Saturday, January 08, 2011

More Supporting Evidence For My Theory

I spent part of the weekend in St. Augustine helping my parents.
If you hit the rewind button, you may remember that my Mom fell and injured her back recently.
We, my brother, my sisnlaw, my wife, my kids, and moi, have been taking shifts staying with Mom and Dad.
Essentially, Mom is not to lift anything for a month or so while her injuries heal.
So we are all taking turns cooking, cleaning, putting away things, and generally giving her some down time to get better.

So it was that I was heading out to Theo's restaurant this morning to bring them breakfast from their favorite eatery.

There was a slight delay however when the neighbor lady called to me in the yard.

"Did you leave your JEEP windows open like that last night?

Huh?

"Like what?" I called back.

"All unzipped and hanging, " she said. "I only asked because someone has stolen stuff out of our JEEP a couple of times. I was afraid it had happened to you."

I walked around to the driver side.

"It has." I said.

I walked over to my offroad extension of my soul and peered into her violated interior, fully expecting to NOT see my fishing pole, my JEEP watch, my brand new Tilley hat, my fishing tackle, my six pack of Yuengling beer, and well, you get the picture.

It was a mess, but everything ... EVERYTHING, was there. The glove box contents were scattered all over and my brand new Case pocket knife was jammed into the locked console in an unsuccessful attempt to get in there.

The little silvery thing is just a book light, but the watch (upside down) is a pretty expensive JEEP logo watch.
It was pretty clear to me that (A) they were looking for expensive items like cell phones, gps units, etc. ... (B) they got interrupted by the security motion sensor floodlights on the front of the garage.
They knew enough to enter from the lee side of the JEEP to avoid the motion sensor, but I think somebody messed up and the very bright double flood kicked on.
Even the dashboard change was still there ... and what thief leaves a six pack of good Pennsylvanian beer behind?



When the very tall deputy showed up, we went over the JEEP and I was just saying to him that it looks like I lucked out. They didn't take anything and the windows were unzipped not cut.
I was rezipping the back window as I said that and then, there it was. They cut the stitiching in the top, essentially ruining it.
Oh, I'll check in to Mom's homeowner policy, but JEEP tops are about $600, and homeowner deductibles tend to be in that zone or higher, so I am probably NOT going to luck out there.
C'est la vie.
The deputy did share the fact that they caught two people breaking in to cars in the neighborhood around 5 am that morning and they were toting stolen gps's etc.
That was satisfying. but still ...
... I am still pretty convinced that my theory of "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" remains substantiated by the evidence.


23 comments:

Florida Beach Basics said...

We'll hope that for the perps, what goes around comes around. Sorry.

Sharon said...

I'm sorry, that's crappy :(

Island Rider said...

Sorry about your JEEP. If they find those guys fingerprints on your car, you could be entitled to restitution. Once at work, we suffered a breakin and for almost 10 years got a check once a month for $15.00 on a prison account that the inmate earned and had sent to us.

The Florida Blogger said...

Gosh, dude. It's one of reasons I got rid of my jeep. It looked pretty, but I didn't feel safe carrying anything in it, especially in Orlando. Glad you got to keep you rods. That would have been a tragedy.

Anonymous said...

That stinks! All the time I was reading, I kept hoping at the end you'd discover it wasn't a human break in but rather a hungry raccoon or other critter. Especially when they didn't take the beer.

tai haku said...

Urgh that sucks. One of the things I loved about my JEEP back on the island was the ability to drop the top and windows but i hated the lack of security when I had all my dive gear and cameras in the back (not as much as I hated the transmission dropping out though). Hope your coverage/restitution at least picks up the tab.

Aunty Belle said...

Grrrr!

"No good deed"...indeed.

Youse the onliest person I'se ever heered of that locked a console. Impressive.

Sorry FC. Bummer.

Love to Mama, hope her recovery is speedy.

Miz S said...

Oh my. Glad all your stuff was still there. Opposite of glad that your JEEP was cut up.

Why people gotta DO crap like that?

threecollie said...

So sorry about Jeep. What a shame that they damaged her, although I am glad they were stopped before they got your stuff. Our world is getting ugly. Somebody stole Alan's tree stand right in front of our living room windows...must have waited until we were milking.

Dani said...

I'm so sorry FC!

swamp4me said...

Makes you want to smack the little dweebs, doesn't it? The thing about being robbed is not so much what, if anything, was taken, it's the violation of your space. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

Hi FC,

I am sorry about the jeep damage but of course glad that your things were not taken.

Hope your mom continues to improve.

P

Anonymous said...

That's such a bummer, fc, and most especially since it happened to your much beloved JEEP. The upside is that nothing was taken, downside that some people are such jerks sometimes.

Sending good thoughts to you and your mom.

ImagineMel said...

Boo Hiss. BOO!!! I am glad the damage was fixable!! Sorry that it happened. :(

Pablo said...

Sorry this happened to you. It's not the best way to start a new year. I'm glad they caught the perp; I was afraid you were going to blame it on me.

R.Powers said...

Hey Y'all,
I know, I know, it stinks don't it?
I'm just going to look on the bright side and consider that nothing was taken, no mean spirited slashing of tires, seats, etc was done, and I meant to replace that cover last spring 'cause it leaks at the tail end.

It's good that I did not catch them in the act, but I am not letting this event put a damper on the 3 days spent caring for my folks and just hanging with them for a change.

Thank you for the Mom get well wishes!
Today she volunteered that she was starting to feel better, but she still has weeks to go on the "don't lift anything" script from the Doc.

So, we will continue to rotate in and be whatever she needs us to be so she can just be still for a change and heal.

Thunder said...

Bummer about the break-in on the Jeep!
Glad to hear your Mom is doing better!

Cathy said...

Swamp4me said it. It's about the violation.
Our neighbors' home was robbed a year ago. She's had the drapes beside the window the jerks entered - sterilized.

I imagine you have to count your blessings to counter the darkness out there.

And just keep moving forward with that pure Florida sunshine.

Cuz Tina said...

get well wishes for Aunt Peggy. and you could probably get a car upholsterer to stitch that back up for you. Reall dumb robbers not to take the PA beer. !

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Bill said...

FC,
GRRRRRR!

Vandals, Thieves, Low Lifes, Dang what is this town coming too? Sorry to see you were hit by the town hoodlums. Glad you didn't get taken to the cleaners. Just enjoy taking care of your Mom and Dad, they are our life treasures. It was good to see you Friday, too bad you had to get up to this nonsense on Saturday. Kevin said you need to look us up when you are in town next. Thanks for all you share.

Billy

R.Powers said...

Cuz Tina,
Seriously, who would leave a 6 pack of good Yuengling behind?


Dee,
Thanks!


Billy,
It was a nice surprise to see you at Barnes and Noble.
These work weekends don't give me much time for K, B, R, type outings dang it.

Buford Nature said...

I used to live on a 38ft sailboat at Hidden Harbor Marina behind Theo's. Good grub! Hope you visited the Sailor's Exchange while you were there. You do know about Sailor's Exchange? Very inexpensive odd stuff for hobbyists, sailors and fixer-uppers, but doubt you'd find a Jeep top there.