Susan and I went to a neighbor's house on the 4th of July for a bit of a picnic. It was a lot of fun, and I got a chance to get to know a few of my neighbors a little better.

One of those neighbors in attendance has a ranch to the east of us. I'm not talking about some sort of 35 acre horse ranchette like is all the rage here in Douglas County these days, but one of the original homesteads.

One of my favorite things is to meet and talk with the long time residents of the area, so this was a special treat. We talked about everything from collecting old cameras to raising llamas with cattle to the local wildlife to dealing with coyotes.

This neighbor of mine has been here a long time. A very long time. He told me he started collecting old cameras because they were cheap.

He told me the llamas like to spit on him.

He told me he was getting tired of shooting coyotes.

He told me one year he shot 80 of them.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

Down here in southern Douglas County there is still a sense of the way things used to be. The land is more open than farther north, and thanks to some open space agreements it will hopefully stay that way for awhile.

Still, the wildlife is being pushed. We see pronghorns, but not as many. We see elk, just not as often, and on the buttes if you know where to look you can find the bighorn sheep. There are hawks and falcons and two of my neighbors have recently seen a mountain lion in the area.

I haven't really gone looking for rattlesnakes in a while, so it has been some time since I saw one. They seem to be getting scarce. People tell us not to put out hummingbird feeders because of the bears, but what the heck. You get older and you start watching the hummingbirds more. It's been about 5 years since we saw a bear here, anyway.

Still, it's a sense of how things were. But that's all it is.

But that's not really my point.

I wonder how many people moving into Douglas County in the last few years felt they were "getting away from it all".

You know, "moving to the country".

"Looking for that small town atmosphere".

I mean, that's what I was doing. I'll bet if you have lived here more than 5 years that's what you were doing, too.

Unfortunately (or maybe you just don't care), Douglas County is turning urban.

Heck, maybe you do care and are happy for it. Maybe you researched the schools and the amenities and the rate of return on investing in an oversized cookie cutter house and now you're sitting in the Meadows reading this.

I just hope you're not pissed about the price of gas and your water bill.

For two nonrenewable resources they both still appear to me absurdly cheap. I know, I'm digressing and I'm getting off subject.

I hate it when I get off subject. Digressing though, I've been doing that for years.

I read this morning that one study says we can expect upwards of another 2.6 million people here along the Front Range in the next 30 years. That we owe it all to our good economic foundation. That we are fortunate.

There are times when I consider such statements to be the curse of capitalism.

My brother has a place up off of Ridge Road in Castle Rock, and years ago I lived there for a time. It was wide open and once I got used to it, really beautiful.

Back then, at this time of year, when the mornings are cool and the prairie is alive before the heat of the day, you could hear the meadowlarks singing in the wide open space across the way that has since become Founder's Village.

I was wondering the other day how many residents of Founder's Village, or The Meadows, or Red Hawk , or Castle Pines North for that matter, have ever heard the call of a meadowlark across an open prairie on a summer's morning.

Eighty coyotes in one year. Wow.