Rat Bastard

Ryan came up behind me in the back yard and said "Be quiet," as I was tamping some soil in a small hole I had just filled next to the fence. I said, "Ok," although I didn't think tamping soil was that loud. I figured he was telling me I needed to be mindful that I was working next to Gavin's room as he was sleeping.

Then he said, "Be quiet," again and I realized I didn't let him finish the first time. He finished by saying, "Be quiet, someone stole our plants." I wanted to yell, "What?!!!" Then it dawned on me, he didn't want me screaming, "Rat bastards!" and waking up Gavin.

The previous weekend we had some kids from the church working at our house as a way to raise money for their summer mission trips. We had them do yard work; most of which involved pulling up all of the grass from the tiny bit of side yard where Ryan later planted two daphne shrubs.

One week later (last night) some jerk stole both daphne. Just like someone stole a tree we planted last year and some pavers. Its probably the same person who steals the plants from my neighbors and from the community center.

The only difference between the dude stealing the tree last year and this year are the new surveillance cameras we installed. A middle-age balding man smoking a cigarette walked past the front of the house and down the alley, stepped up into the yard, plucked the two shrubs like they were weeds and walked away.

Unfortunately the resolution of the camera wasn't that great and it was in the middle of the night but it was good enough that we have an idea of what he looks like. I called the police to make a report over the phone because I'm sick of this jerk stealing from everyone in the neighborhood. The officer taking my report over the phone asked me if I saw the person stealing the plants and I told her no but we got it on camera so she said they would have to send an officer over to watch the video. I made sure they really needed to come to our house over a couple of shrubs. They did.

A couple of hours later an officer showed up to watch the video. He encouraged us to fill out a police report so we did. I felt a little silly filing a report over $40 worth of shrubs but this dude has been stealing for well over a year from all over the neighborhood. We believe he is a sheister of a landscaper who is stealing our freshly planted trees, shrubs and ornamental flowers and then using them in his clients yards. He only steals the stuff worth stealing. He didn't take the time to steal the Irish Moss or the cheap daisy like flowers we also planted.

Ryan and I are both surprised he didn't steal any of the 5 or 6 hydrangea we planted last year - he must have been on vacation and by time he realized new shrubs had gone in it was too late to pluck them as their roots were established.

Ryan is going to put the video we do have of him walking past the light post on a dvd then I'm going to upload it onto youtube then send a link to the neighborhood listserv. I hope that little rat bastard gets caught. I think a great punishment for him would be to buy us new shrubs and to plant them - and of course be charged with trespassing and theft.