Crime in Our Neighborhood

Last year I posted several times about arson in our neighborhood.

Do you remember this post about a fire next door to us last August?

Or how about this post?

Finally, we learned it was all over...

...until yesterday.

I felt nervous Sunday night at bedtime. Mike was out of town for the night but usually that doesn't bother me. Sam was going to be home soon and I was a bit disappointed in myself for feeling tense. I got up and checked the locks. I turned lights on in several rooms and decided to leave them on for the night. Then, I kept listening for sounds. It felt so silly! I decided to leave the television on so that I would relax a bit. That probably wasn't my best idea but I fell asleep and didn't awaken for several hours.

Early Monday morning I went to work out with my friend, Donna. I didn't notice anything different. When she dropped me back off at home, though, I noticed a patrol car parked across the street from our house.

Well, soon there were more police, as well as firefighters, fire trucks and the big incident command van.








I didn't even have to leave my living room to take these photos.

I went out to get the scoop from one of the firefighters. He told me that they were inspecting a burned area in the grass. He also told me a camper a block down our street had burned during the night. Apparently I had slept through all that!

I woke Sam up and he told me he'd run outside about midnight after hearing screams. He said he thought someone was being murdered. I was proud and horrified all at once, learning he'd gone running to the rescue. That had to do with the camper fire. Sam said there were lots of patrol cars there before him and he never did know who had screamed.

The camper was parked in someone's driveway and I'm sure they were worried about their home burning. I saw a damaged car being hauled away Monday morning but don't know the story there. I also heard two women speaking of something being stolen. Again, I wasn't informed beyond what I overheard out front.

So, when I spoke with the firefighter he told me that if I had children in our home, we should go over a plan of escape. Everyone should, really, but hearing it from him made me feel nervous.

Much of the day different inspectors kept showing up to take photos of that burned spot in the grass. It just didn't look like much, pieces of fat yellow candles and unidentified pieces of stuff. One officer referred to it as an incendiary device but they weren't sure what was in it. Apparently it hadn't gone where it was meant to go or it had fizzled too soon or something.

Hopefully, all those investigators will be able to piece it all together. I don't know if this is the work of the juvenile girl from last summer's drama or if it is something new and different. Either way, it is rather bizarre that our quiet little residential street keeps having so much criminal activity. I don't like it.

Drama in the Neighborhood

Last night we had a little excitement in the neighborhood.  Mike was in at the church but Sam and I were home.  First, I thought I heard some hollering outside but saw nothing.  I muted the television but all was quiet.  The next thing Sam and I heard were far-off sirens.  Right then I had a strong feeling that those sirens were headed our way.  I was right!  The sirens stopped right next door.

It turns out that our neighbors had a small fire in their front yard.  They weren't home and we do not yet know why there was a fire.  It was really just a matter of  feet from our cars and our house. A row of dry trees line up between our house and their's.  It is great for privacy but certainly would have made powerful fuel.   Have I mentioned that Wyoming is in a drought?  It has been really, really dry around here.

The fire did not amount to much I guess.  It was out before I saw it.  The reason is this, a passing motorist took the time to care.  He or she saw it and called out for help (explaining the hollering I thought I heard).  The neighbor on the other side helped put out the fire before it became a big deal.  

I'm so very grateful to people who see a problem and do what they can to help.   I know there are people who would have just driven by, expecting someone else to handle the problem.   I don't know the name of the person alerting to the fire, but we are very appreciative.  I'm happy to be reporting just minor drama, nothing more.

I also want to give a shout out to all emergency services folks.  They walk into a lot of unknown situations on our behalf.  I am pretty sure we don't thank them enough.  If any of my readers are among our protectors, know that we are grateful!

Drama on the Rock

As I was saying, there was drama this week at Independence Rock.  I am not certain I handled my part well.  You be the judge.

After climbing up on the backside of the rock we wandered around a bit, exploring some of the nooks and crannies.  I admit to feeling a bit tense as there we are lots of places that presented dangerous possibilities.

It was so beautiful, though, it was well worth it.  We had no drama at that point.

After hiking back down (I admit, Mike hiked but some of my descent was on my bottom.) we followed the trail on around, leaving it for just a bit.  We took Bode over to a creek for a time of cool down.

It was quite pretty there as well. 

Nope.  The drama did not occur at the creek.

AFTER the stop at the creek we continued our stroll around Independence Rock.  We'd been following the path for awhile when we heard voices asking us if we knew a way to get down.  It took me a bit of visual searching to discover from where the voices were coming.  Finally, we saw two young boys still up on the rock.  I'd guess they were maybe 10 and 12.  Can you spot them in the photo below?

How about this photo?

Now?

They'd been up there awhile and said they were stuck.  They were trying to find a way down from that ledge.    From our vantage point we really couldn't be sure how to direct them as there are so many tricky places up there.  We kept talking to them and found out they were travelling with grandparents, who were back in a camper trailer in the parking lot.  We asked them to see if there was a way up, rather than down.  Our hope was they could get to the backside where the descent was a bit easier.  As they disappeared over the top, Mike headed back to help them down.  I continued on with Bode to get the grandparents if necessary.  I was so very grateful that Mike went back to help them down.  I had a hard enough time getting myself down! 

The plan was for Mike to call me with details from the other side but cell service was spotty.  I paced and debated for awhile.  Should I go get the grandparents?  I worried about getting the boys in trouble but luckily, they were able to get down and soon I saw the three of them trekking back toward the parking area.

It was fun watching them approach as it was apparent Mike had made some new friends!

Happily the story ended well.  They headed back to their camper and Mike and I found a picnic table to enjoy our lunch.  The part that bothered me was wondering if I should have called the grandparents out there.  Like I said, I didn't want to see the boys in trouble, especially now that they were Mike's BFF's.  However, I was wondering what kind of people would let those two young boys go up there on their own and I kind of wanted to let them know they needed to be more careful.  What do you think I should've done?  By the time we finished lunch I noticed their camper was gone so I didn't get a chance to change my mind.

After our lunch we debated what we should do with the rest of our day.  Go home and get some things done or go the other way and explore a bit further.  What do you suppose we did?  Of course, we decided to follow the road a bit further to see what there was to see.  Monday was such a big day, it is going to take me several posts to describe it to you!