You read about it in the newspapers and you hear about it on television, but when THEFT comes to your own neighborhood it is always a shock. I live in a barely making-it working class neighborhood so you wouldn't think there would be that much for thieves to steal, but they must be desperate. First it was car prowls. Now they are stealing everything that they can get their hands on.
They stole several thousands of dollars of landscaping equipment out of my neighbor's work trailer. This weekend, they helped themselves to a locked down quad from my closest neighbor, coming into the thirty foot space between my bedroom and hers. You would have thought that my beautiful Pici, pictured above, who barks at butterflies, for crying out loud, would have done some serious barking, but not a peep.
So far the only sign that something has been amiss for me is my back gate being shut but unlocked a couple of times. It seems that somebody must have been creeping around in my back yard checking things out. I hoped they stepped in dog poop.
Even though there has been drama, I've still got the pedal to the metal in getting the place ready for winter. On Friday, I started dismantling the summertime deck. Even though we haven't had any rain, the sun no longer shines on the deck and it isn't pleasant to sit there any more, so I gave all the cushions a good scrub and let them dry out in the sun before storing them away.
I also grabbed the amaryllis which has been living out on the deck, being fertilized and watered all summer, and stuck it away under the sink in the guest bathroom, where I will try to remember to bring in back out before Christmas. If it blooms again this year, it will be the third time for this bulb, which I will consider a miracle. I'll keep you posted.
On Sunday, Shane, the world's cutest handyman, came by and took care of a number of things that I had been saving up for him, one of which was to build another 4 X 12 raised bed. It is shocking how much dirt that required. Along with dirt, we put in 10 bags of composted steer manure and a whole gob of fallen dried leaves. I'm going to cover it with compost and more leaves and then cover it with cardboard until next spring.
The other two beds will get the same treatment when everything is done growing. We did harvest the last of the salsa peppers before we threw the frost blackened plants into the compost. The guy from Seattle made up a big batch of salsa using just one of those hot little devils. My tongue is still burning from when I tested one of those guys. And all the black basil plants went to live in the compost, also.
On Saturday, we made the monthly trek to Costco. I budget $100 per month for Costco. I came in at $102.79, the extra coming out of the grocery budget. I keep my Costco list on the fridge and add to it as the month goes on, keeping in mind the Costco coupons and their expiration date. I reworked that list three times before I had it at $100. You can really spend a lot of money fast if you are not prepared when you shop Costco.
A last note on the theft drama. My neighbor put up a camera that records after her 4-wheeler got stolen. I was not happy this morning as I watched some piece of sh*t hiding under my giant flowering plum tree, working his flashlight at 4:00 this morning. He moved around for about 20 minutes, checking both our places out. What could he be planning??
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