Wildlife

So most of you know I am a Michigander born and raised. And not just a Michigander, a metro Detroiter, very urban, not the hills and wilderness of the UP or anything.

So when a metro Detroiter thinks of wildlife, what comes to mind? Deer, squirrel, an occasional red fox, chipmunk, even a ground hog or two. We're talking nothing, nothing scary, mildly annoying yes, those damn rabbits eating my daisies.... that sort of thing.

So we moved here to Tucson 3 weeks ago. The 1st weekend we drove up to Mt. Lemmon, and saw coyotes along the roadside (yes, they were alive). We know there are mountain lion up there too. And Gila monsters, (I thought that was just a beer, silly me!), javelina of course and some other creepy crawlies, scorpions, rattlers, etc...

We have been house hunting, since we are SERIOUSLY cramped in this TINY 2b/2ba condo that we have until Dec, although none of us will have sanity if we have to be here until Dec. I cannot imagine thanksgiving at a dining room table that isn't even big enough for the 5 of us. Hell, it's really not even big enough for 4. So we found a home to rent, we LOVE the house, the area, the neighborhood, the school, everything... well everything that is until I got an email from a member of the neighborhood moms group. It seems there is a wildlife problem in the neighborhood. And I don't mean chipmunks and rabbits, I mean mountain lions and coyotes in the middle of the neighborhood in the middle of the afternoon. Mountain lions, walking the street, tracking moms and kids and dogs and well... some really scary shit (pardon my language). On 11/5 at 3pm, a mom, her young child and dog were out walking. In the middle of the neighborhood, when all of a sudden she spotted a mountain lion tracking her. She managed to get herself and the dog/kid into a yard safely, but what if she couldn't? What if she had 3 toddlers on bikes? All going in different directions? And at the same time, not far from where this was going on, another mom was out on her driveway playing with her small child, and a coyote runs down the middle of the road, in the direction of the mountain lion.

So... now I have a dilemna. I am literally a nervous wreck. I think I need to be medicated, I am that nervous about this. I can't imagine having to worry every single time I set foot out of the house, and God forbid one of the kids wants to go outside and play... EVER... crap.

I know these things aren't a daily occurance. But since nobody has any way of knowing when it will happen, you have to be ready for it to happen at any time. And quite frankly, this is something I am totally ok with NEVER knowing. But I have to for my kids, my dogs... myself.

I want to be back in Michigan.