Day 106 - January 6, 2013

 A fun fact - We spent 100 days in 2012 'on the road'.  That makes keeping up with 'what day it is' in 2013 much easier.

On December 15th, we moved into a home for a month.  I have felt like a 'cheater' since then.  Posting that I am on day 106 doesn't seem like much to brag about when I have spent the last several weeks living it up in a real home.  I have had the luxury of a king sized bed, children's rooms further than arms length away, a washer and dryer that don't require quarters, a dishwasher, a large shower with Jacuzzi tub, a separate bathroom for the kids, a full sized oven that I have utilized for baking goodies for the kids and some fairly decent meals (if I don't say so myself), television with cable, and unlimited wifi.  Outside there is a firepit that we have enjoyed a few times and a hot tub that has also been utilized.  It has all been rather nice...until today....

Today was a lazy day.  It was well after noon before Hannah and Samuel decided to go outside for awhile.  It wasn't long before Hannah was back at the house announcing that the doors to the 'barn' were all open.  Danny went down to check it out only to find out that the barn and our trailer had been robbed.  The home that we are renting has a few outbuildings.  One of them that we refer to as the 'barn' has a full kitchen a some other things stored in it.  We have been in it and were familiar with some of the things that should have been there.  The obvious, the homeowner's 4 wheeler was missing and also a chainsaw that Danny had used to take down our Christmas tree and a battery charger that we had used.  The cabinets had been left open, but I don't know if anything else was missing.  Our trailer, which was parked right in front of the barn, had also been ransacked.  Thankfully, what little we do own was, for the most part, at the house with us.  It is shocking to realize how brazen the people who did this were.  It looks like they actually pulled a cooler over and sat around and drank for awhile.  There was some beer and a vodka bottle.  I don't know, maybe that stuff was already down there and they just pulled it out.  They would have had to take a flashlight into our trailer to search around because there is not power to it right now.  They pulled out a couple of drawers and tossed them out.  They got my 'laundry' quarters!! They took some pretty insignificant stuff. We will have to go through it and clean it well and figure out what all they got.  They took some of my clothes that I had left out on the bed.  I guess they had a 'big woman' to clothe.  I keep imagining them saying, "Mama's gonna be happy."  It looks like they got some of our personal checks (we will have to call the bank first thing in the morning) and the biggest worry that I have...it looks like they got an external hard drive that I had stored under the dining seat.  It had A LOT of stuff on it from my old PC...pictures, personal info, who knows what.  There was nothing of real 'monetary' value.

I keep thinking of 'what could have been' or 'what could still be'.  From the house, we cannot see the barn without going out on the front deck.  However, you can see the house from the barn.  I would imagine that they were keeping an eye on us.  It had to have been after we were in bed.  They must not have come up near the house.  The car was unlocked and it doesn't appear that they went into it.  But our minds are reeling with thoughts of days past.  Danny had told me one day after we had had some snow that he felt that there were some large footprints out back around the house.  He had also seen some deer tracks and some dog prints, so we wrote it off to a hunter tracking a deer.  The 4 wheeler wasn't an easy steal.  They would have had to have a trailer or a truck to load it into.  And I keep thinking, "what if they come back".  I can understand how people feel violated after something like this happens.

The homeowners are out of town on a sky trip.  I felt really bad when I phoned her with the news.  Her parents came up to check on things.  They were here when the sheriff arrived.  As it turns out, a sheriff lives up the road 'just a bit'.  We are truly in the middle of nowhere.  This was no easy feat.  No, "hey, lets run around the corner and rob the neighbors".  I'm a little befuddled.  We'll keep the lights on outside tonight.  I keep wanting to go out and look down on the barn and the trailer, but I don't want to alarm the children.  I don't want them to feel my anxiety.  The sheriff said that he would have the other sheriff drive by a few times tonight.  I don't like it.  I don't like the way it has left me feeling.  We have camped in the middle of nowhere in the last few months and I have felt safe.  Tonight I am uneasy.