Happy Birthday Paul!

Happy 68th Paul!

I originally was going to use this story for a Throwback Thursday, but every now and then I like to do a birthday post for someone in my family and include an old story of that person.

A while back, we went for a ride to Otis and Tolland State Forest. Paul wanted to see where the entrance to the camping place was because he used to camp there with his parents when he was young. 

He told me the story of one day walking to the general store in the center of East Otis to get something for his mother. It was quite a way away. We figured it was about a 5 mile round-trip, which seems incredible to me for a kid of 10 or so. He said that it had gotten dark on his way back and an owl screeched right next to him and scared the life out of him. He got back after dark and his mother was quite worried.

That same day while we driving around, we saw a bear in the front yard of the headquarters of the Tolland State Forest. He was just browsing around, sniffing, and even walked up on their deck.

We watched him for what seemed like a long time.  Eventually a lady came walking across the street with two dogs, one of which was not on a leash.  A forest ranger type person came out of the headquarters and shooed the bear away because she was afraid of a confrontation with the bear and the dog.

It was fun seeing that bear from the car, but I'm so glad that 10-year-old Paul didn't see one on his way to or from the general store!