This post courtesy of our sister site Fremont Universe.

For those of you who read, and commented on, our report on a raccoon attack here last week, we picked up this nugget from our Fremont site.

“Meet Rocky, a raccoon who shows up at a home in Fremont often to do whatever it is that Rocky is doing.”

Catie, who shot the video, says the action took place three feet from her bedroom window.

After its big move into a former quilt store in Maple Leaf, the Fraternal Order of Eagles Mother Aerie One is ready to show off its new location at 8201 Lake City Way N.E. to the public with an official grand opening and open house starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27.

The event is free and open to the public, and features a performance from 7-11 p.m. from country favorites Big Ed & Steel Country. You can read more about the private social club in our posts:

• “Mother Aerie One” lands in Maple Leaf – 113 years later
• Eagles Aerie One opens its Maple Leaf social club

And below is more from Aerie No. 1: (more…)

Phil and his daughter Jenna found this nest in the traffic circle at Northeast 91st Street and 8th Avenue Northeast.

“It is the size of a basketball and very active. Amazing how fast they grow,” he writes.

He - and we - believe it is a nest of bald-faced hornets, and Dennis Paulson, director emeritus of The Slater Museum of Natural History,confirms.

Photos courtesy Phil Borgnes

We’re wondering if it’s still there, though. A drive-by early this a.m., before the hornets were active, didn’t immediately produce a basketball in that tree.

Two Dog Yoga is celebrating 20 years in Lake City from Aug. 29-Sept. 4 with a full week of free classes at its location just north of the Lake City Library at 12549 28th N.E. From its website:

In gratitude to our regular Two Doggers, and with the intention of growing the pack, Two Dog offers a week of free classes twice a year. Come to as many classes as you want; bring your friends, neighbors and relatives along to share the doggie bounty. Classes are open to all levels unless otherwise noted; no limit to how many you take.

Classes are as follows:

(more…)

The Maple Leaf Dog Oasis is happy to thank Elly for the donation of a new treat jar to the popular canine attraction at the corner of 12th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 89th Street.

And not just any jar.

THIS jar has a sturdy handle molded right into the body of the jar. Try and get through that, masked bandits!

Last Friday morning dogs being walked along 12th were left bereft after the Dog Oasis suffered an overnight raccoon attack.

The previous jar could only be tethered to the oasis by a flimsy handle that didn’t stand up long to raccoon teeth and paws. It was MIA by first light (and later recovered in a neighbor’s back yard).

The Dog.Oasis has been getting by on a temporary jar since, but THIS jar is now in place, thanks to Elly.

While we’re on the subject, the Dog Oasis maintainers (that would be me and Caroline) would like to remind folks to screw the lid back on fully after treating their dog. Otherwise squirrels, which aren’t strong enough to steal the jar but ARE able to pry off an ill-secured lid, clean us out about once a month.

Incidentally, there have been quite a few raccoon comments on the original post. You can read them here.

The outdoor market at Aljoya Thornton Place returns this Thursday as planned, on the last Thursday of the month.

The market, at 450 N.E. 100th St., includes fresh produce and food tasting from the chef at Aljoya’s Lilly’s restaurant.

Bring cash or credit card to pay for your fresh goods. The market will be held from 4-6 p.m. outside the Bistro patio at Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 100th Street.

And speaking of food trucks, we just got word that the Barriga Llena mobile food vendor will be in the neighborhood for lunch today.

Their specialty is the Mexican torta. It can be described as a sandwich or sub in a special Mexican bread with unique and rich ingredients that make the torta a delightful traditional dish from Mexico.

The Barriga Llena truck will be parked at the Washington Delta Dental Building, 9706 Fourth Ave., from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Check out its menu along with some mouth-watering photos (flash).

For the next couple of weeks, the flavors that come from the kitchen of COA Mexican Eatery & Tequileria are traveling beyond the borders of its Maple Leaf home at 7919 Roosevelt Way N.E.

The Camarena Tequila taco truck, shown earlier this year in Chicago, will be giving away free gourmet Mexican food throughout Seattle made by Maple Leaf’s COA Mexican Eatery & Tequileria.

