For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Hi everyone! The day began cloudy but now the sun is shining nicely. There are still clouds around though so the sunshine might be short lived. Muffin just woke up, stretched, and spotted her sunshine, so she left me and went to soak up those warm rays. Hard to compete with sunshine. I need to get another cup of coffee, so I will be right back. There, that wasn’t too long, was it?
Remember that time when I woman phoned me and told me she had been in my place and looked through everything I had? She had claimed to be working with others and she would go in first to check on a place to see if it was worthwhile for her friends to rob it. She had called back, even though I refused to do what she wanted, and said she had told her friends that my place wasn’t worth spending time on.

Evening Grosbeaks at the feeder.
She normally would have told them my place was definitely worth a visit. I think God protected me that time, considering what happened shortly after that. Just two houses down from where I lived there was a smaller house and the owners were on vacation somewhere down south for 2 weeks. When they returned home, their house had been broken into and they had been robbed. Quite thoroughly. Everything was gone.
All furniture and personal belongings, even things like shampoo, soap, makeup, used or not. Drapes and curtains were gone, along with drapery rods and curtain rods. Carpets were gone. They had turned off the water so they could take the kitchen sink and all the kitchen cupboards, bathroom vanity, toilet, bathtub, pictures, even a calendar. They turned off the electricity and took ceiling light fixtures, light switches and outlets, plus the electric baseboard heaters and the main electrical panel.

Female Evening Grosbeak.
All interior doors, though they were nice enough to leave the exterior doors. That must have been quite a shock to return home to a completely empty house. The police said it was a professional job. Those kind of thieves have plumbers, electricians, whoever they need really and they can empty a house in no more than 2 hours.
They usually use a large moving truck, with a name on it so it doesn’t attract attention, and they will normally do the job at night when there is less people around. Even if people notice them, they just think the owners are moving. People might think it’s an odd time to move, but people do all kinds of odd things, so it still doesn’t attract attention.

Male Evening Grosbeak.
Then the contents are shipped across country to be sold. Locks and alarm systems don’t stop these people either, they have experts to deal with that as well. Hmm, the sun is still sort of shining, Muffin had to move again to remain in the sun. That’s all for now, have a great weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
The professional thieves can only be stopped by prayer and God’s protection. It also helps to know your neighbors and have a relationship with them. Too many do not know their neighbors.
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Yes, I agree with you totally, prayer and God’s protection is the best insurance. Yes, at one time everyone knew their neighbors, not so anymore it seems.
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True, the best protection is prayer and God’s protection.
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Yes indeed!
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My brother was pastoring a small church in AZ when after having lived in the neighborhood for a little over a year, he and his wife came home to an empty house. The neighbors thought it strange that the new young minister would hire a moving van on Sunday. So he bought home owners insurance the next week; talk about closing the gate after the cows are gone! But he DID learn a valuable lesson: know your neighbors!😉
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Yep, at one time everyone knew their neighbors, but not these days. People don’t even want to know each other. I always liked getting to know my neighbors when I first moved in to a new place.😊😺❄️
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