Yesterday we had very heavy rain all day. A total of about 6 inches of rain fell. Of course, the river is pretty high now, but we're not in danger of it coming up over the bank and onto our property.
When I was driving home from work this afternoon, all kinds of unmarked police cars and vans were flying past me. I wondered what the heck was going on that they were in such a hurry. When I pulled into Orchard Lane I saw them all in the parking lot of Ontelaunee Orchard. In my mind I figured they must be doing a raid at the orchard because they probably employee quite a few illegal aliens.
When I pulled into our driveway Charlie was out by the barn and I told him about all the police up at the orchard parking lot. "Yeah, " he said, "The police have come in and out of Janice's a time or two just now." Janice is the neighbor whose property borders ours behind a bit of woods. Just as Charlie is telling me this a police officer pulls into our driveway and tells us we need to evacuate because Janice is being held hostage at gunpoint inside her home by her son. The officer tells us to go run some errands and he'll call us when the situation is resolved and it's safe for us to come home.
So, off we go to Sam's Club to buy some groceries. On our way there, we need to reroute because a tractor trailer was too high to go under a bridge and is wedged underneath it. We see the same police officer at that accident who we just saw at our house. Looks like it's going to be a tough afternoon.
After Sam's Club we go pick the kids up at school. We tell them about what's going on and we can all see a police helicopter circling above our house continuously. The kids have a few questions, but actually take the news quite well.
We go to pick up tickets for Charlie and I for the historic homes tour to be held tomorrow. Still no call from the police saying all is clear and the kids are starting to complain that they're hungry and thirsty. Since the plan was for the kids to have a sleep over at P&J's anyway, we decided to head directly there. We did stop off at the McDonald's up from our house first. Police helicopter still flying overhead, so we figured they needed more time to straighten things out.
Arrived at Mom and Dad's and ended up sleeping over ourselves. We did touch base with the police in the evening and they said they were still negotiating with Janice's son and they'd call us when it was safe for us to come home.
Saturday morning we wake up and call the police. the situation didn't really change much over night. the police do allow Charlie and I to go home to get showers and change our clothes so we can do the historic homes tour. We do the tour and really enjoy ourselves looking at all the properties on this years tour. At the last site we go to, we can still see the police helicopter circling over our property. We assume things haven't yet been resolved, but decide to swing by and ask for an update.
When we get near our place, the police confirm that they are still negotiating with Janice's son. The officer tells us to go out to eat for a late lunch/early dinner and hopefully it will all be settled by the time we come back. So, off we go to our favorite restaurant Austin's. We enjoy good food and rehash the homes on the tour and events of the weekend.
We come home and are told we can sleep at home tonight if we promise to go inside and not come out unless we have a police escort. We agree to this. I've had a cold all week, and all I want is to be in my own house, surrounded by my own things.
It is absolutely surreal to see our property changed from a peaceful haven to "central command". There are police cars, vans, trucks everywhere. In the neighbors yard, in the grass, in the driveway, behind the barn, along the dirt roads, along the road, just everywhere you can imagine. They have tapped into our phone and Internet. We can't watch TV because I cancelled the satellite 2 weeks ago thinking we could just watch shows using the Internet.
Around 1230 the police wake us to let us know the situation has had a peaceful ending. Our neighbor has been taken to the hospital for a medical eval. and her son has also been taken for a psych. eval.
We are so very grateful to everyone involved for keeping us safe and informed.
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