Thanksgiving Drama - Part Three

Just a quick note - I may be mia for the next few days.  I can feel the most awful cold coming down on me, and if it weren't for the fact that I have an event to work today, then I'd totally still be home in bed.  Not sure if I'll feel up to logging onto my computer while I'm sick.  We'll see.

This series feels like its gone on forever - perhaps because there are other things I want to talk about!  But this is the part everyone's been waiting for (and by everyone, I mean me because I want to remember this in 20 years)!

You can begin reading this epic storyline here ....

My MIL came back up from the chickens at 3:30 AM, planning to get a little bit of sleep before getting up at 5 AM to meet the catch crew at 6 AM.  She lay on the living room floor (so as to not wake up anyone else - and so she wouldn't oversleep), and at 3:44 AM set her alarm for 5 AM.

The catch crew arrived at 3:45 AM.

Making them simultaneously both hours late and several hours early.  MIL jumped up, and rushed back down to the chickens to meet them.

The entire catch crew was Hispanic, and most didn't speak any English.  They were upset with my MIL because the chickens weren't ready for them, and my MIL was upset for everything that had happened previously!  But, knowing that the chickens weren't ready to leave for another 2-3 hours, she started very slowly prepping the houses and the chickens for the catch.  The crew would just have to wait on her.

She finally finished up in house one, and left the catch crew to begin setting up, while she went and prepped house two.  Once she was finished with that, she took her tools out to their Mule, passing one of the Hispanic men on his way to their van.  She returned to house one to watch and help the crew.  Shortly afterward, the Hispanic man she'd passed came up to her and asked, "Did you take our bags?"

She was startled.  "No, I didn't take anything.  I've been here working."

Apparently, while they were working on the farm (a good 30+ minutes from town) someone had snuck onto the farm, and stolen all the workers backpacks out of their van!  Their backpacks which each contained:  hundreds of dollars, iphones, driver's licenses, and green cards.

Work completely stopped.  The men talked among themselves for a few moments, and then about 4-5 of them jumped in their van, and took off down the driveway as fast as they could - trying to catch up with the thief.  As they reached the end of the driveway, they saw a large black truck take off down the road; they gave chase!  Next thing we know - there's a van full of Hispanics in a high-speed chase after a Black Truck down country roads at 4:30 in the morning!

I don't know what would have happened if they had caught the truck.  But once the truck turned onto a main road, the van turned around and came back to the farm; they probably didn't want to get caught without their licenses and green cards!

Meanwhile, my FIL heard all the commotion from up at the house, and got down there to catch the end of all this.  He immediately called the police (who took about 45 minutes to get there).  They arrived and took down everyone's names and interviewed everyone and got a complete listing of everything that was stolen.

After the police left, someone (I'm not sure who) got the idea to go take a closer look where they had seen the black truck sitting.  When they went down there, they found all the backpacks in the pasture - everything was there except for one iphone.  All the workers spread out through the pasture, combing the fields looking for that iphone.  My MIL had the idea that maybe the phone had been in the thief's pocket, and he perhaps threw it out the window once he was in the truck.  The searchers moved up the road a little, and they found the iphone!!

Needless to say, by the time the actual catch was over and the crew left, it was 9:00 AM.  Both my MIL and FIL went back to the house, took quick showers, and went to bed for a few hours.  John and I got up, and made lunch for everyone.  We all ate lunch at 12:30 PM, and then John's Dad left for work.  He had another 10 hours of work to go to.

While MIL got ready for the day (I think she should have gone back to bed!), John and I drove to a local mattress store and bought a mattress.  Upon returning, MIL and John surprised me with a trip to Ikea - I had no idea that they were planning on going!  I agreed, on the condition that we stop by my aunt's house on the way home.  I had picked up gifts for my aunt's family the night before, and wanted to be able to deliver them.  About that time I realized that all my phones (I have three!) were completely dead - and I didn't have my aunt's phone number. 

Once we got to Ikea, I realized why they had been so insistent to go that day - even though I though my MIL needed to rest after the crazy Thanksgiving!  She was completely intent on buying us a Poang chair for Christmas - and wanted us to pick out something that we liked. 

By the time we left Ikea, it was 8:30 PM - meaning it would have been 9:30 PM before we could get to my aunt's house.  Since I didn't have her phone number, I couldn't call to see if that was okay, and I thought that 9:30 PM was too late to stop by unannounced.  So, we just drove straight home.

Just in time to almost hit a cow in the driveway!  One of the cows had gotten out, and we spent the next 45 minutes running all over the farm at 10:00 PM trying to chase this cow back into the pasture. 

So, that was Thanksgiving and all its drama.  Certainly more interesting than any Thanksgiving I'd ever had previously!