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14 March, 2010

Another Sunday Morning Grab-Bag

As happens periodically, I have a bunch of stuff that kind of accumulates, so I seem to take the opportunity on Sundays to pull it all together. Starting off with:

Call 1-1-9, Call 1-1-9

Neighborhood Watch Sign On My Fence
Yesterday morning, about 11:30 AM, I had the opportunity to help a neighbor, who wasn't home, by foiling an attempted break-in. I was at home when their caretaker who (on his off-day) was riding past their place, happened to see the perps (there were two - a lookout and the doer) banging away at a burglar-bar door with what looked to be a crowbar. He immediately turned around and peddled fast-fast down to our place to alert me. I jumped into my trusty Nelly Bell Isuzu and zoomed, literally, up to their place - turning in to their drive doing about 30 MPH.

The lookout had already disappeared. Just as I was careening into their place, I saw a couple of guys who had been waiting for a ride up near the corner coming running down the road waving and shouting to me that one of them was running through the field. As I pulled in, I saw the other hiding up against the fence right beside the driveway. I slammed on the brakes, dumped it into reverse and floored it, creating a most righteous cloud of dust. At the same time the perp ran across the street with me in the Isuzu hot after him.

He ran on through a clump of trees on into a field beyond. I slammed to a stop and jumped out to give chase, but he was already half-way across the field and going fast. I had jumped down into the clump of trees and saw they had left their bicycles hidden in the clump. "Aha! We'll take those," I thought.

Just about that time, the two guys who had been running and waving, came up and helped me retrieve the bikes, which we put into the back of my Isuzu. At that time, I started to try to call the local police department. Wouldn't you know it - I couldn't dial out at all. I kept getting some sort of error that showed on my cellphone screen as '505' - whatever that meant.

The two guys, seeing me fiddling with the phone, started yelling, "Call 1-1-9, call 1-1-9". I tried to tell them it was 9-1-1, but that never got to their attention.

So, failing with my phone, I jumped back into the Isuzu and zoomed once again, back down to our house to try Dianna's cell. Same damned thing. Just when you need it too...

Well, nothing for it but to ask their caretaker, who had ridden his bike back up to their house in the meantime, to stay there and keep an eye on the place till I got back with the police. On down the road I went into Corozal.

At the police station, I reported what had happened and where. This caused some confusion, as addresses do here, and probably I wasn't as clear as I could have been about who, what, and where. That, and the fact that I said I had their two bicycles to leave with them. We got the bikes unloaded and a truck with three PC's in it followed me back to the scene of the crime.

The police looked around, finding the door (which I had missed) with the lock area that was partially bashed in, they took some photos, wrote down some information and left, saying that someone else would be along in a few minutes. They had also been interested in the time that I was unable to connect via my cell phone.
The Damaged Door
At about this time I managed to regain use of the cell phone and called the neighbor, who was over in Orange Walk at the time, letting her know what had transpired. She immediately headed back to Corozal.
Showing How It's Kicked In
About 20 minutes later two officers showed up. One proceeded to dust for fingerprints and talk to me and the caretaker about what we had observed. We all went over to where I last saw the perp running away and where the bicycles were stashed and they asked me more questions. They seemed to have a pretty good idea of who had done it already. I seemed to just be confirming their suspicions. Just a side note - at about this time, was the first time anyone had asked my name or phone number.
Showing More of the Sprung Door
We were still talking to the officers when our neighbor returned and we recounted the story for her. The officers asked her to come down later to make a statement for them. About then, I was done and returned home.

Later on, our neighbor called, letting me know, she had gone to the police station, told them what little she knew and that they had asked her to ask me if I would come in to make a statement for them. I'll do that sometime today.

What a way to get an adrenalin jolt - when all I was looking forward to doing at the time, was to get into my pool and have an ice-cold Belikin.

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Tee Shirt Arrives!

