Monthly Archives: September 2022

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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Home Break-In

Neighborhood Security, Safety

I received the information below from Kim and Rich Amsden who live across 122nd from our Neighborhood. It is a sorry state that we live in today when things like this happen.  The Amsdens said that the police no longer have a person who can look through video recordings for relevant pictures. One way to solve this is to print out hard copies of the pictures they need to see and burn a disk with short clips showing the bad guys.  These will help if the police do catch the bad guys.

The homeowners in our area might consider an alarm system like one offered by SimpliSafe at SimpliSafe.com.  It is a do it yourself installation which is easy to install and can be monitored by SimpliSafe. The Police report Number for the break-in is 2224601550 (Burglary).  By the  way, the homeowner did just the right thing by calling the Police and waiting outside the house, because someone might have been still inside. Since the break-in the Amsdens have added an alarm system and have cameras and sensor lights installed.

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Just wanted to let you know that yesterday, September 3rd, between 10:30 am and 4:30 pm I came home to find that our house had been broken into, and items were stolen. Our garage door that opens to let your car in had been forcibly opened (it was open about quarter way when I arrived home). Our door into the house from the garage, that was deadbolted closed, was destroyed with wood shavings all over the floor, and the baseboard around the door wrecked. Inside, a wallet, a purse, and a new laptop were taken.

I immediately called the police, and two officers came (I waited outside for them to arrive in case someone was still in the house). With my credit card, they had already charged things at Safeway, Shell gas station, Walmart, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. My bank had contacted me when an attempt for $404.00 was made. Luckily, I notified the bank saying that this was not an authorized charge and had this credit card closed. The other items that were purchased will be credited back to our account (in time).

This was a terrifying thing to go to, especially since we had spent a fun day at the WA State Fair and I was returning home alone. We have lived in this neighborhood for over 15 years now, and the only people to come down our driveway are usually the mailman or Amazon.

We don’t have any security cameras, and even if we did, the police said that they don’t even have anyone to look at footage and look into it like they used to.

So, I just wanted our neighborhood to be aware and to report any suspicious activity or people wandering around that don’t look like they live here. We think that it being Labor Day weekend that whoever did this thought there was a good chance that we may have been out of town. We even had a car parked in our driveway!

Even with doors and windows locked, the police said that if someone wants to get in, they will find a way to do so. It could have been a lot worse—-they could have destroyed the inside of the house while looking for what they got.