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Sunday, January 9, 2011

An Early Morning Adventure

Last night I had a very interesting adventure.


Around 2:30 am my dogs suddenly went ballistic. They started racing around the house, from window to window, barking up a storm. But wait. . . I need to back up about an hour, since the incident that happened earlier sparked what happened later.

I went to bed about midnight last night and about 1:15, Luna- the Golden Retriever that sleeps on my bed suddenly jumps up and starts barking. Of course this starts ALL my dogs barking and brings me instantly awake. I roll over in bed and yell at Luna to stop barking, thinking she hears coyotes outside. But as I glance toward the bedroom window a beam of light sort of wavers and then snaps off. Now I am still half asleep and not sure I actually saw that beam of light. But the dogs are all barking like crazy. So I get up, put my bathrobe on and check the windows. Except its dark outside and all I see are shadows. I turn on the porch lights on, but can’t see anything. I consider unlocking the door and letting the dogs outside, but I was afraid I’d just imagined the light and I didn’t want the dogs out there barking at 1:30 in the morning, annoying the neighbors. You see my dogs will bark at anything. Just because they were making a racket didn’t mean anything was actually out there. I have seen Bubbles bark at a plastic bag. Plus- I live right next to the John Wayne trail and in the past people have hiked it in the dark, with flash lights. Granted, not in the middle of winter- but still.

Anyway, since my dogs were settling down, I figured the crisis was over and I turned the lights off and went back to bed.

An hour later, the dogs go ballistic again. Waking me out of a deep sleep. Again. So I roll over in bed and look out my windows and there are beams of light, skimming across both my bedroom windows. Multiple beams of light. Of course I thought I was dreaming. I get up, put on my bathrobe and peek out the window. Yep, there are several men in my back yard, with flash light. WTF?

I go into my living room and look out my living room window. There were four men with flashlights walking around in my yard, and a couple down by the shed. I go to my office, which looks out over the front yard and the street. The street in front of my yard is congested with cop cars. There were at least eight or nine. Some marked. Some unmarked. None had any lights. No headlights, no alarm lights, no running lights. Nothing. But there is a street lamp in front of my yard, so I could tell they were cop cars. A mixture of state patrol, sheriff and city police.

So I locked the dogs in my office and open the front door and ask the closest cop what was going on. He tells me there had been a double homicide and the suspect had been seen in my yard. He asks if I’d noticed, or heard anything out of the ordinary and I told him the dogs had started barking around one am, and I thought there might have been flashlight beam. He said they thought the guy had fled down the John Wayne trail, but they wanted to check my shed. He asks if I would give them permission. I say sure. Check what you want to. He thanks me, then asked if they could use my yard as an access point to the trail. I said sure.

You see the thing about my property is it has the only access point to the trail from my neighborhood. I’ve got gates leading to the front street and the back trail. All the other yards in my neighborhood are fenced, but they only have gates to the street. So my yard is in demand with the neighborhood kids and couples who walk the trail. They have to use my yard, or walk about a mile down to the trail head.

Anyway, the cops checked my shed, which scared the hell out of my cats and they in turn apparently scared the hell out of one of the cops. I heard this shout down there and then all this laughter. But after tromping all over my yard, and all around outside my yard, they didn’t find their suspect.

I really feel sorry for those poor officers. They walked ALL OVER my yard. I mean all over it. I didn’t have the heart to warn them. But I have four dogs. And we have been getting snow on and off for weeks. So I haven’t had a chance to pick up my yard in a very long time.

I’ve been dreading having to pick that sucker up once the snow melts, because it’s FULL of dog poop.

I hate to think what the bottom of their shoes look like.

Anyway- they brought a snow mobile in through the head of the trail and checked the fields and trail. By 3:30 or 4:00 am they packed up and left. But they did leave an unmarked cop car parked in my driveway next to my SUV. Lights out. I’m guessing he stayed in case the suspect came out of hiding and tried to access the neighborhood through my yard again

I never heard if they caught their suspect.

One thing about this struck me later, and kind of surprised me. They never asked to search my house. I would think that asking to search the house would have been standard protocol. Make sure I wasn’t hiding this guy, or that he wasn’t inside threatening me to keep me quiet. But nobody even mentioned it.

Anyway, that was my exciting adventure last night or early this morning.

Someday, I am certain; it will find its way into my fiction.

13 comments:

  1. Wow, what an adventure! It's like something from a movie!

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  2. It had been a movie, and I was the script writer I would have pumped it up- filled it with suspense and romance. Like the killer hiding in the house and a sudden attraction to one of the officers- perhaps the officer who stayed behind. Perhaps I should have headed out in my flimsy, see through nightgown to offer him some hot coffee.

    hahahahahha

    So many possibilities!

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  3. Trish - Can you imagine trying to write a scene like the one you just described? You couldn't do it and make it believable! And down to earth, where the dog poop lies, I'm very relieved to know nothing exciting happened INSIDE your home! Good doggies!!

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  4. Mika,

    If I wrote a scene using this, with the dog poop involved it would have to be a comedy. lol

    btw- your blog over at TNN gave me a great idea for tomorrow's blog. lol

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  5. Trish, we have the same dog poop in the snow here. lol Ys, you definitely need to use that scene in a book.

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  6. Edie,

    I'm going to to find a way to work this in my next project. It's a light romantic suspense. So this element might work in there. lol

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  8. So... which closet did you hide him in? And how brilliant that the cops never thought to check it. You'd better be careful, those double murderers might be charming enough to talk their way into your closet, but you know the disguise will wear off. ;) Kidding! - very glad you're safe, and not sure you sound scared enough. Maybe a gate lock is in order.

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  9. Glad you are okay. What a lot of excitement super early in the morning! There are many reasons why the cops would not have searched your house, one of them being a fairly relaxed, articulate owner answering the door where she could have run for it yelling "He's inside!" Four dogs in the house, who might be barking, but who don't sound distressed. Stuff like that.

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  10. OMGosh I am so gald you are okay and the bad guy didn't decide to make himself at home inside! I think cops need a search warrant and needs to be cleared b4 they can ask to enter.
    This is def a great fiction story if it were fiction!!!

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  11. Penny,

    I wish he had tried to break in the house. I would have put him to work entertaining the dogs and cleaning the house. He probably would have BEGGED the cops to take him into custody. *G

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  12. I'm not sure how relaxed I was, Vee-- more like asleep. LOL

    I knew you would able to explain why they didn't seem too concerned about my harboring a fugitive. lol If this guy was Mexican, which I suspect is the case since most the gang members around here are—then they could have thought the barking dogs scared him off. The Mexicans around here seem really fearful of big dogs.

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  13. Martha,

    Something tells me the guy would not have felt the slightest bit at home inside my house. Which is probably why he high tailed it out of my yard. lol

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