The Perpetrators are Behind Bars (I Assume)

For anyone reading this without access to Alabama media, the burglars were caught in the act and arrested finally. I learned everything from the person whose house was broken into, as he drove by and noticed my fence was down and felt guilty - can you believe someone like that? Someone who has just had a crime committed against them and is concerned enough about my well-being to come in and check on us and offer to fix the fence for me. I'm not sure how much I should actually say yet, but it turns out a neighbor saw the guys breaking into the house and called the police. The homeowners were working and/or out of town. The police surprised 3 of them inside the house and chased them out. One or more of them climbed the fence behind me and ran through my yard and tried to climb over it when it fell. I can't imagine the shock I would have had if I had been standing at the back door and seen all that happening. I can't believe Darby didn't bark, or maybe she was just as shocked as I would have been.

Just 15 minutes earlier, Mama had traveled down the driveway with her walker to get the mail, and she had sat there and sorted it in the driveway. You just never know what crazy thing is around the corner.

Of course, everything was recovered because they left their Lexus parked in front of the house when they ran away. Two were juveniles and one not, and they obviously gave a lot of thought to which house to try, how to get in, and what to do with the animals inside (put them in their crates). They just didn't count on our eagle-eyed neighbor watching them.

I refused, of course, to let my neighbor fix my fence (because I told him I don't receive things very well and that he should be the one being compensated). It was nice to meet finally although under bad circumstances, and he promised me tours of the Secret Garden. I was feeling so good about someone with such a kind heart when he called a few hours later and said he WAS going to fix the fence, that he would enjoy it, and that he hated to see me go through the ordeal of finding and trusting someone to do it for me. People like this really do exist. You just don't see them very often.