Neighborhood Watch

More midnight drama at the Ward's house!

At 12:30am (just after Travis got home from HD) Thursday night I woke up to screeching tires just outside my window. Immediately after the screeching tires came a lot of yelling. I assumed there had been a car accident - why else would someone slam on their brakes so suddenly?

Apparently, another reason is because you are in the middle of an argument with your passengers and would like to scare the crap out of them. I went outside to see what all the commotion was about and Travis followed me onto the front porch. We could hear the people in the truck arguing, although we couldn't figure out what it was about.

Two women got out of the truck and they yell some more. Then BAM. The driver throws the truck in reverse and guns it down the street, then turns down another street. In reverse. That pedal had to be to the ground. His tires were screeching the entire way, dust flew up in the air, and then he flies through Cowboy Willie's yard. Poor guy has had the worst luck lately with idiot drivers turning his property into a high traffic area. I checked it out the next morning and if that guy would have swerved into Willie's yard just another foot, he would have gone down a 3-foot ditch and probably rolled his truck right into Willie's house.

The driver stopped just a few yards later, magically facing the opposite direction, and the passengers started to run after him screaming for him to stop. At this point I turn around to Travis frantically worried that the driver might throw the truck in reverse and run into our house. I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep knowing that some wacko was sitting outside our house with the potential of killing us or our son in our sleep. So, Travis called the police. It took them about 10 minutes to get out, which was a bit longer than the last time we did our civic duty (see link in previous paragraph).

The cop had them stopped for a good 20 minutes. By this point, they were too far away for us to tell what they were saying, especially since they had stopped yelling. It looked like the cop gave the driver a breathalyzer. I guess he passed, because he let him go a little while later. Travis and I drove down that street the next day and we're pretty sure that guy lives in a house on that street. Dumbass.

I'm sure it's so crazy by my house because we live in a crazy town. And I'm thinking it's even worse because we live on a fairly busy road. I can't wait to get out of this town! We talked with our realtor and she seems pretty confident that we should be able to sell our house next year! Let the countdown begin...

Monday Night Drama

Monday night when I just hopping out of the shower, I heard a loud noise. Callaway started barking and it sounded like Travis was running through the house. I had no idea what all the commotion was about, so I started screaming for Travis. When he didn't respond after three or four calls, I grabbed the heaviest thing I could find in the bathroom (a decorative oil candle) and braved my way through the house. After a quick scan, I found nobody in sight except Callaway. I ran back into the bathroom to throw on some clothes and see if Travis had gone outside.

As I was getting dressed, Travis came pounding back into the house and yelled that he was going outside. I asked him what the hell was going on and he explained that someone had run their van into our neighbor's parked truck. I asked him if he had called the police.

His response was, "No. Should I?"

Hell yes you should! I quickly threw on some clothes so I could go outside to see what was going on. By the time I got out there, Travis had called the police already. They said a squad car was on its way and asked him to call them back if the driver tried to drive off. Travis and I watched from the shadows of our house as the driver had his hood up and was attempting to get the van restarted. I was paranoid that if the man knew who had called the police, he might do something vengeful later on, so I forced Travis to stay back for the moment. While we were watching, Travis told me that the impact had been so hard that he felt the collision reverberate throughout the house. It was so loud that he was sure it had been his truck that had suffered.

When the police showed up, the quickly got into a heated argument wherein the driver was frisked, cuffed and taken off in the cop car. Travis had called our neighbor, who we call Cowboy. When he did not answer, Travis left a message and called Cowboy's son. His son said he should be home and that his mom was just getting ready to come home. Soon, Cowboy's son and wife showed up and talked to the police. Two cars of people who were friends with the driver showed up temporarily, but left when they realized there was nothing they could do.

In the end, they towed the van. The driver had said he did not have insurance on the vehicle yet because he had just bought it. Ya right. And either way, you're not supposed to drive without insurance. Cowboy said his wife has been nagging at him for years for pouring all sorts of unnecessary money into full coverage for his truck. Turns out it might pay off anyway!

The truck didn't look that bad, but van was pretty banged up. The cop said the driver claimed his brakes went out, although the cop was convinced this accident had nothing to do with the brakes and everything to do with the state of the driver's mind - which was some form of intoxicated.

Travis and I went back inside after we'd had a chance to talk with Cowboy. The wrecker driver was getting ready to load up the van and we did not want to be in the way. The wrecker driver told us that the guy wouldn't have been able to get the van started no matter how long he tried. Supposedly, Ford's have a sensor that trips when the vehicle is in a collision, causing the engine to stop. It can only be restarted after the reset button is hit. No idea where it is located.

The bizarre part is there was a similar accident a week ago that occurred during the day time just blocks away. Some guy was driving drunk when he swerved off the road. I'm not sure of everything involved in the accident, but I do know he caused some damage when he knocked over a wooden pole with his vehicle.

Seriously people - DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE.