So this week has been fun...

NOT.

 

Between apprehending a burglar on the street on Sunday evening, and coming home to a dog crate full of puke and poop last night, thinking that the lady I had ordered books from was coming also, since she sent me a card that said she'd be there on 9/13 and I believe yesterday was 9/13 - but she never showed, which was okay, since I was busy with the cleaning and trying to get the horrid smell out of the house anyway...can I just say how much I'm looking forward to what today has in mind for me?  And also maybe I should win some kind of award for the longest sentence ever.

 

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Oh sure, you want to know about the burglar, right?

 

At roughly 8 pm Sunday night I got a knock on the door.  I had trouble getting out the door due to the barking dogs to ask what was going on, and the guy was waving at me and shaking his hand like a phone.  When I finally got out there he yelled to me to call the cops.  I heard another man yelling something about "YOU WERE IN MY CAR IN MY GARAGE!!!"

 

So I called 911, for I kid you not, the 8th time in my life.

 

1 - watched a guy fly out the windshield of the box truck he was driving after it hit the concrete barrier, then watched the truck bounce around a little and hit him as he laid over the concrete barrier,

2 - guy stops in the right lane of the freeway to chit chat with people on the side of the road, turns his car off, in the dark no lights, IN THE LANE, street race behind him hits his car, (1& 2 happened over the same weekend)

3 - my own car accident where woman left car in neutral to fill up gas then was surprised when it rolled down hill into the street into my car as I drove by,

4 - boy runs stop sign into side of my truck,

5 - woman driving drunk pulls into oncoming traffic at intersection to wait for light to change to turn left, then proceeds to rear end another car a little while later as wells as a few very close side swipes,

6 - cow loose on road (why yes I do live in Texas),

7 - kids on the street looking in cars suspiciously (get off my lawn!!),

and now, 8 - burglar.

 

As it turns out the suspect had already gone through one of the cars parked on the street and proceeded to go into the man on the end of the street's garage (smart choice dude, that guy's a lawyer) and was pilfering through his car when he caught him.  He chased him through several backyards and 2-3 other men and a couple dogs on the street joined the chase.  They caught him in front of my house and stood watch over him while waiting on the police, football linebacker style.  He gave up at some point and sat on the curb.

 

The police put him in the car within about a minute of arriving and then moved the investigation down to the end of the street where the garage portion of the crime took place.

 

I went out shortly after that to talk to the neighbors.  Nearly everyone on that end of the street had come out by then.  At that point we discovered that other cars may have been involved and everyone went around checking their stuff, and discussing how we should really lock our walk-in garage doors.  And the police said there had been several burglaries on another nearby street - maybe it's the same guy.

 

And that was the end of it, except for the whole unsettling feeling of violation, which I'm sure will fade with time. 

 

The good points however, are:  1) they caught the guy.  2) our neighbors are apparently vigilant enough and care enough to help a neighbor in need.  3) that guy didn't have a gun, and no one was shot.  4) After the initial knock, Scarlett did her job as protector, knowing something was going on, sat in the foyer and guarded the door until the police got there.  She barked occasionally and I even tried to kennel her to calm her down, but she refused to move until she thought everything was cool again.  (Fiona hid somewhere. And Landon sat on the bed watching a movie, unaware of anything.)

 

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Well, dog puke doesn't sound all that exciting now.  Just annoying.  Plus I had to put the crate back together this morning and I dropped half of it on the top of my foot and have a huge bruise forming as we speak.  Also I believe Scarlett was better this morning, she was able to hold down food, which she couldn't do last night or I would have dropped her at the vet's office this morning.