Category Archives: Interesting Things

Better Pictures of Bobcat

Interesting Things, Neighborhood Events, Safety

I received these pictures from a neighbor.  She said “The bobcat has been coming to our house quite a bit now. We always take our dog out on a leash. The bobcat comes up to our slider and wags its tail when our dog barks at it. “

It appears that our Neighborhood Bobcat has become quite accustom to humans.  This is not a good thing. Remember it is a wild animal and use great care if it is around. Always have your animals on a leash when you are out with them. Lets enjoy looking at our Bobcat , but don’t try to touch it.

PS: This time when I sent out notices I got the warning on my copy that “This may be a Phishing message”.  In my case you can ignore the message, but be vigilant for real phishing messages. (KH)

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Do we have Bears in the Neighborhood again?

Interesting Things, Neighborhood Events, Neighborhood Security, Safety

One of my neighbors was walking down Jennifer Court and spotted what he thought was bear scat.  He sent me a picture and it looked the same as the Bear scat we found in the Neighborhood several years ago. It appears that the scat consists mostly of the remains of cherries.  Since as far as  I know, we do not have cherry trees around here, if they are cherries they must have come from someone’s home.

I have added the picture I was sent.  If you have an opinion that it is something other than Bear scat, feel free to let me know at kahalljr@comcsast.net.

Addendum: A Neighbor texted me with the information that they have a cherry tree in their backyard and the last time  we had a bear in the Neighborhood it was eating from their cherry tree.  The scat looked the same as below.

Scat

Bobcat den in our area?

Interesting Things, Neighborhood Events, Neighborhood Security, Safety

My next-door neighbors saw a much smaller version of the bobcat I saw several weeks ago.  Did not get a picture though. The bobcats may have established a den nearby and are raising a litter. Now we appear to have cayotes and Bobcats looking for a meal in our neighborhood.  Take care of your cats and small dogs.

For those who did not see it.  Here is the photo I got previously of the adult Bobcat.

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View Machu Picchu on your computer

Interesting Things

I received a link for a virtual tour of Machu Picchu from a family member.  It looks just like I remember it, even though it was long ago when I went there with my wife.  I sent  the link to Dav Eide for his suggestions and he thought, as I do, that I should share it with the Neighborhood.

Go to this link, and Google Earth will pop up (It takes a while to load the presentation so be patient).  When it finishes loading you can click a red balloon or one of the pictures on the list at the right. It’ll zoom in and you can click to walk around like you are really there. It’ll have little white arrow things once you zoom in (screenshot at bottom)  and you click those arrows and it will walk you that direction, plus you can look up and down just by clicking any area on the screen.  It will take several hours to explore Machu Picchu, but you can go back to it as often as you like.

https://earth.google.com/web/@-13.16070387,-72.53759399,2092.02815297a,3842.87972043d,35y,0h,59.94192371t,0r/data=Ci4SLBIgMjRiNWFhNTFlOGExMTFlNmJhN2U2ZjgxOGQ2OWE2ZTciCG92ZXJ2aWV3

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Elk in the Neighborhood?

Interesting Things

Bull Elk

Bull Elk 2

I have lived in our house since 1987 and this is the first time I have seen an elk in my back yard, or for that matter anywhere around the Neighborhood. I’ve seen plenty of deer, some quail, possums, racoons, coyotes, a pheasant, squirrels, bats, a bear, and even a wayward peacock, but never before have I seen an elk.  But at 0211hrs 25 Sept 2022 a young bull elk showed up on my cameras. I was getting jealous. My daughter who lives near Bonny Lake (seven miles from me as the crow flies) sees them often on her property.

Just yesterday a mother deer with her twin fauns (from this year) bedded down on my front lawn for several hours, only moving slowly away when I had to go to the library to pick up a book.

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Thank You!

Interesting Things

On the morning of 18 August at 7:13 AM two of our neighbors were out walking when they came across the mess left by the people who tipped over the trash bins in front of Wayne Flood’s home. Instead of walking around the mess, they stopped and cleaned it up. They did not have to do it, but they did.   We just want to say:

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Portable Camera Stations Graham Washington

Interesting Things, Public Service Announcements

I was recently chastised by one of our neighbors because of my post about home security cameras and how the police are depending on them more and more to help them solve crimes.  While I was communicating with Dav Eide who runs the technical side of our Neighborhood Camera Network and Blog he sent me the below information:

Ironically, when I was shopping with Peggy Ann yesterday at the Graham Fred Meyer, I captured some photographs of a portable camera station.

The checkers at the Fred Meyer said this equipment was placed due to a big increase in homeless folks in the area and shoplifting at that store.

The checkers said the cameras stations were helping. See attached images. I was thinking about posting the pictures.

So, bottom line.  I’m sorry if my mentioning Security Cameras so frequently upsets some of our neighbors, but in today’s world I think it is important that we provide the police all the help we can give them.  Home security cameras will provide some of that help.

