You know how I am always saying I want to MOVE?

I am always saying I want to move. I want to move out into the middle of nowhere. I honestly have this need to do this. I want to live in a tent, well some people call them Jungle Houses, but I say ‘Nice Tent’. I bet you know who sent me that link, don’t you? You are right, it was the loverly Tara!

Now…would you like to know why I have this deep need to do this? My answer is simple, yet complex at the same time. The simple answer: “The world is full of bad people, in an urban setting there is a greater gathering of bad people because there are simply more people.” (You know, the more apples that one person has will increase the number of bad apples…) and my complicated answer… Well, let me just show you a glimpse of my diary entry for Saturday:

*Book creaks open, fumbling to find page* Ah, hah! Here it is! Read and you will see why I want to move.

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July 25th, 2008

Dear Diary,

I was thrilled to find this quaint little house a mere five years ago. I fell in love with the small lot because it was fairly large to be downtown, the YARD for the children to play in. Oh, how I spied a diamond in the rough. Mom was the one who found the house when it went up for lease purchase. She knew it would be perfect for us; of course it had nothing to do with the fact that it put us at a five minute drive away. So we were smitten. We moved in and began making this house our home.

Life on Nancy Street was so brilliantly quiet. There were elderly people occupying most houses so it was very quiet. The sun rising in the morning would highlight the squirrels scurrying about before the heat of the day sat in. Even in the middle of the most horrifying electrical storm, the street was beautiful. I found my piece of heaven on earth and a bit of charm to go with it. I was so thrilled. It was also a very nice bonus that our neighbors across the street began thinking of our girls as family. I will never be able to express to Mrs. P and Mrs. W what their presence means to all of us.

Fast forward to Saturday. I knew this day was coming. After all, it was obvious to anyone who lives here that there is simply TOO much ‘fast’ traffic. When I say ‘fast’ I mean, pull up to leave the car running whilst someone rings the doorbell, that talk for a moment and then the person is back in the car. Good gravy! Honestly. This was happening ALL the time, ALL hours of the day. Something had to stop it. But, then the situation grew even graver than I could have imagined. A foul smell started wafting about. It was a very sweet, yet completely debilitating aroma. The first scent was so sweet that you couldn’t even think, then within seconds you had a migraine hit like a freight truck and instantly nausea would sweep over you. All of these things have been turned in by our neighborhood watch association to the local authorities for quite some time now.

Because the house was full of no-gooders, the Police were familiar with them. We have even had to call the police because a 16 yo that lived there told my children “If Mommy calls the cops again, we will make sure you don’t see here again.”. That is almost a direct quote of what was said to my oldest little girl. Never in my life had I thought to own a handgun, until that day. The Police came out and Officer Anonymous came out to our house. You couldn’t have asked for a sweeter, more understanding person to come out. The Officer explained because no one else (My husband, me or the neighbors) heard it, she couldn’t arrest them but we had a great civil suit. This is where my frustration and concern set in.

Then today came and it all snowballed. Today has really been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. We knew a bad form of people had moved in to the vacant rental house diagonal to us within their first week of moving in. Traffic flow has increased, theft is up and general no-gooders are now hanging out at every corner.
Well, someone at the local Police Department got wind of the new problem reports. Fortunately this someone has been out to the bad house before due to calls of disturbances, etc. This someone was chomping at the bit to get out here and get their hands on what they had grown to suspect was a meth lab. A METH LAB on my street?!?! Yep, that is what they thought. Now, let me add a tidbit of info here: When Police Officers normally come out to the house, people run and a lot of teens run. If the Officers go to the side of the house then they run out of the back, so on and so forth. You get what I am trying to say.

Back on track…

On this peaceful, sunny Saturday our world stopped moving. All of the sudden at least four Police cars flanked the house. It looked like the SWAT team was moving in if you were judging just by tactics used. They sent Officers around front, around back and flanking the sides of the house. Sadly, they didn’t need to do this because someone had tipped off the people there. They knew something was going to happen. There was only a lady there, I will call her L. At this point I expected the camera crew from COPS to jump out and get in on the action.

Within seconds, L was in cuffs and from the word on the street she was arrested for outstanding warrants and drugs but, I don’t know for sure so don’t quote me on that. The Police Officers were leading L. around in cuffs asking why there were supersized padlocks on the back detached carport/shed. L. offered to let them in, but thankfully the Police Officers decided to wait. They arrested L. and she was hauled off. Now, this seems like a short amount of time that I am typing out, but it seemed like an eternity when it went down.

