The wild west...

When my dad found out my wife and I were moving to California, he good-naturedly reminded me that the whole state was going to fall off into the ocean sometime soon and warned me of all kinds of supposed dangers that are natural and unnatural in the Golden State.

What he really meant to say was, "I'm getting older, and if you and Judy move that far away I'm not sure how many more times we'll get to see each other." I understood where he was coming from, and I appreciated it.

The fact is he did come out to visit one time and he loved California, or at least the part of it he got to see, and he was happy for us. He died about 2 1/2 years ago, but I still think of him often. I definitely thought of him today when a mountain lion was shot and killed just a few blocks from our house in Palo Alto.

Dad didn't list mountain lions in urban areas as a potential danger, and I wouldn't have thought of that myself, but there one was, hungry and in town looking for a meal. The Palo Alto police made the call to kill the lion, and given all the circumstances it was the right thing to do. Not everyone agrees, of course, and that is part of what will help make this the talk of the town for a while.

I'm a little sad about the big cat, trying to make ends meet in a very tough Silicon Valley economy, but he was clearly in a place where he didn't belong. I wonder if his dad told him about the dangers of living here.