Thanks to Jill, with a British Army Training Unit in Canada. She had read an old, old post on the blog about me trying unsuccessfully to find a tee shirt from the British Army Training Unit here at Price Barracks in Ladyville. Jill was kind enough to offer to send me one of her official tees. She had also asked some questions about what things cost to build down here as in how much we had spent. I had never really totaled it up by category before, so that was a great opportunity to do just that.
A Cool New Tee
Well, the other day the tee arrived, and it's a beaut too. I only had to pay $0.75 BZD duty too. Thanks Jill. It's perfect!
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Canal Work Progresses

Late this last week, there was the sound of heavy equipment just south of us for a day. So, the next day, when the girls and I went for our daily walkies, on our way back, we went down there to see what had been going on. Wow! Impressive. It was being done to facilitate improving the canal opening to the bay. Here's a look:
New Opening Beside the Canal Entrance Way
For a long time, we knew there was a small bay just south of the canal, but it was pretty much unreachable because the bush had grown up so much. This changes all that. Here's a panoramic shot I stitched together from three separate shots of the little bay.
The Little Bay Just South of the Canal
Now, if that just isn't cool, I don't know what is. First time I've actually seen it. I know Dianna saw it shortly after we moved in here. But, then that was about it till now.
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Did Someone Mention a Ride?

It seems anymore, that all I have to do is mention the word 'ride' or even just rattle my keys and somebody is ready to go.
We Goin' For A Ride?
Both dogs just love riding in the car. Secret especially. She's big enough that she can sit in the passenger seat and looks out just like a person as we cruise along.

It's a real kick taking both of them at the same time. Surprisingly, they do behave well in the car - even if an actual human rides with me and they have to stay in the back seat. That's ok with them. They're getting to go for a ride.
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Another Early Morning Photo Op

Here's the last thing for this posting. The other morning, on walkies (of course), I happened to see several types of birds in close proximity to each other. They stayed calm (the dogs are usually a distraction to the birds, for some reason) and allowed me to take several shots.
All Together Now...
Not perfect, but close enough. Enjoy.

Cheers,
Dave

7 comments:

Carmudgeon43 said...

Wow. Excitement ensues. 1-1-9 probably makes more sense to them. It does to me.
Is there any land for sale around that little bay?

Wilma said...

Well, that was a very exciting, newsy, and intersting post (not that your other posts have been at least one of the above!). I really like the last photo of the birds altogether. That was some excellent quick thinking on your part to grab the bikes of the perps.
Our snow in MN is almost all melted and I can see the tips of the leaves of the daffodils emerging. But we are still due for some temps in the 20s at night next week. We are already in countdown mode for our trip to BZ in April.

cheers,
Wilma

Barmy Belle said...

Glad the T-shirt arrived! Looks good on you. Hope to meet you two when I finally venture down there.
Jill

Dave Rider said...

Hi Carmudgeon43,

Not that I know of, but rumor has it that a lot of property around the area just recently changed hands, so who knows?

Hi Wilma,

Thanks for the nice comments. I remember, a long time ago, we lived in Cleveland, OH for a couple of years. We were there at the time for the two worst winters in their history. When spring finally arrived the first blades of grass to appear seemed so green, it actually hurt your eyes to look at it. Amazing.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip.

Hi Jill,

The Belikin will be cold and the weather warm.

Cheers all,
Dave

Signe said...

Hi Dave, Always enjoy your blog. Saturday's account was especially interesting to us of course. I always read it, good to know what's going on. Good for Neighbourhood Watch!!!
Keep up the good work!

Dave Rider said...

Hi Signe,

Yeah, I'm sure the discussion will be lively at the next Neighborhood Watch meeting. Not that it's an isolated incident, mind you. We've had several robberies over the past year, all of them fairly small potatoes, as such things go, but troubling all the same.

Cheers,
Dave

JRinSC said...

Wow...I can't believe you got to 30 mph on that road! You were literally taking your life in your hands! I agree with an earlier poster - you dig good getting the bikes -- kinda assures they will face the man!

You know, I never tried 1-1-9 hmmm.. who knows what will happen??

Take care and don't get too brave -- you might actually catch up to one of them and then who knows what would happen!!