High speed chase ends under our deck

Two nights ago, I awoke with a start at 1 am. I believed I'd heard a noise. Nothing looked out of place, so I checked on all four kids. They were all sleeping soundly. I felt fearful enough that I woke Jake and talked to him about renewing our home security system. Jake fell back to sleep immediately, as he is always able to do. I watched Wild Russia and fell back to sleep shortly before 2 am.

About an hour later, I was awakened again, this time to Luna's persistent barking. I quickly became aware of strange lights and noises. It wasn't the plow; there was no snow. No, it was a helicopter, hovering directly over our house, shining light as bright as day. 

Out the front window, cop cars lined the street on both sides. The excited whimpering of an unfamiliar dog beckoned me to the back yard. It was a K-9 German Shepherd. Our other dog was cowering against the back of our fence. Men were yelling for us to get her out of there. Jake had to drag her in.

From the sliding glass door, I spied a bald, middle-aged, black man in handcuffs, 2 feet from Kayla's bedroom window. (Later, I discovered that was one of the 2 windows in our entire house that wasn't locked.) I ran downstairs, peeked out the basement window, and counted 11 police officers outside in my back yard, between Kayla's room and the basement living room window. There were more in the front yard and street.

The officers continued to shout over the sound of the chopper. Anna, 12 feet away, had to be hauled upstairs half asleep and quite confused. Kayla's wide eyes had to be pried away from her window. Not knowing if there were any other criminals loose in our yard, I ushered them both upstairs.

The view from the front window was equally surreal. We counted 14 cop cars, including some State Patrol, on our dead end street, the same street that attracted exactly 2 trick-or-treaters this Halloween. It felt kinda like the end of the Tom Hanks movie, The 'Burbs. All of the action had triggered our motion lights and outdoor Christmas lights, so things were looking bright and festive. I felt momentary relief (followed by fleeting shame for my pettiness:)) that Jake had taken the leg lamp out of our front window.

Jake, Kayla, Anna, and I watched from our darkened living room as the 11 officers ushered the one man in handcuffs from our backyard into the street in front of our house and then into the back seat of a State Patrol car. Once he was in custody, the mood in the street changed noticeably. One officer asked jokingly,"So was this his girlfriend's house, then?" That was where the guy had told them he was going.

A couple of police officers came up to the house to talk to me and Jake. They told us that this had been a high speed chase that started with a routine traffic stop 10 miles away. The man was drunk, took off when police pulled him over, reached speeds as high as 130, and crashed a couple blocks away from our house. (The next day, I found 2 hubcaps and a downed street sign where he crashed.) At that point, he took off on foot, zigzagging through our neighborhood. They said he ran through our front garage door, out our back garage door, jumped our fence, and went under our deck, where they caught him. The officers said he was a repeat offender, with multiple DWIs, and that he had fled police before. Recidivism.
 
We'll be replacing those 60-year-old warped garage doors. They don't even shut tightly. And we're reinstating and upgrading our alarm system. In addition to these steps, it has taken 2 days and 3 phone calls, one to each police department involved in the arrest, to assuage my fears. Unfortunately, the chase started in the same neighborhood where a child protection case involving one of my students also began. It took some convincing for me accept that the two were unrelated. It really was merely a freakish coincidence that a high speed chase ended under my deck at the same time I was being threatened by an angry parent from the same neighborhood. What are the odds?

Last night, we started to wonder what the neighbors think. I mean, we had a helicopter hovering over our back yard. Jake talked to a few of them. One had been awake and witnessed the zigzagging footrace through the neighborhood. The whole thing is unbelievable. But I hope you believe me. More importantly, we are all okay, very grateful for each other and for the police who apprehended him before he had the chance to get into our house.

Kayla boldly snapped these pics:

Chuck Norris makes onions cry

Happy December! This year has flown by, especially the months that involve school. The kids are doing well. Dylan's playing basketball and Maya's keeping busy with her art and writing. Speaking of school...

 

This week at school, one of my imaginative, verbal students (who threatens the staff daily) yelled at me, "I'm gonna get Chuck Norris to come here and defeat you." I took it as high praise, that he thought it would take the likes of Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger, to defeat me. I mean, I am not that tough. It also sent me on a search for Chuck Norris jokes. Here are some of my favorite clean ones:

 

Chuck Norris refers to himself in the 4th person.

 

Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas.

 

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

 

When Chuck Norris' wife asks him nicely to do the dishes, he throws them in the garbage and tells her she looks fat.

 

Chuck Norris can speak Braille.

 

The only time Chuck Norris has ever been wrong was the time he thought he made a mistake.

 

Chuck Norris' driver's license photo looks amazing!

 

 

And here is a glimpse of what Jake has been doing at work:

 

Those were photos from the group that had a 12 course dinner in the the banquet kitchen. And this is the additional candy the club supplied to the members' children so they could adequately decorate their gingerbread houses.

 

This one is proof that I was right about our dog. Looks like Cujo.

 

 

Maya with her animal cards (she just told me it's a Desert Spiny Lizard) and Dylan building a fire pit.

