More Deer Responses. We received some more responses to the question of whether there were so many deer in the area that they should be thinned. Thank you for all your responses!
The geese are just fine and so are the deer. Leave alone those creatures that make this area so precious to live in.
Please do not consider thinning out the deer. We love our deer and giving them safe sanctuary and would never want "thinning" of them or any of our wildlife. Ever! Thank you.
On the deer, if anything we should check with the County health deparment, deer are a vector for Lyme's disease, and the ticks which spread it don't differentiate between deer, humans or dogs. Spraying plants with really thin egg solution is alleged to keep the deer away from plants. (I like deer too, and I don't like raccoons either).
I agree about the 'Scarecrow'. I have tried sound alarms and they are ineffective. My son has a scarecrow and it works great for him.
As for whether there are too many deer: When I begin to feel this way, I hear an evening 'bang' from somewhere down the hill from me and the problem disappears. I must presume that firecrackers keep deer away for good ;-) Otherwise, I do enjoy seeing them -- out of my garden.
Thanks Jim, this was a good read and you get an idea how your neighbors are feeling. We are lucky to live here.
We used to live on Vashon, which has a high deer population. Vashon is more rural than the Ilahee area, and it is still legal for hunters to take deer. Even so, the deer population on Vashon became so large that the poor things started dieing of starvation and disease. Deer were also killed or subjected to a variety of euthanasia options after being hit by cars. I agree that deer are cute, but without natural predators there are more now than at any time in history. Thinning is much more humane than starvation or death by automobile. We need to be careful that we do not 'love them to death'.
Mulching Work Party on Monday Evening. On Monday (7/12/10) we will spread the last of the mulch on rain garden plot #4 at the Almira parking lot to the Illahee Preserve. It shouldn't take long so we are starting at 5:30 pm and should finish up at 7 pm.
Bill Green Memorial Gathering. There will be a memorial gathering for Bill Green at the Elks on Friday, July 16, 2010, from 3-5 pm. Many of us remember Bill when he was a lineman with Puget Power some years ago and took care of Illahee whenever the power went out.
For those of us who were neighbors we knew Bill as one of the nicest, gentlest and most helpful persons around. The neighborhood got together for birthdays and other occasions and we often shared tools and helped each other on projects and functioned like a neighborhood family and we will especially miss Bill as a friend and neighbor.
Illahee Road Accident. Those who live along Illahee Road know that the curve at the bottom of Illahee hill is a place where there are frequently accidents. On Saturday evening another accident occurred and people were lucky to not be seriously injured. We received the following report on an accident that occured when a driver coming down the hill ran head-on into another car and the support they got from one of their neighbors:
Irwin and Judith Krigsman would like to thank Mike Manske, our neighbor, for being a johnny-on-the spot and a good Samaritan on Saturday July 10, 2010.
As we were returning home early Saturday evening around 6 p.m. we were involved in what could have been a deadly accident 20 feet from our driveway into our home. From out of nowhere coming down Illahee Road on the curve, an unisured, unlicensed, driver crossed over the center line hitting us so hard that our airbage deployed and shocked us beyond belief. After hitting us, the car crashed into the vehicle behind us before doing a 180 and coming to a stop.
Mike Manske appeared from out of the blue and stayed with us through the entire ordeal. Without his calm deameanor, his directing of traffic and accident conditions on Illahee Road, we would have been far worse for wear. Mike stayed with us until the whole incident was over, carried our belongings into a safe place, and departed when the situation was finally under control. We are fortunate to have him as our neighbor.
Illahee Road has become so dangerous, particularly at the bottom of the hill. This was the second major accident at that location in the past three weeks. We believe the time has come for action and involvment by Kitsap County to improve road conditions. We were lucky, the next person may not be.
Mike Manske, hero of the day, we honor you!
Thank goodness for air bags as they saved the Krigsmans from injury.
Only One Comment on the Beach Access Issue. On our last Update we provided two links to articles in the Kitsap Sun regarding beach access and have only received the following comment so far.
While waiting for a friend to arrive home in Indianola, I took a few minutes to walk down the dock then onto the shoreline just to see since I had never been there before.....and won't again! One local made it perfectly clear that I was not to be on this property and pointed me to the extremely unfriendly signs that had been posted not only on the property itself, but also on the dock..."Residents only". As I'm certain you can tell by the "tone" of this message, I cannot believe someone would be so rude to a visitor. I can only hope Illahee folks are not nor will become like those people. We all take pride in our neighborhood and projects that benefit us all, and I hope we can all share in the beauty of where we live without being concerned we are creating an enemy.
Let Us Know Your Thoughts. Continue to let us know your thoughts regarding deer and beach walking.
Jim Aho
