Where the generator USED to hook up to the power(Reluctantly I might add)
Yeah, I was painting turtles.
Liz was talking to the BF on the phone and getting ready to go out and work on the heifer pasture fence.
The boss was cleaning stables. We have two stable cleaners. He ran one and came over to the house to get a glass of milk. (I was soon very glad he didn't stay at the barn and get it out of the bulk tank.)
When he went back to work, maybe fifteen minutes after he left the barn, he had no electricity.
There were rocks rolled out of the ground under the manure spreader shed.
It is a long story, which I will write up for the Farm Side, but the power was off because someone turned it off.
Right at the generator box (we have a PTO generator for use during power outages).
They needed to shut it off so they could cut the three thumb-sized, 35-foot long cables that are wired into the barn box for the generator. So as to steal them that is.....They also dug the lead cords he uses to plug the block heater on the tractor into the electric line out of the ground next to the barn...thus the rocks.
He is still wishing that he stayed in the barn to get his milk. I am still glad he didn't. He would definitely have seen the thieves, as they were right outside the milkhouse window....they would have seen him too. Maybe he could have prevented the theft...and maybe this could be a completely different story if they were organized copper thieves with more to lose than a few hundred dollars worth of cable.
The policemen who came told us that the nefarious bastards who took our cable will burn the coating off it at home and then sell the copper. (I hope they choke on the smoke.)
There has been an awful crime wave down in Amsterdam lately, and I guess we rural folks won't be escaping either. We do have some plans for dealing with such events....
****The only good part of the story....the perpetrators got stuck in a pile of cow manure and one of them had to push whatever they were driving out.
BTW, if you live in the area and see a neighbor burning something nasty with something else nasty on their vehicle and shoes call the sheriff for us if you would please...thanks....
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17 comments:
Threecollie,
I'm so sorry - times are getting scary for sure. I'm glad the Boss was inside and not in the barn. Like you said, it could have been a worse situation. I hope they catch them - although I know the chances are good that they won't.
I can only hope and pray that they will face retribution someday.....
I think most farmers have been making plans for dealing with such situations..I know we have.
Take care,
Deb
When the collapse of civilization comes, it isn't from fools in power nor the government that know all, but from the barbarians that no one can keep from the city gates, actually, it seems that the current civilization breeds them. Why mining real copper isn't more profitable I don't know. Glad you are all okay, that the copper can be replaced, and that Facebook was there so I didn't have to wait until tomorrow to find out about how bold stupid people really are.
Ditto what Earl said. I'm glad we live as far out as we do.
Unbelievable! In broad daylight they rob from a dairy farm? Idiots do not realize that there's always someone home at the farm?
I'm glad to hear that no one got hurt, however. (Although a charge of votage through the perps would have been welcome! An application of Darwin's Law would have been appropriate.) Material things can be replaced. The Boss or any of you? Not so much.
Over at the Bolt Hole, it's the propane tanks that have disappeared from camps. Up to and including the 100 pounders.
This is just nuts! And in broad daylight! What is this world coming too anyway? At least no one was hurt, and it's something you don't have to dump (milk... had an employee get mad when we let him go... put antibiotic in the tank grrrrr), and it's something that is replaceable...
While we've never had a theft, take that back, some tried to steal some heifers many moons back. Our faithful Chow stopped them. I miss that dog... Anyway my point is, stupid and desperate people do stupid and desperate things. They will at some point get caught... if they are getting that brazen.
That is just horrible! What next? Times are so bad now that everyone is looking for an easy way to make a buck, that is if you call stealing easy. If you need anything you know you can ask! Take care. Lots of love from us.
My mind wants to refuse the facts of what you're saying here.
It was daytime. People came onto your property and performed this brazen act while you and your family were home.
I'm seeing red.
I feel such hatred for scum who prey on hard-working honest Americans.
"Hate the sin, love the sinner."
I'm not that good.