 

After a conversation that I thought was just playful banter, Jake seriously purchased a replica of the leg lamp from A Christmas Story. After looking at it for a couple of minutes, I asked him if he could please put it away until closer to Christmas. Which he did, and I don't even know where it is now. So we have that to look forward to and enjoy this holiday season.

 

Pictures from Kayla's phone. Our good cat, Esther.

 

Kayla got her "first" tattoo. The photo she sent was the first I knew of it. She said strength was the word of the year for her, since she lost 2 friends and worked full time at the nursing home.

 

Anna and I had a great road trip to Minnesota State University in Mankato. We visited the English department, toured the campus, were impressed by the student union, and found an apartment she likes. She recently submitted her application to the college and plans to move in August. She's thinking about an interdepartmental major that combines English and Mass Communications.

 

It was great to see everybody at Grandma Olsen's house on Thanksgiving!

 

Owen, Matt, Dylan, Violet, Mimi, Maya, Annie...

 

                                              
                                                                    and Austin.

 

Owen and Maya playing "Flush the Toilet" on their own. I'd better get off the computer and help Maya bake cookies now. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you in December.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

First of all, congratulations to the newlyweds, Katie and Christian! Kayla and I enjoyed Katie's Skype shower very much. It was fun get to spend so much time virtually seeing Katie again. 

 

All of these teenage cousins are fast becoming adults. Kayla and Anna are both talking of moving out this summer, when they will be 18 & 20. Yesterday, I teared up just thinking about how my baby will be turning 7 soon.

 

As it turned out, though, 3 of my 4 kids still dressed up for Halloween. I thought only Maya would. But Kayla went to a college party as Catwoman, which didn't really warm my heart. I felt better when Catwoman got home safely. I was even happier when she got a CNA job offer in the new geriatric psych ward at Ridgeview Medical center. She's still working out the details on that one, looking for a schedule that works for her.

 

Dylan regretted his no trick-or-treating decision at the last minute, which did warm my heart. Harry's family was still home and they were excited he could make it, so he dressed up as a Boise State fan, and went with them. Dylan recently started rec basketball too, which should keep him busy through the winter months.

 

Jake got out the drill and made this disco ball pumpkin for us. Maya loves decorating for holidays. Jake was off today and at Maya's urging, put Christmas lights on the house and decorations in the front yard. She danced barefoot in the yard (it was 55 degrees outside) and made up a song.

 

 

Last weekend, Jake and a few others at Lafayette executed a 14-course dinner for an elite party of 10. Dinner was served in the banquet kitchen to rave reviews. I'll see if I can get a few pictures of that for the next post. Or maybe Jake can show you the DVD of the event.

 

Anna and I went to Bob Dylan. I warned her that nothing shatters your illusions like a Dylan concert. She grudgingly agreed when he opened his mouth to sing. The quality of his voice is equal to that of this photo. Unrecognizable. But still quite an experience. Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame) played before him and with him for 2 songs. He sounded great and he was funny, too. Mostly, it was just fun to do something with Anna. We'll have more of that this week as we visit a college or two and check out housing options.

 

Since I've been posting so many pictures of this grizzly bear, I thought you'd like to see that he or she is settling in for the winter. As these three seem to be:

 

 

Fall

Life gets crazy in September and October, but now it's MEA break. I wonder who goes to the MEA conference. I would, if it was mandatory or if I would be paid no less than $5,000 to attend. Most things have their price. I asked Kayla how much money it would take for her to sell our cat, S'more. She stood firm in the hundreds, but started wavering around $1,000. We almost tried to give Luna away a few weeks ago, but Anna saved her with her tears and empty promises of taking her to the dog park. Mostly it was the tears, since Anna doesn't break those out too often. Anna's doing well at school. Byerly's offered her a supervisor position, but she declined since in the restaurant biz, waiting tables pays better. Kayla's job searching for a nursing assistant position at a hospital and has an interview next week.

 

 

 

 

 

Maya's loving first grade. She's still into birds, like this Victoria Crowned Pigeon which she immediately identified at the zoo. Thanks to Kelly for the great zoo pics! And here's Maya's awesome peacock Halloween costume. I think she might be the only one of my kids to dress up this year.

 

Jake took these picks at the end of our street. There's a couple of days each fall when the trees make a red golden tunnel over the road and this year, we didn't miss it.

Dylan turned 11! He had a busy 3 day weekend: went to a friend's house, spent the night at Isaac's and went to his party at Grand Slam the next day, then his last baseball game, 2 more friends' houses and a family party. The family party was also for Michelle & Isaac, who share a birthday with each other and Matt. Some of Dylan's highlights were playing with fire and having pumpkin pie instead of cake. Highlights for me were hearing the voices and laughter pouring into the house while I worked in the kitchen and having my grandparents there.

I was just at Cub with Dylan and he insisted we use the self-check out. In his excitement, he butted in line. I nudged him and he quickly apologized to the guy in front of us. The man responded instantly, "Are you sorry you cut in front of me or are you sorry you're wearing that Packers jersey?" Dylan laughed pretty hard and said, "I wear this jersey with pride!"