Portable Camera Station- Graham Fred Meyer

FM-1

 

Proposed new road from Tehaleh subdivision to SR162

Interesting Things, Neighborhood Activity

 

Luke Rambo has asked that I provide an update on the SR162Traffic.org meetings I sometimes attend.  I was planning on doing this at the last Sunrise Terraces meeting but was unable to attend.   —- Wayne Reibold

  • I attend some of the periodic SR162Traffic.org meetings.  They’re very eager to involve Sunrise Terraces residents in their activity.  Currently I’m the only Sunrise Terraces resident that attends the meetings and I’m unable to attend all of them.  Anyone interested in attending meetings please e-mail me your interest at WynsWrld98@yahoo.com and I’ll put you in touch with the SR162Traffic.org meeting coordinator.  sr162traffic.org has a lot of information on their activity and also a link to their Facebook page where you can request to become a member and follow the activity.
  • The attached map shows the activity on/around SR162 that SR162Traffic.org is involving themselves as oversight.  A very notable thing on the map is a new FIVE LANE road being built from Tehaleh to intersect SR162 at 128th St E.  It is expected to be open within 5 years.  This road is of particular concern for many Sunrise Terraces residents due to it being so wide at five lanes and that it runs angled from south to north making it more visible to some Sunrise Terraces residents when looking towards Mt Rainier vs if the new road was running angled north to south.  The County will be putting very tall silver street lights along the new road which will make the road especially visible to some Sunrise Terraces residents at night.  SR162Traffic.org requested of the County that the street light poles be painted green or brown to blend but this was denied since it is a County standard for them to be silver and they can’t make an exception just for one project in the County.
  • Tehaleh (see attachment) is planning on having 9,500 “residential units” (including apartments, duplexes and single family residences) at full build out.  It’s believed currently there are over 1,000.  What this will do to the already significant traffic on Military Road/122nd St E is alarming since it’s the likely artery to get from Tehaleh to Puyallup/South Hill.  And of course the load it will add to the already overloaded SR162…  Here is a link of importance: https://sr162traffic.org/Military-Road-2/Tehaleh Map
  • One of the main things SR162Traffic.org is trying to accomplish is to make sure signals are placed at the intersection of SR162 and 128th St E vs a roundabout that is the current plan.  The SR162Traffic.org proposal is two left turn lanes from southbound SR162 going onto the new road to Tehaleh to keep evening traffic moving.  The decision for a roundabout at that intersection is deemed flawed due to not considering the unique nature of that intersection such as the large number of gravel trucks that travel up and down SR162 that will undoubtedly result in long delays at the roundabout since a gravel truck would require a lot of space to get through the roundabout as well as increased accidents of cars and gravel trucks interacting in a roundabout.  SR162Traffic.org is pushing for proper modeling of this intersection which should show a roundabout is a very bad idea and that signals would be far safer and better move traffic.  But there is a big push for roundabouts so it’s a challenging situation.
  • As shown on the attached map the County may do a study to extend 128th St E up the hill as an access point to South Hill to take some traffic load off of Military Road/122nd St E.  The County is also discussing widening Military Road to 3 lanes but only a short distance west of SR162 due to the “cliff” that exists that would be very expensive to deal with.  It is expected none of these studies would happen until after the new Tehaleh road opens.  The County states its top priority right now is the work they’re doing on Canyon Road extending it from where it ends at Pioneer Way East in Puyallup to 70th Avenue E in Fife.SR162TrafficDotOrg Map
  • NOTE: You can click on the map above to enlarge it on your computer.
  • The current plan is to put several roundabouts on SR162 including at the intersection of Military Road/122nd St E and 128th St E among others.  SR162Traffic.org is against this plan and is pushing for signals.
  • Regarding possible widening of SR162 between Orting and SR410 the only thing being discussed long-term is to add ONE lane.  You’d think four or five lanes would be a good idea due to how much traffic already travels on SR162 but the reason even SR162Traffic.org isn’t pushing for that is they want to keep the area more rural with farms vs a large highway running through the area.  There is talk of having an alternate corridor parallel to SR162 east of it to get people (especially from Tehaleh) up towards SR410/Sumner/Bonney Lake.  The road being discussed is McCutcheon Road East/Riverside Road East.  Many people including myself take the back roads in this area during rush hour to avoid some of the SR162 traffic between Military Road E/122nd St E and SR410.
  • New Tehaleh Road Level 3 Reforestation (see attachment) to deal with removal of trees/foliage during excavation – this is something Tehaleh brought up as a probable “mitigation” they would have to do and that they seemed quite willing to do.  Pierce County has not yet required it.  That’s where we all might come in…to push the County to require it so Tehaleh can’t change their mind and do anything less.  It needs to be in writing from the County to be sure we really get it.Tehaleh_L3_Landscape