DA BEARS: The bears are up and about – and hungry – so be on the
lookout.

Rick Grandinetti phoned last week to tell us a bear had been
snooping around his Gates Hollow neighborhood for a couple of
nights.

“He is doing damage,” Rick tells us, “he broke into my shed –
broke the door right in half … and pulled out 20 pounds of dog food
in a garbage can and ate all but about 5 pounds of it.”

Rick dutifully repaired the door but on Night Two, the bear was
back and again broken down the door.

“I was going to go out and fix it again but I thought, forget
it, I’m just going to get a new one.”

Rick figures the bear is big: It’s footprint in the snow
measured 12 inches long, 8 inches wide. “I haven’t seen him yet …
but heard him running up through bushes when I pulled up.”

BE QUIET!: Our column Monday about the highway carnage during
amphibian mating season – “crow food” – brought a response from
Robin Kuleck of Emporium:

“This morning’s RTS brings to mind a recent conversation I had
with a Chester County native who now lives in Potter County.

“When I inquired about what brought her family north, she
described how over the years, large farm tracts were being consumed
with housing subdivisions and urban families were relocating to
them.

“I know my Cooperative Extension peers in that area provide
community programming that address urban-rural interface issues
such as farm smells and driving behind slow-moving tractors, but
this revelation puts a whole new spin on that topic.

“My new acquaintance tolerated numerous changes in her home
county, but the final straw was when she read a letter to the
editor, written by a new resident, requesting that someone do
something to take care of the incessant peeping!”

Most of us, of course, welcome those spring peepers whose song
tells us the long winter is nearly over. But, lest we forget, it
needs to freeze the peepers three times before spring has truly
arrived. And we’ve yet to hear even the first peep.

We’re encouraged, though, by Monday’s sunshine and warmer
temperatures and by the recent opening of the Custer City
tastee-freeze. There will be no stopping us after this weekend when
we “spring ahead” to Daylight Savings Time.