6.23.2006

Portmanteau Present Day: THEY'VE BREACHED THE HULL!

In light of things that happened as mentioned in my last post I have been having a pretty shitty life the past week. I've been getting by though, and in spite of us ending up with -$$$ in our bank after the tests for Bosch, we made it through most of the week ok. I'm working a lot at the coffee shop to try to make some extra money and do not have a day off for almost three weeks.
I was beginning to feel the weight of everything dissipating from my shoulders, until last night.
I will preface what I'm about to relate by mentioning that 2 weeks ago our lawnmower and weed-wacker were stolen from our back yard. It was some kind of serial-landscaping-crime spree taking place in our alley, I found out. 4 of our neighbors also had yard related stuff stolen from them in the space of a few days. I was pretty disgusted, but still thought to myself: "it could be worse, they could be breaking into our house, or something".
Last night when we got home our back gate was W I D E open, I felt my stomach drop remembering that sight from when I came home to the missing lawnmower.
Initially everything looked them same, nothing missing in the yard. I checked the lower door going to the basement and it was open! It had been forced open. The deadbolt being ripped from the concrete wall and frame lying shredded on the floor. I still did not see anything really missing. I was completely freaked out at this point. We had the cops come, filed a report, they even sent a crime unit over to try for fingerprints, which they didn't get.
The first thing I worried about was the fact that we have a cat door on the door going down to the basement and I had to inventory the kitties, they were all there.
All in all, it looks as though the only damage was the door which we have barricaded by screwing 2x4s into the door until we can replace it.
Strangely they did not take anything from the basement, there was a lawnmower we borrowed from a neighbor, Phil's kid-Harley, a bike, tools, my ballet clothes, a fish tank, tons of stuff! not even touched! The most lucky thing is that we had a dead bolt on the door leading up to the main floor, AND that we have a big vicious sounding german shepherd that probably tried to bite the rat-bastards heads off.

When does the shitty-life-experiences marathon end? I need off this boat.

13 comments:

Spoony Quine said...

` Oh my God!! Yes, they probably wanted upstairs into your house!
` Thank goodness they didn't touch anything... except the basement door.
` That's creepy.

locomocos said...

WTF???

Maybe you should up your security system after this. Granted, your dog is AWESOME at it, maybe you should get ADT or something. maybe some motion sensing lights? SOMETHING!!!!

How fucked up is that? Good thing you had a deadbolt AND a dog. I would look into a system, though. And i'm assuming since the cops even came out for finger prints, there have been other break ins in the neighborhood - other than the lawn equipment.

At least they tried to GET finger prints. When that asshole who broke into my building and multiple units got caught, the police said they couldn't prove he had stolen any of my stuff cause they never found it - so no charges for my apartment! When i told them to come over and take finger prints where he climbed through my window - the cop straight up lied to me and said the chemicals they used for that were too harsh, and they couldn't do it.
I said, "really? Is it THAT hard? Gee. I guess TV has been wrong for YEARS." needless to say the cop didn't reply and just left.

Well GOOD thing they didn't get into your house!

Anonymous said...

That totally sucks!!!! I agree maybe an ADT system. Good thing they didn't get anything or get in upstairs. It's so violating! Steph

This and That said...

that sucks and is so scary. my apt was broen into when I was in my early 20's...long time ago...and I felt so violated. They took everything except my passport which was lying on the floor since I just got home from Chile. They even used my knife in the kitchen to open my jewelry boxes. Weired thing is that they left the TV but took my roomates laundry money, so the cops said they probably hopped on a bus after????!!! I think it took a long time before I could sleep well there and we moved to another place prettyn soon after.

I am so sorry...hope you are okay and glad you weren't home!

Blackpetunia said...

Thank you, and I am also glad I wasn't here, and that Dilaram was here with me when I got home. If I had been home alone, which I have been most of the time until the past month, I'm sure I would have been way more freaked out.
Violation, it's a word that pops up from everyone in this case, and that it exactly what it is. You're left wondering; are they coming back, did they hide in here, are they watching me, so many things. And it's your home, and it's crap that you have to feel scared.
I've heard stories today from others about strange thievery and many of them involve laundry and clothes, what the hell is that? Are they really taking it to the local Buffalo Exchange for cash or store credit? Is is some guerrilla-goodwill-hunting-gang? Why clothes?

Blackpetunia said...

We're still talking about maybe coming out, we'll see...

Blackpetunia said...

thank caff, it means a lot. strangely (I feel like a commercial for online relationships or something) even though I haven't met you and your wife, I do feel that you're my friends and hope we can meet in Denver or St. Louis.

This and That said...

right now the plan is to visit the family in St. Louis around thanksgiving...so hopefully we can all connect then if you don't plan on a visit out here before then. what is the weather like there around November...we plan on driving there.

Blackpetunia said...

It's actually pretty nice, but I do forewarn that the drive across Kansas/E. Colo. can be treacherous that time of year. We've run into freak blizzards around Limon,CO a few times. St. Louis doesn't get that cold in the winter, not since I've lived here anyway.

Hannah said...

People who break into homes are incredibly creepy. My Australian neighbors were robbed a few months ago. They went for an ovenight stay somewhere near to Tokyo. The next day, they went to open the front foor and couldn't get in. It was jammed from the inside. My neighbor went around back to see if she could get in. She saw that her back french doors had been smashed and that things had been torn apart inside. She had forgotten to close her shutters when she left. The interesting thing is what the theives left at her front entrance. Jaine, my neighbor, found candles laid out parallel to one another on the floor by her entrance. I guess the way they were laid out is a Japanese robbers way of saying, "Your house better yield something of value, or it will burn down." Creepy. They did get a bunch of really expensive jewelry. Japanese word of the day: dorobo. This is a thief who breaks into houses. I was a dorobo for Halloween last year.

This and That said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This and That said...

You got to love Japan when the robbers show up at homes with candles to make a statement that you need more stuff and let you know they were there. Just place candles outside your door, so thieves think your home has already been hit. I know I am being caddy...and insensitive...I am really overtired!

Spoony Quine said...

` They'd burn down my place for sure! Actually, the only things that were stolen from me are personal things like diaries, besides a computer.
` The weirdos these days....