Stolen items return!

I was meeting with a student this morning when I got a phone call.  Odd--I rarely get phone calls in these days of email and texting.

It was the Cedar Rapids Police.  They had my Kindle.

A woman came into the Police Department on Friday with it.  She'd bought it from a co-worker who'd gotten it from someone else.  When she tried to register it so she could install apps, a message was sent to her:  this Kindle was reported stolen.

I'm very grateful for her for taking it to the police!

Anyway, once they found the serial #, they knew it was mine.

"Can I have it back?" I asked. 

"Yes," said the officer.

He also had another question.  I'd had a diamond ring stolen, too, and the PD had also come across a ring that they thought had been stolen. 

"We got it on Tuesday.  Someone had tried to sell it at the local pawn shop near Coe.  He said he had bought it for his girlfriend at Wal-Mart, but when the pawn shop staff looked at it closely, they knew it was worth a lot of money." 

They checked with one other person who'd had a ring stolen, and she said it was too small to be hers; this ring was a size 5, like the one I reported missing.  He wondered if I would look at this one. 

The police officer brought the two items over to Coe, and I talked with him out in the parking lot.  He handed over the Kindle, in a heavy plastic ziplock bag.  (By the end of the day, I got all the apps restored, my books back on the virtual shelf, and the Kindle re-registered.)

Then then he showed me the ring.
"That's it!"  I said.  I recognized it immediately.  I put it on my finger--I have size 5 fingers like my grandmother, so it fits just fine.

The officer asked me if I knew what it was worth.  I said I'd never had it appraised.  He asked me if I would appraise the ring and let him know how much it was worth.

"We can't arrest the guy who brought it to the pawn shop because he'd just say he bought it off the street," he explained.  "But if it's worth over $1000, we can arrest him for having stolen property in his possession, and it'll be a Class D felony." 

Apparently, this guy has been involved in some other burglaries--or maybe he's just a suspect.

So, OK.  I'll go get this appraised.  Maybe it'll help them get the guy off the streets.

As for the other stuff--it's still out there somewhere.  I suspect that he sold the items "on the street."  But still: if someone who bought something from him decides to get some quick money for it at a pawn shop, those things may make their way back to us. 

But for now, hurray for honest people and for pawn shops and for the CRPD!

Burglary FAQs

Someone who has recently had a burglary at their home answers some frequently asked questions about burglary.

Does a burglar always break down a door or smash a window to get into a home?
No, sometimes a burglar finds a key, say, the one you have hidden in the garage, and uses it to open the back door and walk into your home.

Can a person always tell when their house has been burgled?
Walking into a just-burgled house, you might notice right away that the door is closed, but not locked. That might not worry you much, but then you notice that your jewelry box is lying on the floor by the door.  It is then that you might realize that something has happened.

Do burglars harm small, timid pets?
Most homeowners will first think of their defenseless pets.  If your pet is a very timid black and white kitty who tends to hide under beds when unknown people enter your home, she will probably also hide when a burglar enters your home.  When you arrive to find the house has been burgled, you might call to her as you walk in and put down the groceries, and she might trot into the kitchen, unharmed.

What kinds of things do burglars steal?
Stuff that can be quickly put into a backpack; for example:

• a small laptop from the kitchen
• the Kindle Fire in its pink case from the kitchen counter
• a small laptop from an upstairs bedroom
• an internet tablet from the same bedroom
• a box of jewelry from a different bedroom

What kinds of things are surprisingly not taken?
It varies. Probably things that are too large to fit in a burglar's backpack or bag; for example:

• flat-screen TV
• stereo equipment
• a new digital camera
• musical instruments--a flute, several guitars, an amp
• regular-sized desktop computers
• Bose headphones (this seems odd)

It seems like burglars can be very systematic.  Is that true?
Seems like it.

Does a burglar leave a mess?
Not always.  He may even close the door behind him when he leaves.

