Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Big Brown Lawn sees some action, up close and a little too personal!


So who says stay at home moms have a boring life????

Read on!

Yesterday (Jan.10th) I was on the couch feeding Mason when I heard some howling outside. It seemed like a different howl than Onyx's, but seemed to be close, so I checked outside to see if he was hurt. It ended up just being the dog across the street. Onyx was not out front, so I went to see where he was hanging. He was lounging in the side yard in the sun. All was well, so I went back to my oatmeal and Mason went back to his milk.

Moments later, I heard a helicopter and police sirens...ah something going down in "'da heights". Didn't think much of it until the house began to rumble. Now I have felt our 70+ year old, raised foundation house rumble before, but that is usually when the washer is a bit off-balanced, or Josh decides to "test" the "shaky spots" of the floor. This rumbling was sounding and feeling like that helicopter was right on top of us. The curtains were closed so I pulled one back to peek out front. As I glanced out, I saw a motor home slam through our front fence pulling it out into the middle of mild-mannered Leonard Ave. A police car followed and I was so shocked and confused. Why did they just run through our yard, were they drunk or something? They would have had to have really slammed through the fence to be dragging it out into the street behind them.

My first instinct was to jump up and lock the door. Then I thought, oh no, Onyx! As I thought of him he thought of me and came running in as if to tell me, "Come quick, you've gotta see this!" I raced him to the back door to close his dog door and then there was a knock on the front door. It was our neighbor, Julie and her mom warning me that I might want to bring Onyx in. I told her I already had him and she left to see what was up. I waited inside with Mason and watched as the neighbors poured from their houses in pajamas and robes. They were talking outside and pointing at the backyard. I went to the bedroom and looked out to see the backyard fence down. That's when it became clear, "Oh my gosh they drove right through the side yard!"

That rumbling was the motorhome driving by, not the helicopter.

We waited inside to see the police officer get out of his car a couple of houses down stomping up and down as the guy got away and his tire was torn from the fence (Josh and I imagine he will be greeted back at the station with cans of fix-a-flat and a "Nice Work POP-PY" banner hanging in the doorway). I eventually went out to learn that the man driving the RV had made it all the way to the river and was now swimming in it. BRRRRRRRRR!

The day continued on with the man getting caught; officers, neighbors, Onyx, Mason, and I walking the property to survey the damages;

photos were taken, and Channel 13 news knocked on our door for Mason's first television interview.


"We've been looking for your fence all morning," the reporter said.

That's right folks, at just three months, Mason would be on TV at five o'clock that evening. Since he hasn't quite figured out the English language I handled the speaking parts of the interview. I was looking completely glamorous of course, no shower, crazy hair, Josh's sweatshirt (thrown on as I got Onyx's leash to hide the grubby T-shirt I had been in all morning). Luckily they chopped down my rambling to a short tid-bit to add to their story.

I actually haven't seen this bit yet. We don't have cable and I don't usually watch the news, so our cousin Tivo-ed it for us. We were hoping to catch it on the Channel 13 website, but they only posted this noon news report.

  • CBS 13 News

  • KCRA 3 News


  • Family and friends, however, saw it and were more than flattering about my appearence.

    Josh imagines the whole thing to be a little on the trashy side and prefers to imitate me as... breastfeeding mother talkin' 'bout that police chase that just slammed through her yard. I laughed at it all because it just hadn't quite sunk in yet. I was more that grateful that we were safe, the house was safe, and all that was lost was our not so good looking chain link fence. We've talked about one day changing it, we just weren't expecting that day to be so soon.


    Onyx is depressed...his free reign of the yard smashed to a streched pile of chain and bent poles. Today the annoying side of it all arrived. Calls to insurance folk, contractors, and the police department all to find out that the waiting game has begun. The silver lining...I will be getting my exercise as I walk Onyx many times a day with Mason in the Baby Bjorn. Good thing we will be having record breaking low temperatures tomorrow. Sarcasm. Sarcasm. I think we need to invent the indoor dog park. They have indoor soccer, where's the indoor dog park? Good in the hot summer, and cold winter. There it is a great idea...if you steal it from me and make millions just be sure to send us $1,000 of it to cover our deductible.

    5 comments:

    Ian said...

    Wow. Crazy. Also wow. Now we have both had crazy crimes like right there! What are the odds? Who pays? Do you have to have "Dukes of Hazard style R.V. chase" insurance? Who even knows really.

    Joshua said...

    $$$ Who knows? Probably not the guy driving the stolen vehicle with stolen plates. Hopefully Boss Hog won't take us for all we've got. $$$ One thing's for sure "Rosco" won't be confessing his blunders to his peers. He tried to tell Jen that the Winnebago drove through crazy and he drove "gently-his tracks barely showed". Perhaps that was due to the fact that his car weighs many lbs less than the Minnie Winnie. (Nothin' "Minnie" about that thing.)

    Chelsa said...

    Who tries to get away in an RV? Worse yet, who succeeds in getting away in an RV? Nothing that exciting has ever happened to me since I started stay-at-home-mom-ing.

    Ian said...

    That cop will be mocked forever.

    Johnny said...

    That's it. Sacratomatoe is way too dangerous for you kids. You're moving to LA!