Okay, here is MY bobcat story. You all probably know that I have spent many, MANY hours hiking, birding and canoeing in the Florida wild places. Ever since I was in my 20's, I have wanted to see a bobcat. However, apparently bobcats have never wanted to see ME. No matter where I was or who I was with, or how often bobcats had been spotted in the area previously, years and years and years went by, and I never saw a single one. Once when I was birding in the very early hours of the morning on Anhinga Trail in the Everglades, I saw a Florida panther strolling down the road in front of my car. She stopped and watched us long enough for me to get out my telescope (or stellatope as Tabby calls it) and enjoy some close up views of her. I mean, I saw one of the rarest animals in Florida, if not in the country, but I still hadn't seen a bobcat. (Which are quite plentiful, btw). Fast forward a few years and I'm approaching 60 with no bobcat viewings to look back on fondly. After walking many a mile in the woods and swamps and fields of the state...not a one. But one afternoon, driving home from Publix, down a urban road in Lake Mary, next to a subdivision, just past a church, a mile from a school, nowhere near a woods...there, streaking across the road in front of my car was...yes...a BOBCAT!!! My one and only glimpse of one was practically in the Publix parking lot! I have to say I almost ran the car off the road in excitement. Boy, if I thought I could entice BOBCATS into my backyard, I would tie the squirrels to tiny little stakes as lures!! They are beautiful animals, and so clever and crafty. Lucky you, GP, to have seen one in your own YARD!!! Now THAT'S a garden!! Marcia

A neighbor was trapping coyotes. They are killing his livestock and such. There are so many of them. We live a couple hours away and a neighbor was checking them daily while he was away. He called and told us there was a bobcat trapped. My husband drove right down and drove up on the hill. It was dark so they knew they couldn't release it. My hubby knew he needed to leave a piece of clothing close by for the human sent so a coyote wouldn't kill it. He left a jacket on a bush. They are a protected specie. We don't trap but you can't stop someone else from doing it when it is legal to do so. We just keep an eye on them because they are close to our property.

Well, we had our first viewer today! The lady [50's and single] very impressed! Exactly what she has been looking for. Loved the location, property, and privacy. We shall see what will happen. Loralee: 1) We cannot subdivided any smaller than what we have. We have a large Dairy farm 1/2 mile North [cannot smell it], and a large beef farm to the west. Even if we could, it wouldn't be worth trying as those neighbours would fight it, as it would cause problems for their livelihood. If you look at the one photo I posted with the 2 cattle sheds you will see in the far distance our dairy neighbours house. Ours is small and plain in comparison, so I do not think we over built. 2) We built 5 years ago as our old mobile home we had already lived it for 17 yrs old just wasn't cutting it anymore. We built with the intent to live here till we retired, but life has a way of changing plans, and my husband's job place closed down and he bought into a prospering business, everything we do is in town, and with your farming background, then you know what the BSE meant to cattle farmers, which we were as well. Sometimes you need to know when to cut your loses. Its time for a new chapter of our lives to begin. 3) We are renting our our cultivated acres to our dairy neighbour, and rent out our pasture as well. My husband manufactures large bale wagons as well from his shop in the back. No more farming for us. 4) The quality of our land is not exactly for potatoes. We live on a gravel ridge, with awesome drainage, but is better suited for cattle. The cultivated land is great for alfalfa, or cattle corn. We know our property is directed at a specific buyer, and are willing to wait. It only takes one person. Not too worried if Wpg people aren't interested. 5) Yes, we did get different realtors opinions.

The comments here are very interesting, but there is not a lot of actual good advice. I built a concrete fence last year on the property line, so i actually do know the legal ins and outs about it. By-law officers showed up many times to check on things during construction. The first thing to note that is very important is that the neighbor building the fence, can apply to the city for a "right of access" permit at which point these is nothing that you can do to stop them accessing your property, depending on the city it usually costs about $250. these permits are very common and are normally issued for construction and maintenance purposes. however, that simply gives them the allowance to access a per-determined part your property and other specified things, like: to dig the trench. it does not allow ANY of the concrete to be on your property. the concrete can touch the property line, but cannot go over it. legally when completed they have to return your property to a similar or better state to how they found it, That's the Law. However, the real world is far more messy. There are a few things to consider here, ----------------------------------- The first to consider is the concrete footers, they are generally 5 feet below ground (where it freezes) and are needed to stabilize the concrete above them, they usually stick out 6 inches on both sides Now your can definitely stop them from putting any footers onto your side. BUT not having footers on your side can over time destabilize the wall, and make it move / lean / fall over / etc.. in the direction of the missing footer. remember ground is not rock, and it moves and shifts with time. So even knowing that you can stop the footer from being on your side of the property line, there is a very big question about what to do 5 years later when it starts shifting / leaning much more into your property... Personally i recommend, Negotiate! there are things that you can get out of this. ------------------------------------ Next is Fit and Finnish, the concrete that sticks out of the ground should be rendered to make it look nice. this will cost money, and so long as your neighbor doesn't do it on his side in the first month of two, he legally doesn't have to do it to your side, at all. this is considered the equivalent to him painting his side of the fence. ------------------------------------ Next is drainage, any concrete structure should be surrounded by a drainage pipe to help move water around the structure and stop water pressure underground from pushing on the structure causing it to move / fail. Again this will cost money, and legally does NOT have to be done. ------------------------------------ In Conclusion : obviously your neighbor can simply use the right of access permit like a big club to get what he wants. but at the end of the day, your neighbor will want you to be happy with the end results to avoid future problems. so Negotiate! let him build his concrete foundation, AND have the footers on your side underground. BUT mandate that he has to have your side nicely rendered, and place a drainage pipe on your side to make sure water will properly drain around this structure. ALSO mandate that you get to pick the look of the fence to sit above this concrete foundation. ----------------------------------- The last thing anyone want to to have to fight about how to fix anything in 5 to 10 years Here is a picture of my steal reinforced concrete fence. (it looks the same on all sides) (capping stones are waiting to go on the top, Covid-19 has delayed getting them on for months.)