When It Rains, It Pours........

Telephone calls at 5:18 a.m. are never good news. Last Sunday morning (July 15th), I received just such a call from my 18 year son in California. "Mom!" Justin asked urgently. "Are Dave and Becky back from Europe?"
"No, why?"
"I’m next door watering their yard for them before it gets hot and the back sliding glass door is open. I think someone’s in the house. Should I go in to check?"
Now thoroughly awake, I told him on no uncertain terms to stay out of sight and dial 911! The Fresno County Sheriff’s Department immediately responded and discovered that Dave and Becky’s house had been ransacked and vandalized. Dave’s truck was gone along with a number of his powers tools, his shotgun, electronic items, and a host of other things. The thieves had apparently heard Justin make the call and got away before the deputies arrived.
The rest of the day was spent on the phone helping Justin and the deputies locate Dave and Becky’s son and daughter, calming Justin down, and having him do a careful search of our yard and out-buildings to see if we, too, had been hit. Fortunately, we appeared to be untouched.
But then, at 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning, Justin again called. He had walked out to feed our horses when he heard someone talking and the sound of an electric drill near the garage. He immediately ran back inside and called me once again. This time, I gave him the direct line to the Sheriff’s Department and the whole thing started again. The burglars had come back and were attempting to break into a metal agriculture shed by stripping the siding from the building. Again, the culprits fled before law enforcement arrived. And now we were missing tack for our horses.
Thoroughly spooked, Justin asked permission for his friend, Arman, to stay at the house with him. I readily agreed. At 11:00 p.m. that same night, Arman was sitting by the side of the house talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone when he heard someone jump our wooden fence. The burglars had returned to Dave and Becky’s home and were once again trying to get inside their garage! Again, the deputies responded and spent nearly two hours searching the orange groves surrounding our place.
Realizing that whoever was targeting the houses apparently knew Dave and Becky and Dan and I were on vacation, we made the reluctant decision to return home early. We have now spent several days going through our sheds, our boat, and other out buildings determining damages and missing items. Needless to say I haven’t been able to attend to my blog. But things have settled down and I am now able to catch up. I will have a lot of great things to share starting with tomorrow's posting!