ReScreening

After Monday night’s thwarted burglary attempt, I didn’t get a very much quality sleep. Instead, I woke several times through the night and probably didn’t fall initially to sleep until somewhere near 1am. Daylight came around too soon. As a result, I gave myself permission to sleep in a few extra minutes which resulted in me not rolling out of bed until 625am.

With the daylight, I was curious what if any clues or damage I might find from the burglary attempt. To that end I promptly stepped out onto the deck to take a look around. Dammit! I forgot that we set the security system for night time mode, so as soon as I opened the door the alarm blared. I hurried to the keypad to disable but to no avail. Once it goes off it’s got to be handled as an intrusion. At that point I had little recourse other than to wait for the security company to reach out for verification. Seconds later when they did just that I identified myself as required then they disabled the false alarm. I then was able to disarm the system. That got my blood flowing!

Back to the deck. I noticed right away that one of the screens in the bay window had been cut open on three of the four sides much like a door, if you will. More proof that the would-be burglar planned to come through the window. I really wish I would’ve caught him in such a precarious position because I would’ve smashed his skull!

I surveyed the area moreover looking for any clues like dropped tools, a phone, etc. But the only other clue was a deeply embedded foot print in the general vicinity of his landing spot when he leaped off the deck. I planned to check the rest of the yard more thoroughly after my run.

As for the weather, it was partly to mostly cloudy but most of the rain had already moved out of our area. It was warmer than I expected, too – still in the mid 60s. The day’s high wasn’t expected to surpass 73 with plenty of sunshine. And then the night’s low was expected to drop to 53 degrees. Forecast sounded more like September.

I headed back inside where over the next 10 minutes I whipped out calisthenics and then poured and enjoyed coffee. It was more than an hour later that I completed meditation and a stretch then left for a run. I think I got out of the house just ahead of 8am.

I ran 4.1 miles without much fanfare. A police cruiser drove the neighborhood which isn’t unusual any time of day, but I guessed that he was following up on the night before’s criminal intent. The run was pretty easy and again shirtless. The cool morning air felt good against my skin. After my run I went directly out back to further survey the crime scene. I looked behind and under the shed, the tree house and then along the stream. No other clues. I noticed Mindy stepping out on the deck with coffee. I pointed her gaze towards the cut screen, which I could tell surprised her. Makes you feel vulnerable. That removed any doubt of the burglar’s intent.

I couldn’t hang out too long for needing/wanting to leave for work no later than 930am. Inside I got cracking on some eggs, whipping up fried eggs, grits, fruit and toast. I fried the grits in the olive oil originally intended for my eggs. Yum! Off to the shower around 9am and downstairs again by 920am.Enjoyed a little more coffee before heading off to work. Mindy’s plans included taking the kids to their dental appointments with Dr Scott. Not sure what else.

Arrived across town near 10am, and after the ¼ mile walk in from the far lot I was settled in my cubical a few minutes later. Seemed like a ghost town all around. Geesh! My focus was finalizing the June monthly report and spent the better part of the day doing just that. Come 1pm, I headed to our regularly scheduled conference room. There I sat alone for 10 minutes – arriving five minutes early and staying until 5 after the hour. I then sent a text to a peer asking if I missed a cancel notice. Well, not exactly. The meeting wasn’t happening but they failed to tell me. Uh, thanks?

I thought about leaving and working the remainder of my day from home but didn’t. One thing lead to another and before I knew it was 415pm and time for our staff call. I ended up at the office until almost 5pm. I called neighbor Pat Shultz on my drive home sharing the details of the thwarted burglary. He knew about it, just didn’t know it was at our house. He learned about it from the neighborhood association email updates that go out to members. We talked for a while or until I was near Tuttle.

Shortly thereafter Orkin called to confirm their late arrival. Before confirming we were accepting of the late appointment I inquired about our service commitment since from my perspective, we’ve already met our obligation. I want them to come only every other month in the March to October time frame. That’s it. Makes no sense at all having them there over the winter. Who’s fooling who? Tom shared that they don’t have an as needed plan, but could do a seasonal plan which if I understood correctly is the same number of visits but spread over the warmer months. I agreed to at least one more treatment before deciding what we will do moving forward. I never intended to make them a never ending, recurring service. A bug or spider here and there is a nonissue in my world.

