The big news in the Vancouver area these past few days has been about a couple of bear encounters. In the worst one, a woman was gardening in her yard in Coquitlam when a bear snuck up on her and attacked her. It was only with the help of a passerby that she managed to survive. It seems the bear wanted to eat her.

We had our own bear incident at the kids' school a couple of months ago. Somebody saw a bear and the school was put in lockdown. Police and conservation officers responded, but the bear was never found.

I have my own theory about the school bear incident. A few days before the bear sighting I saw a large, stray, rough looking German Shepherd dog hanging around our yard (we live very near to the school). I'm 99% sure that's what the bear was; just a stray dog. But of course we made the evening news with reports of a bear terrorizing the school.

Interestingly, I noticed the garbage cans around the school were immediately replaced with the bear proof variety.

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I can hardly believe this, but the kids will no longer be attending the above mentioned school in September. Instead, they will both be going to their first year of high school. Unbelievable!

Next thing you know they'll be graduating.

When I look at my kids these days I can't believe how big they've become. They're almost fully grown.

Another thing I can't believe is how much food they eat.

It's a sentiment I've expressed many times before, but I'll say it again: I really wish there was some way to slow this process down. Kids grow up so fast. They will both be teenagers in a few months, and it seems like it won't be all that much longer before they'll both be finished school and ready to leave home.

Perish the thought!

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Copyright ©2008, David Vanderbyl