Perpetual Ruminations

Is It A Christmas Ghost?

No, I don't think it's a ghost of Christmas past, present, or future; I'm sure it's not a ghost of any type.

Last fall, after we had parked it for the winter, we had a situation with the mobile tent (pop-up camper) where someone had turned on the furnace, used up all the bottle gas, and run the battery dead. But, after discovering this, we finished winterizing it, closed it down, and locked it up. A few weeks later I discovered that someone had been in the HiLo camper I've been working on.

There is not gas in the HiLo, and it had been winterized, so nothing other than the lights would have worked, but things had been moved around and one of the chairs that was stowed behind the table was in front of the table. No problem, I locked that up for the winter as well.

At the time, I thought it was likely just some local kids screwing around. We live out in the country, but there are a lot of houses around us, some with various aged children. But, a week ago I went to take the Yukon into town and discovered the battery was dead. The seat had also been moved, but I thought my wife had adjusted it when she used it a couple days before. I jump started it and it seems to be fine now, and just because someone had been messing in the campers, I parked it in the garage where it's locked up.

However, the car is still parked outside, and we have never had a reason to lock vehicles up. I thought about it after the Yukon, but told myself, "Stop being so paranoid, nobody is messing with the vehicles." Any way, we got a few inches of snow so I went out to clean up around the car. I decided to move it so I could shovel the snow and discovered that the door on the side away from the house wasn't shut tight. It had snowed in a bit, but nothing too serious. I also noticed, because of the door not being shut, the dome light was on. The battery was low but not dead, and thankfully the car started right up. Oh, and the seat was reclined about halfway back.

I used the car yesterday to drive into town. Just me, so no one used the passenger side door and I know it wasn't open when I drove into town or home. I also would have noticed that the seat was reclined because I had set my packages on that seat.

Last night, around midnight, Bellah, my wife's dog, started barking when we heard a car door shut. We looked around, but didn't see anyone in our driveway so we thought it must be next door. Now, looking back, I realize it was our car door being shut after someone had gotten inside. Now, everything is locked up and hopefully the problem is solved.

In a nearby town (six miles north) there has been some problems with items stolen out of vehicles and transients seeking shelter in anyplace they can gain access. The local police did arrest one person, a transient, who had taken up refuge in someones car and pulled a knife on them when they surprised them the next morning. I notified the sheriffs office of our situation and was told to lock and secure all doors, windows, and vehicles, and to be cautious if anyone is messing around.