Apparently in Athens people steal their Christmas presents....

So last night, I was at my house in the kitchen making the little holiday treats for all my friends at work. I had almost every light on in the house and I had my TV going to my favorite XM Music channel, Highway 16 (country, of course!) So there I was, cooking away, when all of the sudden I heard this noise out in my garage.

Now normally, folks, I pull my car into my garage when I get home and then close it before I ever get out of the car. Hello - I live by myself! And I did that last night at first. But my little sister Lisa is staying with me over the holidays and I was expecting her home within the hour from shopping (this was around 9:00 or 9:30 last night) and since I knew she'd have a lot of things to bring in...I left the garage door open for her so she could just come in through the kitchen door instead of walking all the way around to the front door. I had every outdoor light on I had for her to make sure she could see in the dark - including the light in the garage.

My little neighborhood is pretty safe. You honestly have that little homey feeling that if everyone in the neighborhood left their doors unlocked, all would be well. So I didn't think twice about leaving the garage door open - I didn't think I would have it open all that long because I was expecting her home.

So okay, back to the noise I heard. I honestly thought a) it's the wind or b) there's a neighborhood cat that roams, he was probably checking out my garage. So I kept on going with my cooking. But then I heard it again - and this time went to the door and opened it to walk out into my garage, ready to scare a damned cat away.

To my utter shock, when I walked outside, there was a late-nineties model Ford Ranger up in my driveway. It was a forest green or possibly a dark blue color - and they had pulled up within 10 feet of my car that was parked in the garage. When they saw me open the door, the truck starts backing out. The guy rolls down his window, a door shuts on the other side of the truck, and as they are pulling out the guy that is driving yells to me "Sorry, wrong house! Wrong house, sorry! Sorry!"

So I walk out to the edge of my garage, mystified by what had just happened and scared all at the same time. What just happened? And mistakes like that happen all the time. They really could have driven up into the wrong driveway. So I walk over to the other side of my garage opposite where I park my car to the side where I keep all my yard care things. My push mower was halfway out of my garage. I was like whoa, that was close, I probably stopped these guys from taking my push mower. I remembered that I had things on the stove, so I went back in the house. Lisa was still not home yet...but I knew she'd be home really soon so I left the door open.

So Lisa comes home, and we talk for a little bit, and then I call Tim like I always do. I told him about what happened with the Ford Ranger and all and he said "Joy, you better think really hard about what was along that wall - go back out there and see if you can remember if anything else was in there."

Sure, why not. I went out there - and sure enough, my weed-eater was missing. MY WEED-EATER. See, I hadn't had to use any of my lawn equipment since about October, so I didn't really have a mental picture of what was where originally - enough to notice that it was missing the first time I went out there. Nor did I even consider the fact that someone would be stupid enough to steal something from a garage that clearly had someone at home...boy was I wrong.

The punks who drove up into my driveway stole my weed-eater, and was after the rest of my equipment while I was in my own home. Had I not walked outside when I did, I think they would have stolen it all. Not to mention the fact that my house, inside and out, had every light on and it looked like noon in the dead of night on my little lot.

So I called the law. An honestly very, very nice policeman shows up (mind you, Athens-Clarke County cops have been seriously mean folks every other time I had met one) and I tell him what happened. The guy was shocked that he got a call out where I live - he said that they never had calls out here or any problems at all.

I didn't want him to write up a formal report because hey, let's face it, I'll never get my weed-eater back. I know that. But what I did want is them to know about it - hey, maybe I was visited by a serial Christmas bandit and they had been looking for him? Ha, who knows. I also wanted them to patrol more often in my little neighborhood that is kind of in the country. He was extremely reassuring and told me several times that if I saw anything out of the ordinary in my neighborhood again to call them - that I was not wasting their time. They would come out and check things out just in case. And - a patrol is now set up for my entire neighborhood.

But the moral to the whole story is this, folks - keep your doors locked and your garage doors closed if you have them! These guys were probably some loser rednecks that either were looking for a thrill or literally were looking for Christmas presents to steal.

Maybe my weed-eater, which I inherited from my great Aunt Caroline who passed away in March 2007, will be given to a young family who really needs it.

Ha! Whatever. Bah-humbug for now.