What do burglars do with the stuff they steal?
Police officers say that burglars usually try to get money for their items.  When lucky homeowners have serial numbers for all the electronics that are stolen, the police can share those serial numbers with pawn shops who must record those numbers.  Pawn shop owners might say to you that they would welcome a list of the stolen items with their serial numbers so that they can confiscate any stolen items.

Those serial numbers are also on a nationwide registry.  Still, the items might be passed on rather than sold, or they may be sold on E-bay.

As for the jewelry, it's hard to know what the burglar will be able to do with it.  If the jewelry has mostly sentimental value--say a worn gold-plated cross bought for the homeowner when she was confirmed, or a glass pendant she bought on a family vacation--a pawn shop may not take it.  The burglar may just throw it away, as sad as that sounds.

In the case of an item that's worth more, like a diamond and platinum ring that belonged to the homeowner's grandmother--a pawn shop may take it. The homeowner may continue to hope that it might be found.

What is the difference between a burglary and robbery?
A burglary involves a person breaking into a structure without permission in order to commit another offense, like theft.  A robbery involves the threat of violence to steal money or property.  Clearly, a robbery would have been worse.

What does a person do after being burgled?
Phone her spouse, phone the police, find serial numbers, borrow a laptop from work, make plans to visit pawn shops.  Oh, and put away the groceries.

Tree => Lumber

Two big trees were cut down in my neighborhood this summer.

Our neighbor, Steve, didn't like the big chokecherry tree in his backyard. He worried that the wind would bring it down on his house.

I was sorry to see that grand tree go--it had a beautiful shape. It must have been well over 5 feet around.

Steve, a sculptor who likes to build stuff, didn't want the wood to go to waste, though.  He used his chainsaw and power splitter to make lots of firewood out of the smaller branches.

He also decided to hire someone to help him make the mighty trunk into some lumber.

So on a Saturday afternoon in early August, a guy came with a portable sawmill.

I asked if I could watch and take pictures. It was fascinating.

Once they got the sawmill in place, they had to get the huge trunk up on it.  They put a chain around it and levered it into place.  It took a couple of tries, as the log wobbled and rolled.

Finally, they got it situated so it would be steady.  Then the sawmill operator ran a bandsaw along the top and sliced off a piece of lumber.

They sliced and sliced, until it was past dark.  Steve's garage filled up with beautiful lumber that needs to dry.

He said he doesn't really like woodworking, but knows people who do.  I think it's gorgeous. Maybe the beauty of lumber is a tiny compensation for losing a beautiful tree.

Bird alarms and Owls

The birds in our yard have been unsettled a lot this summer.

It's the robin who always starts it.  Robins seem like nervous types, always singing or tutting.  Tut-tut-tut, they'll start out.  Then:  Skeet-tut-tut-tut.  Then Skeet! Skeet!  Then SKEET! SKEET! SKEET!  That's how everyone--birds and people--can tell that something's up in the neighborhood.

The cardinals usually take up the alarm call next:  Chip.  Chip.  CHIP. CHIP.  Robins and cardinals flurry around in the edges of the trees, tails flicking.

When that happens, my curiosity is piqued.  I try to figure out what's bothering them.

It's usually not the kitty.  She doesn't scare the birds much, except for the wrens, who feed on the ground and occasionally are targets for her inept pounces.  She never catches them; they always get away and give her a good scolding.

This summer, many times the disturbance has been an owl.

Usually, I just catch a glimpse of one flying away after the bird ruckus has come to a crescendo.  But this weekend, we got a better look at not one, but a whole family of barred owls!

We've often heard barred owls calling to them since we've moved to this house in a wooded neighborhood. Many people know their "who cooks for you? who cooks for you all?" calls--I love to hear them in the middle of the night!  They also have a spookier call that they'll call back and forth to each other in courting season--"who-who-who-who-who-who HA!"  Robbie's not crazy about them--lots of times they're calling to each other from the white pines outside his bedroom window.

