Just a little update from a sleepless ducky...
Some of you that I have not been keeping up with through e-mail and PM's are probably unaware of a rather frightening situation that happened here a few weeks ago. We have a rather shady young man living in the multi-family house across the street from the two-family house where I reside. Said shady young man has a prison record for theft and breaking and entering, and is suspected of breaking into a number of places around here, stealing everything from electronic gadgets to copper pipes. About three Fridays ago, he decided to break in to the apartment in my building (which was vacant) and steal the copper piping at 2:30 in the morning. Now, said neighbor had been over to borrow my phone that very afternoon, and I had let him use it (I made him stand outside on the porch - I'm a good neighbor, but not exactly a trusting neighbor). I think now perhaps he was using that as an excuse to "scope" my place and the other place.
Scary situation ensued at 2:30 in the morning, and I was on the phone with 911 while he was still there ripping out pipes. It sounded like he was pounding right through the walls. Police arrived about seven or eight minutes later, during which time I was trying to peek out windows and see if I could see anyone in the back yard or out front. It was so dark that I could see nothing. When the police arrived, they told me they had just missed him, that the basement next door was flooded, and that his soaking wet footprints were still all over the place. The flood put out my furnace and water for the rest of the night, until the plumber could get there Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. I never slept that night, nor did I sleep Sunday night. I was too terrified that whomever it was would come back to finish taking out the pipes. I found out Sunday afternoon from another neighbor in this kid's building that he went out Saturday morning from his place with a big bucket of copper piping and joints to sell down at the recycling plant. I alerted the police. The neighbors and I got together and agreed to watch out for each other until the punk got caught.
Tuesday evening, the neighbor happily informed me that the shady punk was in jail! I was delighted, and actually slept well that night. The next day, the detective on the case called to tell me that he was, indeed, in jail for purse snatching/assault at a local grocery store, and suspected of a number of break-ins in the neighborhood. The detective named about five different break-ins just on my street. He also told me that there was no way the kid was getting out soon, his own mother would not post his bond. His mother had called THEM to tell them that she thought her son might be responsible for stealing copper from empty apartments, and she wanted no part of it. Yay, justice! Yay, being able to sleep at night!
Well, it appears that the Yay was short-lived. He was bonded out of jail yesterday, and is now smugly living back at his mother's home. I managed to get three nights of unconcerned sleep while of the knowledge that he was still in jail. All indications were that he would be there for some time, but it seems that he was able to make some kind of bail bond. Not sure who would be stupid enough to offer up that kind of money for someone like that, especially considering that they caught him after the purse snatching with the lady's purse still in his hands. I will sleep easy once again when he goes to trial and is incarcerated, but I still feel fairly insecure about it all for now. I have been keeping all my doors double-locked, and my windows secured with locks and broom handles. However, I do not like to leave my house knowing that this creep may well be watching for it and coming to break in while I am gone. I do not have much by way of valuable possessions, but what little I have, I'd like to keep, thank you very much. I have a call in to the detective on the case to get the name of the idiot judge that would stupidly permit someone (who is suspected in at least five seperate neighborhood break-ins) to walk out of the city jail and return to the neighborhood, just in time for folks to be stocking up on Christmas presents for their friends and families. I want to know the name of the person I wil never be voting for in this lifetime.
Aside from that, I also have another strep infection in my foot. The foot doctor and I are racking our brains trying to figure out where it is coming from. I have pretty much washed all my socks and shoes in peroxide and bleach, have sprayed down all the carpets with Lysol, and I don't go barefoot. The birds are not sick, the cat is outside, and there is nothing here that I can find that might be carrying the strep germ. I have taken so much antibiotic at this point that I am in and out of the bathroom all day, and am sick of having to eat yogurt for one of the other unfortunate side effects. The infection is causing my blood sugar levels to go pretty much insane, plus the added stress of wondering when my disability case will be called, and wondering if the neighbor across the street is going to be stopping by to take my DVD player, VCR or computer while I go to church to sing our Christmas Cantata.
