02/11/08

Isn't this nice? It seems our "doughnut bandit" that drives around in circles around our yard is back. He hasn't been in a year or so and we thought the problem had been solved. We guess not now... I took these pictures this afternoon. Steve noticed it when he left this morning because of the nice burned tire mark on our driveway. I, of course, didn't notice a thing because it was dark and I was focused on getting to school. Apparently, the culprit began at the lower end of our driveway near the road and came up, did some loops around trees and then tore a good one around one of the trees (just look at all of the pics..) and then decided to burn rubber as he departed. Steve said he believes this is a different vehicle than last time, though, because the tires are bigger. Isn't that nice? I am sure Steve will not sleep very much tonight. I shot different angles to show where all he went. The last picture isn't as clear for the tracks because the sun was in my eyes, but at least you can see how big our front yard is to know why he would think it was a great place to be... yeah, right.

For those of you just beginning to read my blog, you may not know that we had this problem almost 2 years ago. The guy came to our house two times in a few weeks and did this mess. The second time we had gotten our driveway alarm and Steve heard him. Actually, he SAW the lights of the car coming toward our dining room window. That is how close he was! Well, Steve jumps out of bed, grabs his keys and gets into the van to chase the guy. Chase is exactly what he did.. the guy was going over 100 Steve guessed when he pulled out of the driveway! Steve chased him up the road but lost him. We had the sheriff come out and everything but they couldn't really do anything. The problem is, we can't really do anything to protect our property either, because we would be liable if the person got hurt. How ridiculous is that? It is alright for him to come in and destroy our yard but we can't do anything to stop it. Geesh. Please pray this guy comes to his senses and stops this mess. Mikayla's room is at the front of the house and if he lost control while doing his destruction, he could very easily come through the house. Especially since he has been really close to the house before.

Steve has called the power company to come out and give us an estimate on an overhead light from the light pole. Our area is REALLY dark at night so I am sure that causes our "friend" to think he won't get caught.

I had all of my students back in class today which was good. I felt like I was able to accomplish much today.

Wesley got himself a "JOY" ticket at school today. He was SO tickled with himself and I was quite proud of him. Mikayla has gotten a lot more of those than he has simply because of his focus issues. He is working so hard and his little "FROG" thing I worked with him on last week. I made this up (actually, I know the Lord gave it to me because I would have never thought of it!) Anyway, F is for FOCUS, R is for Re-check, O is for Organize, and G is for GO turn in your work! I made him a "frog" folder and put those letters and explanation on his desk at school to help him. He is just so visual that he needs those types of cues. He seems to have done somewhat better and we keep asking him, "Did you 'frog' it today?" He loves frogs because they are "John Deere green" so that was a plus. I thank the Lord for giving me insight into what I needed to do to help him when I didn't think I could figure out another thing.

Well, I need to get off of here. Steve is working on the driveway alarm and I need to finish up homework with the kids before I read to them and they go to bed. And, of course, I have the joy of grading those papers, too. :)

Have a good evening and if you want a doughnut, don't come to my yard to get it!! lol