[Burnin' oil]

The saga continues: Saturday evening, everything is shipshape. Sunday morning, the back door is open and there are other signs of illicit activity. Owner's sons show up in the afternoon. Confirm that the mess was created by intruders and that stuff was stolen. Also noted that the thieves put stuff in boxes, perhaps arranging for pickup later. Neighbor gal confirms she saw a truck backed up to the garage Friday evening loading boxes. Thought they were helping the owners. Deputy comes out and takes a theft report. CSI Miami shows up and dusts for prints, got some good ones off some bottles. Tech lady is confident something will turn up.

Sunday night, I'm thinking that the criminals are coming back to get the boxes of stuff. One of my kids and I decide to conduct surveillance so we walk a few rows into the almond orchard across the street (chips and beer in hand) and head north until we are in front of the subject premises. We did stayed out from 9:00 p.m. until 11:30 and did not see anything suspicious.

However, two things happened that scared the crap out of me. I mean heart pounding, hand shaking, adrenaline racing fear. The "what in the world am I doing" kind of thing. I don't have the time to provide details but the first was caused by the sons that were, unbeknownst to me, still at the house loading stuff in their truck by candlelight and I almost walked right into them. It took me ten minutes of binocularing to confirm their identity. The second was one of my daughters coming out to see us in the orchard, again, unbeknownst to me- this dark shape in a dark orchard on a dark night stealthily approaching our position. Holy crap. If you know what I am talking about, then you know what I am talking about. Otherwise, not so much.