Keep your eye out for the Camarena Tequila taco truck through early September, which is embracing COA’s Tacos for Life theme by handing out free gourmet Mexican food straight from the COA kitchen, infused with Camarena Reposado and Silver tequilas.

The taco truck is wrapping up the tail end of its nationwide spring and summer tour giving away food infused with Camarena spirits and made by local chefs.

COA owner Edgar Carreon is hoping to bring the truck to Maple Leaf for its food giveaways, but hasn’t decided on a place and time yet. We’ll be sure to let you know when he does!

In the meantime, to find out where the taco truck is, follow Camarena Tequila on Facebook or via @camarenatequila on Twitter.

Seattle Police report they caught a would-be robber Sunday afternoon after a chase that ended in a Maple Leaf back yard.

It started just before 5:30 p.m. when a patrol officer was flagged down in the 8100 block of Fifth Avenue Northeast after a man tried to steal a woman’s purse. A suspect was still in sight on the sidewalk.

According to police:

Upon seeing the officer, the suspect began running, cutting through the yards of houses, dropping his backpack and a shirt. The suspect ran into the backyard of a house in the 400 block of Northeast 82nd Street, where he attempted to climb over a fence. The officer was able to take the suspect into custody without incident.

The victim told police she was walking southbound on the sidewalk on 5th Avenue Northeast while talking on her cell phone. “She stated that she felt a hand on her hip and another on her purse that she carried over her shoulder. She turned and was face to face with the suspect.”

The victim was able to identify her attacker, who she said put his hand over her mouth and shoved her to the ground, police report. He was attested for investigation of robbery and for several outstanding warrants.

There’s a new dental office in the neighborhood, Avila Dental, home of Dr. Veronica Bello.

She started moving into the Northgate Park Professional Building, 11050 Fifth Ave. N.E., Suite 202, on July 12. That’s just across Fifth from Hubbard Homestead Park, and a location where a new medical district is growing in proximity to Northwest Hospital & Medical Center. (On Thursday we posted about the UW medical clinic opening just south on Fifth in Thornton Place.)

After six weeks of construction (which you can find detailed on her Facebook page, together with instructions for a Tooth Fair app) she is now open for business.

Which, in Dr. Bello’s case is family (including children) and cosmetic dentistry.

Dr. Bello was born in Seattle. When she was a small child her parents moved back to Venezuela, where she grew up and received her DDS from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 2002.

That’s where the name of her practice originated. From Avila Dental’s website:

Avila National Park is a mountain range located at the north part of Venezuela, in the ciy of Caracas, where Dr. Bello is from. On a clear day you can see the city on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other!

She returned to Seattle and received a master’s degree in oral medicine in 2009. She is an affiliate instructor at the University of Washington and a clinical instructor at the Renton Technical College in the Dental Assisting Program.

Avila Dental’s new office includes an area for children, treatment rooms and quite a bit of excellent art which was still being hung last week. It also includes brand new digital X-ray equipment and state-of-the-art fluorescence technology to detect decay.

A Ballard resident, Dr. Bello picked her new office location because of the growing medical district here, the north end neighborhoods and the easy commute access from Interstate 5 - important because, as a bilingual dentist, she’d like to draw Hispanic customers from throughout the area.

We understand that a healthy mouth is essential to a healthy body and we focus on early detection and prevention of oral diseases. But we also believe in a collaborative treatment plan that takes you into consideration. Although we will always show you your options, we will never recommend unnecessary treatments.

Insurance coverage includes Washington Dental Services (WDS), Regence Blue Shield, Premera, Assurant, Metlife and Aetna.

(Photos courtesy Avila Dental.)

This morning there was something missing from the Maple Leaf Dog Oasis.

And a plaintive note on the D.O. white board from a dog who didn’t get his anticipated biscuit treat.

This is not the first time the treat jar has disappeared from the Dog Oasis. We suspect bands of marauding raccoons.

