Lived there for 21 years and only encountered one rattlesnake that was curled up in some grass under the deck. Fortunately, I found and killed it before our Yellow Labrador had a chance to try to be friends with it.
Funny you should mention bears. They were an occasional problem in the dry years when food became scarce. The game wardens relocated or destroyed (repeat offenders) about 8 bears that they trapped by our house. As to why we moved, a 3 story house on steep property and over an hour from shopping, doctors, etc. was not a place to grow old (67). We never planned to stay there and once the children/grand children were all settled in Texas (Lubbock/Austin/Dallas), it was the obvious place to go after I retired.
