I'm sure many of you heard this story: this weekend, a mountain lion killed a bicyclist who had stopped to fix a tire, and not long afterwards it mauled a woman (who survived.)

The park where this happened is 20 miles from my house, and I've hiked there a few times.

Half my mountain hikes last year were by myself.

The more we build our houses next to former wilderness, the more wild life shows up in "our" neighborhood. Unfortunately, we provide them easy food with pets left outdoors at night. The more we go into their territory, and the more animals come into our neighborhood, the less afraid they are of us. It's sobering, but much less dangerous than what our grandparents faced every day.

Hikers and cyclists were interviewed the day after this incident, and most said they would not change their activities. I agree. There's more chance of death every time we drive a car. We forget that we're part of a larger ecosystem, until we step into the woods and become just another animal in the forest.

Great thoughts! I didn't hear about this and I'm surprised. We hear about every other tragedy know to man on our evening news. My husband and I often ask why they have to share all the tragedies from ohter states and countries. For gosh sakes, can't they find anything else to report about?

I like your attitude and you're so right about getting in a car! I don't know about where you live, but it use to be that you could pull away from a traffic light when it changed without looking left and right, but these days I always check before proceeding. Everyone's in such a hurry!