Friday night just before supper, I was on my way to the composter when I looked up and saw this owl staring at me from one of the trees at the back of the yard!

 I dropped my peelings and stood there, looking at him in amazement!  The songbirds had been making alarm calls, which were getting more and more frantic.  But the owl just sat there and looked at me.

It seemed lighter-colored than most barred owls I'd seen before; I figured it must be a juvenile.

I called everyone else out to look at the owl and then we discovered another one, just diagonally above the first.

I think this was the parent, maybe the Mom.  I figured this because the younger one looked at it expectantly.  "It's asking its mom 'what's the ETA on food?'" I told Robbie.

We sat outside to read the paper so we could hang out with the owls.  Even though they didn't do much, I could just look and look at them.  Their faces are mesmerizing--more like cats or people than like birds.

At one point, the younger owl walked up the branch. He looked like a little old man in low-crotch pants.

Later in the evening, we heard the mother owl calling out.  Just a few seconds later, a third owl flew in!  There was a scuttle in the branches, and it looked like the younger one was being fed.

We were thrilled to see two owls out there again today!  And Robbie was thrilled that they did not call during the night last night.

The Kitty and the vets

The kitty is sporting a new hairstyle--or maybe furstyle.

She got this fur trim when I took her to have an ultrasound last week.

Yes, an ultrasound.  And not at our usual vet--he doesn't have the equipment.

The ultrasound helped detect that Mitzi has some "masses" in her abdomen.  The ultrasound vet thinks they are swollen lymph nodes, the result of lymphoma, a kind of cancer.

Let me back up a bit.

When I took Mitzi to our vet for her rabies shot and annual boosters in May, our vet felt something odd in her abdomen. He thought it was an enlarged kidney, and seemed quite concerned.  He tested her urine, and didn't find any sign that it was kidney cancer, so he encouraged me to visit another vet with an ultrasound machine.

To tell the truth, I was very hesitant to do that.

Part of me just wanted to leave well enough alone.  The vet's initial discovery of something wrong came as a complete surprise, especially since Mitzi has never had any health issues. If I hadn't taken her in to the vet, I would have never known something was wrong--why should I continue to explore?

Also, Mitzi is just an animal.  Does she need expert health care? OK, Mitzi Mittens is our pet, which means that she has become more than "just an animal" to us. She lives with us; we know her and love her.  But still, I delayed.

OK, part of me was also in denial.  There's nothing wrong with my kitty, I thought to myself.

But after I returned from my June trip with the choir, I thought I might go ahead and get an ultrasound done.  It didn't require any sedation or discomfort for her, just some money.

And now, it looks like she has cancer.  Probably.  The other organs are (as of the date of the ultrasound) just fine, but the masses will probably get bigger.  The cancer will eventually spread.

So here's the question:  If you have a pet, you are responsible for your pet's health.  But what does that mean?  Providing a safe home, food and water?  Taking her in for a yearly checkup?  Treating diseases?  Taking her in for an ultrasound to figure out what's wrong?  And how invasive should a pet-owner be?

I met someone recently who loves her kitties. And she said that one has had 3 surgeries. Maybe that's the right thing to do, but to me, that seems hard--on the kitty and on the person.  But I don't know.  If surgery could "cure" Mitzi, would I have it done?

But that wasn't an issue in this case  . . .

You can't cure lymphoma like this in cats, but it can be treated, with steroids.  They cause the cancer to go into remission.  Temporarily.  So the vet encouraged me to give her Prednisone, 2x a day.  I started last night.

I kind of wish I didn't know about this. It's hard looking at her and knowing that her time is very limited--maybe 6 months, possibly a bit more or less.

 My other kitty, Emma, died suddenly of a heart attack.  No time to worry or feel bad, or wonder what I should put her through in terms of health care. With Mitzi, I'm thinking it will be steroids, then palliative care, and then at some point I'll have to make a decision about putting her down.

For now, though, I'm going to try my best not to think of that, and just enjoy her furry company.

