I left at about 10:30 AM, to go to an eye exam in Ballard. John Pai was late coming to pick up some wireless mics and called and told me to leave them on the porch- he would only be a couple minutes late. Driving down the sad, barely pave cow path that serves as our "street" there were two men walking back towards the south: they looked out of place. I didn't recognize them, one was a light skinned black guy, thin in a black hoodie, the other a large Pacific Islander in unseasonal shorts and a butt ugly, backwards, red and Black Yankees cap. I should have turned around and thought as much. I thought the guy in the hat could belong to the Samoan family down the block. I was being "un-P.C." I thought, it's just walking down the street. I went to the eye exam. My prescription didn't change but I need to go back for a glaucoma check because I have strange pressure in my eyeballs. I came home to the house, opened the side door and immediately said out loud, "well did we get robbed?" I walked to the back door- it was open. Did I leave it open? I had been working in the driveway on my table saw before I left, I could have forgot to close it...There had been an ongoing string of daylight burglaries in my immediate neighborhood. big screen TV rustling mostly. So much so, Laurie suggested that we hide our laptops when we left the house. Fortunately I did, before I left. I turned and looked at the front door and saw it was open too, the door jamb laying in pieces on the floor. I called the police. Were they still here? I didn't think so, no sounds nothing. They had walked past al;l my audio gear which lay in the front hall, neatly in cases ready to go. They had no clue what it was- 15K easy in gear. They took the Nintendo Wii. They had been upstairs, all the doors and lights were on, in every closet and drawer. Didn't look like they found much. In our bedroom they went into our metal file case in the closet, rumaging so fast they over look my Granddad's gold pocket watch. They take my 16mm Bolex. They leave some of Laurie's costume jewelry on the bathroom floor. Back downstairs they go through our pantry and desk, leaving the Bolex on the top of the cat box. In the end it seems all they got was the Wii, Ned's iPod and 40.00 in cash from Tom's wallet. Something scared them off. I wish it was the cats, who were no doubt terrified to see a huge Samoan pile through the front door. John Pai saves the day, arriving late for the equipment, pulling his car into the driveway and scaring them off through the back door. My neighbor, Joe accross the street told me that he heard pounding at my house about 10:30- he was in his yard. Because of the table saw he thought I was working on something. That means it happened a couple of minutes after I left. It was "those guys".
The cops say they know who has been doing these burglaries. They know the car.
The weirdest part. Laying by the backdoor was the prayer book given to Ned by his Oma and Opa on his first communion. Why dig through a kid's underwear drawer for that? I hope it leads to their repentance. If not then I hope they have bowel disruption in public frequently.
