Scumbag Thieves

Steal from me and I'm pretty pissed off.

Steal from my wife and son and I'm about ready to kick your ass into next week.

But when your theft makes my son cry in hopeless anguish, all I really want to do is reach into your chest and rip your heart out with my bare hands.

If you haven't already guess, I'm angry, frustrated and yet again wanting to move from our neighbourhood into a bunkered estate with ten foot high walls and electrified barbed wires due to a few damn thieves stalking around in the middle of the night. I know I'll get over it but every time something like this happens it reduces my faith in the concept that you can work hard, put a lot of effort into making your yard look nice and simply be proud and enjoy it.

No, scumbag thieves can take that away in a heartbeat.

This past Mother's Day, Alexander and I bought Francine a beautiful little bunny and bird water fountain. Alexander and I were at Canadian Tire several weeks before Mother's Day when he spotted it, fell in love with it and thought it would be perfect for Mom.

We bought it, brought it home and hid it away (not an easy task given that the thing is about 3.5 feet high and almost two feet across). But we did. And he kept it a secret, too, right up until it was time to give it to her -- not an easy thing for someone who was 3 years old at the time.

Francine was delighted with the fountain, and so was Alexander. It looked beautiful on our front step. And because the bunny on it easily detatched and we had vandals wreck some of our Halloween decorations and other front-lawn decorations last year, we thought it would be a good idea to bring the bunny in at night.

I thought we were being overly paranoid. Even on Sunday night when I was unplugging the fountain and bringing the bunny in I thought I was being silly.

But yesterday morning when I was leaving for work and went to put the bunny back out on the fountain on our front step, I noticed it was gone. For a moment I'd wondered if I forgot that we moved it (since we had tried putting it in different spots in our yard, but kept coming back to the front step) -- but then, with a sinking feeling in my gut, I realized that some time between about midnight and 7 AM it had been stolen.

What I didn't realize immediately was that a heavy crock-style planter (at least 25 or so pounds) and a hanging plant basket were also stolen from the front of our house.

Dollar-wise, the loss is pretty significant -- but emotionally it's even more draining.

Have I mentioned before that I have absolutely no tolerance for petty scumbag thieves?