That’s why the treat jar is locked to the fence with a retractable bicycle lock, installed after several jars were found dismembered up and down the block. (The Dog Oasis is at 12th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 89th Street.)

In fact, several hours later the current jar was found, lid off and handle broken, in a neighbor’s backyard.

Raccoons can be incredibly strong, and often travel in packs. There’s a theory that they have a circuit here in northeast Seattle, swinging through our neighborhood about every 5-6 weeks.

In fact, we’ve heard one other report of smashed yard fixtures from overnight, this one on Northeast 94th Street just east of 15th Avenue Northeast.

Anybody else spot marauders recently?

Maple Leaf Dog Oasis pre-predation.

Maple Leaf residents have plenty of avenues to get their art on locally this weekend. In addition to the opening this week of Glassique, which easily draws in passers-by with its 400-square-foot showroom full of colorful glass art, this weekend there also will be an art show at the Maple Leaf Grill, 8929 Roosevelt Way N.E.

Some of the works that will be for sale can be seen (and purchased!) via jenartgallery.com

And there will more than just art. The Grill writes on its Facebook page:

Free mimosas, muffins, and coffee this Sunday 9am-2pm at Maple Leaf Grill. Come check out Jen’s art sale.

And, of course, the art show has also been written up on the white board at the Maple Leaf Dog Oasis (shown at right).

UW Medicine is opening a neighborhood clinic on the ground floor of Thornton Place in spring 2012.

Thornton Place has been struggling to fill its retail space since it opened in the middle of the economic downturn, but it soon will have an anchor tenant next to The Vitamin Shoppe on the west side of the mixed-use development.

According to signs posted around the southwest end of the building shown above, the University of Washington Medicine is planning to open a new neighborhood clinic in spring 2012.

We haven’t seen any news releases yet and were unable to obtain any information from the UW Medical Center or Thornton Place, but we hope to have more information about the size of the clinic and what will be offered there soon. Stay tuned!

Update:@UWMedicineNews has Tweeted:” @MapleLeafLife Thx for the post. Also opening Ravenna clinic in October, have more info on that one. ”

Update 2: Colin emails: “I live on Northeast 82nd Street, just east of Roosevelt. Monday morning (8/15), I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and just happened to look outside, towards our cars parked on 82nd.

A 20-something guy was peering into the window of my wife’s car. He started walking away, and I immediately called 911 to report a suspicious person peering into cars. As luck would have it, while I was on the phone with 911, the guy *drove up*, double-parked next to my wife’s car, and started trying to pry into the trunk of my wife’s car. We started making a ton of noise in an effort to scare him away; he got into his car and sped off before he had a chance to break into our car. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get his license plate #, but it was a silver Mazda CX7 with tinted windows. My hat’s off to SPD - while they didn’t arrive in time to catch the guy, at least 4 squad cars responded to the call.

Update: James reports the car prowlers were back Tuesday night. “That’s two nights in a row.”

He said he’s talked with the cops, who said to get a license plate if possible but to not confront the prowlers.

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James emails that since he’s started sleeping with the window open this summer, “I’ve been woken up numerous times by the same couple of car prowlers.”

He lives at Northeast 89th Street and 17th Avenue Northeast:

Their method is to drive west up 89th between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. and check the door handles on every street-parked car, as well as those in driveways, to see if they’re unlocked.

The way I hear them coming is the telltale rev of the car as it drives a very short distance, then the series of clicks as one of them hops out and checks the door handles. They work fast, and usually by the time I get my glasses on and make it to the window they’re too far away for me to read the license plate (though I almost caught them last night-next time)!

We write about car crimes, either stolen vehicles or, as James is describing, car prowls, fairly regularly. A month ago more than a car a day were being hit in the neighborhood; that slacked off a bit by the end of July. The map shows stolen or prowled cars for roughly the past month - remember that each icon can represent more than one car.

James says he’s going to keep records to see if it’s always the same night of the week, and hopes other residents will watch out, too. “But folks living in the area should make sure their car doors are always locked. Also, if anyone has a security camera (or better yet, insomnia and a window facing 89th), we can totally catch these guys!”