Again, I've been living in the middle of the woods, 33 acres of trees and rock, in Nottingham, New Hampshire (southern part of the state -- midway between Portsmouth and Concord).

The closest I've come to being threatened by wild animals was the persistence of and refusal to pay rent by a bunch of flying squirrels who set up housekeeping in the dormer. Gray squirrels tear around the outside of the house and peer in the windows and make faces at the cats. We also had/have a gray squirrel "terrarium" between the inner and outer panes in a window in the living room. It's kinda cool to watch mama rear her younguns from nursing stage to teaching them how to leave the window. We also had a nursery colony of Little Brown Bats in the peak of the roof. The only danger there is the thought of the amount of fertilizer above my head. Since the house was tightened up and the peak of the bedroom ceiling sealed last year, that's not something that really concerns me. Thought for a while there, though, that we should get a grant or something as a wildlife refuge.

A young opossum ran up to Tom's feet one night when he came home from The Press Room. He looked up at Tom, thought to himself "This isn't Mom" and hightailed it under the deck. Early one summer morning I stepped out onto the quarterdeck with a cup of tea in my hand and saw movement to the left -- some smallish white critter was weaving between my flower pots. At first I thought it was a cat, but it turned out to be an almost all white skunk. We watched each other. I stood there with my tea and he kept an eye on me as he crossed the deck in front of me and disappeared down the steps and under the deck.

We've had good-sized raccoons, porcupines, woodchucks (not the Vermont variety), fox, fishers and a couple normal-sized coyotes. There have been troops (parades?) of wild turkeys. The beaver stay on the other side of the road in the marshy ponds off Gravel Pit Road (which is too rough for cars). Deer regularly nibble my hostas, but I'm trying to put a stop to that. Or else they tear across the driveway as if being chased by Elmer Fudd and leap the stone wall uphill into my neighbor's field above us.

The moose hang out around the power lines. I've only seen them when they come out to graze in the marsh I can see from Rte. 4. Black bear seem to like the more populated areas -- an adolescent dashed across Rte 125 in front of me within sight of Lee Traffic Circle and a couple shopping centers. Another full grown one was in a grassy area close to Sagamore Golf Course on the ocean side of I-95.

The most dangerous to ME are the deer when they cross the road in front of my car. Twice I've had as close of an encounter as you can have without doing damage to neither deer nor car. The last time the doe jumped out of nowhere (wooded area) and landed smack in front of me -- driver's side of the car and I was going about 35mph. Before I could even respond, she was gone in a clatter of tiny hooves. (It was July and my car windows were open.) Only by the grace of God and the fact she was going like a bat out of hell saved both of us. Now THAT was scary. At night I watch for shadows or eyes up ahead...

Mostly leave 'em alone and you'll be okay. If the animal is not acting normal or seems sick, call the animal officer, police or Fish & Game. Don't do anything stupid.

We've got bobcats out there, too, and at least one Eastern Mountain Lion although no one will officially admit it. But they're shy and don't like to be seen (while they're keeping the deer and other populations down).

Linn