Mindy, my nephew's wife, had a scary incident recently at their place at Lake Tahoe!
"I have been at Tahoe for a little less than two weeks.
My first night back at Tahoe I unpacked my small suitcase, hooked up my laptop, renewed my car registration online, then went to my bedroom. Those of you who have been to my place, the upstairs unit of a duplex, know that it is small. Around 9:30 PM, while in my bedroom putting away some clothes, I heard a noise, like something had fallen from a wall or counter. I figured my downstairs tenant was hammering a nail into the wall or something, and thought little of it. A few minutes later, after I finished what I was doing, I walked out into my dining/living room area, and saw that my back door was wide open, that the trim tht had been nailed to the door jam was on the floor, and that part of the door jam, the part where the dead bolt and thumb lock insert, was in pieces on the floor! There was no sign of an intruder, so I barricaded the door with a loveseat and some heavy boxes and called the sheriff. (For those of you unfamiliar with such things, in rural areas we have sheriff's, not police.) The sheriff suspected a bear and reassured me that there hadn't been any thefts or human breakins in my area all summer. I was much more worried about a two legged intruder than a four legged intruder. About an hour and a half later, the sheriff came and we walked around the duplex. There were no human boot marks or tool marks where the door jam was shattered. There were also no paw prints, but the sheriff told me that bears have been breaking into many houses in my area and that they put their butts against the door and force the door open with their weight (400 lbs and more). Since I had no food in the house or in the trash can, the bear didn't get any food and was scared away either by the noise of the wood when it hit the floor or by me. The sheriff said that bears do not usually return to a place where they didn't get food and were scared away. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that well that night. I called my handyman the next morning, and he put a large piece of plywood across the door until he replaced part of the door jam a few days later. I put a jug of ammonia outside next to the door. Common wisdom holds that bears do not like the smell of ammonia.
I have not had any forceable entry or bear problem since that night.
Yesterday, driving to my office on the south shore, I saw a large bear on the side of the road. I stopped, and the bear ambled down a steep bank and away from the road. This bear was large and looked to be fat and happy!
Today, while jogging along my usual forest service road, ahead of me I saw a car that had just stopped. Off to the side was a bear cub! The passengers got out of the car and started taking pictures. The bear scampered off into the forest. I looked around for the mother bear, since this bear looked like a fairly young cub. After satisfying myself that I didn't see a mother bear, I continued on my jogging route. I was glad I saw a bear and not a mountain lion. I would not have been comfortable by myself in the forest with a big cat!
This is the most bears I have seen at Tahoe in such a short time. I think they are fattening up for the coming winter hibernation.
Bears are beautiful, except when they break into yur house!"
Mindy
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