Beware of thieves

A few weeks ago, when we were visiting our parents in Orlando, the three of us (Paul, my sister, and myself) were up late watching M*A*S*H. My parents had already gone to bed. I suddenly got a great idea: "Hey guys! Let's put up the Christmas tree as a surprise for Mom and Dad!" We then very quietly took the Christmas tree from the porch and set it up in the stand and put lights on it. We decided not to put the ornaments on it, but we got everything else ready. I even remembered to quietly get some water from the Delta faucets and pour it into the tree stand. It was fun yet challenging to do that in the darkness! It was also hard because we had put the Christmas tree in the living room, which is right next to my parents' bedroom. At one point, we heard my parents talking so we abandoned the project for a short while. We didn't want them to come out and catch us red-handed!

Our sneakiness paid off. No one emerged from the bedroom, and we were successful at getting the tree up and looking pretty. The next morning we eagerly asked our parents if they had heard us the night before. They laughed, because in actuality they had been awake but they hadn't heard us at all! We all thought that was quite humorous.

"You better be careful," I said. "You never know when someone might break into your house and set up a Christmas tree while you're in bed."

A few days ago, Joanna sent me a link that made me think of that story. It was a newspaper article about an unusual case: Bloomington thieves leave puppy behind. The article read:

A Bloomington couple says that thieves who stole items from their cars left something in return -- a small brown puppy tied up in their yard.

Nancy Lee says her husband Jeff discovered the theft when he woke up about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

He also found the female puppy tied to a cable that the Lees had in their yard. Whoever left the dog made a loop around the end of the cable and put it around the puppy's neck. The dog didn't have tags or a collar.

The Lees turned the dog over to Bloomington Animal Care and Control. The Lees say the puppy is nice, but they are unable to keep it.

It made me laugh. I guess you never know who might break into your house/yard and leave something behind. :-)