That is awful, I am sorry! We have had diesel fuel stolen from our tractors and once my brother in law called to tell us the lights came on the tractor up in the barn so we all hurried up but they were gone (but the tractor still there). He calls us any time he sees something out of whack or lights come on late in any of the barns (which is usually us) but I am gald he notices, I told my husband he is our watch dog. I hope they don't return to your farm for anything else.
I am so sorry this happened ThreeC!! How Awful!!
How awful. Glad everyone is OK.
I, too, am glad the boss went to the house. The important things are safe.
And, ya'know, with this DEC ban on burning until the middle of May, maybe someone will see the smoke and report it. Lord knows, I've seen some stupid fires I've felt like reporting. I didn't, but I do notice the smoke more than I normally would.
Hate to say I know how you feel....Just when you don't need one more thing to worry about, someone takes it to the next level. You already had to deal with this at the cabin, good grief... Sorry... thinking about you...
Deb, I guess I am simple minded or something, or just too trusting, but I never expect stuff like this until it happens. It sure shook my out of my complacency. I was scared as heck going to work in the dark this morning. Thanks for your kind words.
EArl, you said it well..."collapse of civilization"...they are barbarians and I can't fathom how their minds work. It is automatic to me NOT to be that way...how do you out think them when you don't think anything like them? I just don't know.
Linda, thanks, I thought we were sort of insulated by dogs and being off the highway and the fact that it was day time and we were right here...guess not
Joated, wish they had met a dog or three. I used this for my column this week and I was stunned when researching the dollar value of property stolen off farms per year. $300 million to a billion bucks a year!!! Dang, our copper pales in comparison!
Sara, that is awful...I was so mad yesterday and I still feel so helpless. You can put up all the gates you want, lock them with whatever you can find, and a pair of bolt cutters will open them right back up. these guys clearly had bolt cutters....
JB, thanks, I had some words for them too, and I had to come up with "nicer" synonyms for the Farm Side today.
Lisa, thanks, love to you folks too, as always. I wonder if any of the other farms around have been hit. I have just one idea about who this could be and I feel like driving up past his place and taking a peek to see what he is up to today.
Cathy, I am not that good either. There is no reason for stinkers like those guys to do what they did. We never bothered them! And you can bet they didn't spend the copper money on food for their kids...more like crack and Bud or whatever. I don't have one single good wish for them...can't tell you how much I resent being afraid when I go out to work.
TMM, that is terrible too! I am glad you have someone keeping an eye. We used to have a lady across the river who kept an eye on things, but she passed away, alas. She was such a good soul
Dani, thanks, we were simply shocked. If they had done it when we were away or at night, we would have been angry enough, but to have it happen while we were right here....
CathyM, thanks, we are too
akagaga, thanks...seriously, I was thinking the same thing. There is no way you could burn something that big and not make a Godawful stench and cloud of smoke. Somebody has got to notice! And I hope they do!
WW, I know you have been through even worse with all the terrible things people have done to you folks after the fire. I do not understand what makes people like that tick and I am not sure I even want to. Better to remain naive and expect the best of people than to live in constant fear of predators...although I am watching and being careful more than ever now. Take care!
Sometimes I am just stunned at the length people will go to steal. I'm so sorry for the theft, but I agree I am glad the Boss was at the house.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Linda, I think we even know who did it, now, but we don't have and probably won't have any proof.
This epidemic of copper stealing has found its' way south of the border too. Thieves are just jerking copper piping off of houses and tearing off water meters. (it is so warm here that all water pipes are above ground and attached to your house) Your first notice that something has happened is the sound of water gushing everywhere in the middle of the night. They don't even bother to shut the water off at the meter first!
I won't live to be 100, but even if I did, I will never understand the minds of thieves. How can they justify taking what is not theirs? I can only assume that ther are not of sound mind.
I hope whatever steps you have taken to protect yourselves results in some shocking truth to would be thieves.
IslaG, I have been reading your posts on the thievery in your home area. It is so outrageous....and I don't think too many folks up here really need to steal to put food on the table. We have done all we could to stop them, but....
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