However, aside from all of this drama, I am keeping my sense of humor, and have done my Christmas baking. My kitchen looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy puked all over it this afternoon, and I would have made Betty Crocker proud with all my cookies! I sampled some of them (I get the broken ones!), and I must say, they taste like cookies to me! And I didn't even have to call the fire department, because I did it without burning up anything! I am very proud of these cookies. They are pretty, and delightful, and they taste good! What else could you want in a cookie, I ask you? Tonight, the church will have our Annual Christmas Massacre Cantata, and we shall fill the rafters with unearthly howls and holy screeches! And we will do it in robes with big, flappy sleeves! If you happen to be there, I will be the ducky in the front row, singing "Jingle Bells" when I don't remember the words. Because that is how I roll.
hugs from ducky
Scary situation ensued at 2:30 in the morning, and I was on the phone with 911 while he was still there ripping out pipes. It sounded like he was pounding right through the walls. Police arrived about seven or eight minutes later, during which time I was trying to peek out windows and see if I could see anyone in the back yard or out front. It was so dark that I could see nothing. When the police arrived, they told me they had just missed him, that the basement next door was flooded, and that his soaking wet footprints were still all over the place. The flood put out my furnace and water for the rest of the night, until the plumber could get there Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. I never slept that night, nor did I sleep Sunday night. I was too terrified that whomever it was would come back to finish taking out the pipes. I found out Sunday afternoon from another neighbor in this kid's building that he went out Saturday morning from his place with a big bucket of copper piping and joints to sell down at the recycling plant. I alerted the police. The neighbors and I got together and agreed to watch out for each other until the punk got caught.
Tuesday evening, the neighbor happily informed me that the shady punk was in jail! I was delighted, and actually slept well that night. The next day, the detective on the case called to tell me that he was, indeed, in jail for purse snatching/assault at a local grocery store, and suspected of a number of break-ins in the neighborhood. The detective named about five different break-ins just on my street. He also told me that there was no way the kid was getting out soon, his own mother would not post his bond. His mother had called THEM to tell them that she thought her son might be responsible for stealing copper from empty apartments, and she wanted no part of it. Yay, justice! Yay, being able to sleep at night!
Well, it appears that the Yay was short-lived. He was bonded out of jail yesterday, and is now smugly living back at his mother's home. I managed to get three nights of unconcerned sleep while of the knowledge that he was still in jail. All indications were that he would be there for some time, but it seems that he was able to make some kind of bail bond. Not sure who would be stupid enough to offer up that kind of money for someone like that, especially considering that they caught him after the purse snatching with the lady's purse still in his hands. I will sleep easy once again when he goes to trial and is incarcerated, but I still feel fairly insecure about it all for now. I have been keeping all my doors double-locked, and my windows secured with locks and broom handles. However, I do not like to leave my house knowing that this creep may well be watching for it and coming to break in while I am gone. I do not have much by way of valuable possessions, but what little I have, I'd like to keep, thank you very much. I have a call in to the detective on the case to get the name of the idiot judge that would stupidly permit someone (who is suspected in at least five seperate neighborhood break-ins) to walk out of the city jail and return to the neighborhood, just in time for folks to be stocking up on Christmas presents for their friends and families. I want to know the name of the person I wil never be voting for in this lifetime.
Aside from that, I also have another strep infection in my foot. The foot doctor and I are racking our brains trying to figure out where it is coming from. I have pretty much washed all my socks and shoes in peroxide and bleach, have sprayed down all the carpets with Lysol, and I don't go barefoot. The birds are not sick, the cat is outside, and there is nothing here that I can find that might be carrying the strep germ. I have taken so much antibiotic at this point that I am in and out of the bathroom all day, and am sick of having to eat yogurt for one of the other unfortunate side effects. The infection is causing my blood sugar levels to go pretty much insane, plus the added stress of wondering when my disability case will be called, and wondering if the neighbor across the street is going to be stopping by to take my DVD player, VCR or computer while I go to church to sing our Christmas Cantata.
However, aside from all of this drama, I am keeping my sense of humor, and have done my Christmas baking. My kitchen looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy puked all over it this afternoon, and I would have made Betty Crocker proud with all my cookies! I sampled some of them (I get the broken ones!), and I must say, they taste like cookies to me! And I didn't even have to call the fire department, because I did it without burning up anything! I am very proud of these cookies. They are pretty, and delightful, and they taste good! What else could you want in a cookie, I ask you? Tonight, the church will have our Annual Christmas Massacre Cantata, and we shall fill the rafters with unearthly howls and holy screeches! And we will do it in robes with big, flappy sleeves! If you happen to be there, I will be the ducky in the front row, singing "Jingle Bells" when I don't remember the words. Because that is how I roll.
hugs from ducky