Called Mindy to let her know that the Orkin Man was on his way and might be there ahead of me. No worries. While talking, she provided an update on the kids dental appointments as well as the rest of their day. I was home a minute or two later. Neighbor Carl was out and caught me on my way into the house to talk about last night’s events. Insists that both Mindy and I get conceal carry permits. Offered to train her how to shoot. We talked until the Orkin man arrived. Young kid, Tom. Must be new. Very friendly and chatty. Mindy claims that she and or Bella have seen one or two piss ants over the summer which is why I agreed to this additional treatment. Oh boy! Saw a silverfish on our ceiling as well

Orkin guy was there for 15 minutes or so. While he did his thing, Mindy laid out a selection of leftovers for dinner that included chicken, pork chop, grouper, pasta, cucumber salad and Chipotle. I opted for the grouper reheated on the stone along with cucumber salad. That’s it. Mindy & Bella had leftover tortellini.

After broiling the grouper on the stone, it was even better than it was fresh. After dinner and clean-up I was going to take a brief nap and then fix the screen the would-be burglar cut the night before while Mindy agreed to water all the flowers. However, I thought I might pull and clean the screen frame before my nap. Well, I ended up doing the whole process without the benefit of a nap first.

I took my time first pulling out the old cut screen and spline and then thoroughly cleaning the frame before rolling out new screen. Soon after I started rolling in the new spline, Bob I. stopped by for a rare visit in his mustang convertible on his way home from work. Fresh back from their Northern Michigan vacation, we wanted to hear all about it. In fact, Mindy had shown me several pics he posted to FB just an hour earlier.

Sounds like an incredibly awesome trip. Briefly visited friends (former neighbors) whose family has an amazing lake house up there. The pics of the lake validated just how amazingly clear the water is. Holy moly!
We talked for 20-25 minutes before Bob headed on his way. We talked about our coming trip to David & Anita’s as well as our stop in Ashville. He shared a bit more about some of their favorite places to visit in Black Mountain which he likens to Yellow Springs here at home..

After Bob left I finished the screen repair. Before putting it back into service we cleaned the window frame and lubed the metal spring and track for the first time ever. Boy, did that ever make a difference! Window slides much easier now. Mindy joked that we made it easier for the next burglar to slide the windows opened. We repeated the lubage exercise for the two other bay window sashes too.

I soon tuned into MLB baseball’s All-Star game while also monkeying around with the TV audio config again. Still no joy. Bottom line, I still need to prove out the TV’s audio to be sure where the problem resides TV or cable box. Watched an inning of the All Star game but lost interest fast. My Kindle book was calling me. Before heading in to read, however, I tried helping Mindy with a problematic website used for her teacher relicensure. We determined the problem was the website – not operator error.

While I read from my recliner, Mindy played on her laptop from hers. We did that until almost 9pm when Bella finally came home. She was told to be home by 845pm but Mindy is generally pretty lax about curfews. I read for 30 minutes or so, dosing off for a few minutes in there as well. At 930pm I declared it time for bed. After a very poor night of sleep Monday, I was very much looking forward to some quality sleep. Before heading up, I made sure that the blinds were drawn, doors locked and outdoor lighting on. Mindy planned on activating the security system for home mode.

I was joined in bed by both Mindy and Bella maybe 10 minutes later. After say five minutes, Mindy dispatched Bella to her own bed. Next thing I know, Bella runs into our room once again insisting that she’s hearing noises downstairs. I was as close to sound asleep as possible, and was none too thrilled to be woken yet again. In a gruff I decided to go check but only after once again arming myself with my ball bat and insisting that Mindy and Bella go into their clearly defined roles as well, roles that we discussed over dinner, which included them being near the balcony with phone in hand ready to call the cops/911.

This time, as I suspected, the house and yard were clear. It must’ve been her imagination. And while I half expected it and understand the heightened fear, I wasn’t too happy since I felt so under slept. I headed right back to bed where it took more than a few minutes to dose back off.