Then two wonderful Police Officers were stuck with the boring and HOT job of waiting for the Drug Investigator to pull a warrant, since they had probable cause it would be no issue. Those two Officers were awesome. They talked to the girls and let us feed the poor puppy at the bad house, very sweet gentlemen. I asked Justin to go pick them up two Powerades. They couldn’t leave the house because they didn’t want anyone to come and disturb the soon to be investigation area. Justin got back with the drinks and Kammie helped me walk them over to the bad house. The Officers were so appreciative and even entertained a letter from Kammie that said she wanted to grow up to be as strong and brave as they were. I love my little girl!

After two hours of waiting the warrant was signed by the Judge. The Investigators came out, they brought along a kid (I say kid in the nicest way; he couldn’t have been more than 20!)with a camera that I would love to have. He took the pictures while they bagged evidence and bagged more evidence. Oh, my. They didn’t find what they were looking for (to my knowledge, I say this because according to the authorities a special team would be brought in if a Meth lab was found.) but they found quite a bit, evidently. They were out there for two hours, searching and gathering more evidence. I don’t know what they found, nor do I know if I want to honestly. I would rather be dumb for now.

About an hour after the Investigators left, something else happened. Someone broke into the bad house! Yes, you read that right. Someone had the brains to break into a house that had just been swept by the authorities. Well, this was a lady who no one has seen before. It was reported to dispatch as a break in because the lady actually broke a window to climb in. The Police almost didn’t get to the house in time, but they made it.

When the Officer pulled up, he jumped out of the car and started yelling at the lady that had broken in to get some duffel bags out of the house. He started screaming “Put your hands up! Get down on the ground! On the ground now! Get down!” and brandishing his gun. That was my cue to get inside as fast as I could, thankfully the girls were under strict orders to stay in. Within minutes another Police car arrived at the scene and seconds later the lady was cuffed. Come to find out there was a child in the car. This made my heart break because he was 10. Old enough to be scarred for life. Who in their right mind would bring their child to this house, let alone bringing them when she was breaking in somewhere? Ugh.

After talking to her for awhile, they decided to let her go. They were talking to her while they were searching the truck and the duffel bags and verifying everyone’s identity. But, in the end she was let go for whatever reason. I find myself musing “Where is the camera crew??? The shirtless white guy tearing through the yard trying to outrun a Police car chasing him?”. Again, I would rather be dumb.
So this was my Saturday. Really, why does it have to be this way? I told the events of the day to one of my favorite librarians (Hey!) and she said that the struggling economy will make people do anything. I was really taken back by that comment. I had never thought of that possibility before. What if someone was doing this because of the economy? I know it is still very bad and very wrong, but what it? How sad is that?

With this, I am saying the end for today. I am tired but I have consumed a gallon of coffee (eeeew!) so I can stay up. With all of this happening I wasn’t about to go to sleep.

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Now, I don’t keep a diary, but maybe I should… LOL I

Since all this has happened I have slept 8 hours. Eight hours since Saturday which is only 1/3 of what my body truly needs.
I am barely functioning today. I am going to a local gun range this weekend. I am going to rent a handgun and one of my guy friend’s is going to meet Justin and me there. We are going to learn how to load the gun, the safety switch and how to fire the weapon correctly. After we figure out which ones are more comfortable for us, we will go next door and buy them. This isn’t too much of a stretch for us because we have rifles and have used rifles.

Believe it or not, this city girl knows how to shoot a deer that is 20 yards or so off. I am a good shot if I say so myself. The girls are going to be well educated about gun use. The firearms will not be kept loaded but the ammunition will be kept not too far away. I am going to take every precaution that I possibly can because I don’t want someone in this house injured by a bad incident. I believe in being Proactive instead of Reactive. Why am I being Reactive to this situation? I can give a one word answer. Denial. It won’t happen here. Not here.

Well, it did. How sad. I would rather be out in a field in a tent with rifles than holed up here near the bad house. I suppose that is just me. Justin doesn’t think I could ‘handle’ tent living. I told him my only problem would be mosquitoes and less bathing but that I would live. He still doesn’t believe me though. We shall see.

That was my Saturday how was yours?

Tags: Life