we get another pic, I'll post it.

Scott, I had read about the one in Connecticut last week. Other than that, I haven't kept up much, othern than knowing they didn't think the Tulsa one was an escaped pet. I hadn't heard it likely was from the Black Hills. I have been following the bear news in Texas, where they are coming out of the wild and into some towns in western parts of the state to raid dumpsters and bird feeders and such. We are feeding and watering a lot of deer here and I just this week moved their feeding area about 50 yards further away from the house than it already was because coyotes are showing up. I didn't want coyotes too close to the house and our domestic pets. Overall, I am seeing less and less wildlife every week even though we are maintaining several watering areas and 3 feeding areas to try to help them stay alive. We do, however, have the biggest possum I've ever seen. It is as big as the largest raccoon I've ever seen, and I've seen some really big raccoons. I'm having trouble with hawks swooping down into the yard trying to get our chickens and kittens. Can't do anything about the hawks, so I'm just trying to keep the chickens put up in the chicken run (it has a fencing top over it to keep the hawks out), which ruins the chickens' grasshopper chasing and eating, and have moved all the kittens into the guest room, where they mostly are hiding in the closet. If any predator larger than a coyote is roaming our property, I don't want to know about it. I am worried about feral pigs. They have been an issue in the river bottom lands for years, and some years have been a problem for ranchers out west. They've only been on our property once---during the drought of 2005-2006, and I believe they were here in July-August '06 mostly wallowing in a deep hole that still had water in our creek after the running part of the creek went dry. I'm thinking that since the creek, including the deep hole, is long dry this year, maybe they'll stay away. Dawn