On a Choir Tour: Then and Now

This is probably my favorite picture from the Chorale Midwest trip to the British Isles.  It's of us singing at Liverpool Cathedral.  Thanks to Diane Constantine for taking it and sharing it on Facebook.

Of course I don't have any pictures on my camera of the choir singing--I was also singing at the time!  So I have to rely on the photos other people took.

To me, this is an image of the most important part of the trip:  singing with an outstanding choir in amazing places.

This fall when I joined the choir, I heard about the upcoming Choir Tour to the British Isles and immediately wanted to go!  I floated the idea by Bruce--who would have to hold down the fort alone while I was gone--and he encouraged me to go.  Ellen and Bill thought that Mom and Dad would want me to go.  So thanks, Mom and Dad, for funding this trip!

I've been on Choir Tours before, but it's been a while.

In college, I went on a music tour every spring break: the first two years with the Wooster Scot Band, and the second two years with the Wooster Chorus.  The tours were sponsored by the admissions and alumni offices, so the trips didn't cost the students anything except the money we spent for lunches.

Each day, our bus would pull into the parking lot of a big Presbyterian Church.  We'd have a short rehearsal (just to get our placement figured out and listen to the acoustics).  Here the Wooster Chorus rehearsing in a church somewhere--that's me on the far left side in front, next to Sal Midolo.

Then, families of the church would feed us a potluck dinner.  We'd play/sing, and afterwards, go home with families to stay at their homes.  The next day we'd get on a bus and head to the next destination.

Sitting on the bus was actually fun--you got to know people better as we rode from town to town.  Normally, we were not allowed to sing, but here's a picture from the Woo Cho bus--the label said "Steve Towne singing the traditional morning song."  I can't remember the song, but maybe it was the one that starts "Wa-a-a-yup in the sky--The little birds fly . . . "

The tours were always in interesting parts of the country:  Pennsylvania and New York City, Washington D.C. and Baltimore.  Chicago and Madison. We always had time to do sightseeing and museums. The band even did a trip to Florida one year (that did cost us $50).

Oh, and here's me wearing our uniform.  I played piccolo.

So after having those great tour experiences during college, I thought the idea of doing a Choir Tour as an adult, and in the British Isles sounded great!

Some things were very similar:  the bus,

the interesting venues, some time for sightseeing, roommates, a demanding director.

Other things were different:  we had to pay for this trip, no homestays, no potlucks.

We were busy during our British Isles Tour--9 concerts in 8 days!

We did two kinds of concerts: formal and informal.  My favorite concerts were the ones like the picture at the top:  "informal" (short) concerts in cathedrals.  We'd just set up and sing while the tourists wandered around--or stopped to listen to us.  We sang in:
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

Liverpool Cathedral (picture above)
Lancaster Cathedral

Ripon Cathedral

York Minster

and Selby Abbey

We also had "formal" concerts when we presented a complete concert of about 90 minutes.  Those concerts ended up being at very small churches, most of which had pretty sketchy acoustics, and a small but appreciative audience.  Sometimes they had punch (and tea) and cookies for us.

As much as I enjoyed singing our entire repertoire, and as much as the audiences seemed to enjoy our formal concerts, I felt that they were overkill.  There we were in our pearls/tuxes doing a very sophisticated concert . . .  in a tiny venue with bad acoustics and a small audience.

I found out later that it had been very difficult for our British Isles coordinator, Peter, to find formal concert venues for us.  He's set up choir tours before, but this time, there was very little interest from local churches to host us.  Someone said he sent out letters (email?) to over 40 churches in Dublin, for example, and only got 1 reply.  There wasn't a network of churches and alums as there was with my college tours.

Probably there needs to be a new way of doing the concert venue setups.  I'm wondering if there is an association of community choirs, for example, that might be able to put choir directors in touch with one another to help sponsor concerts like ours.

Our church, Lovely Lane UMC, recently sponsored a concert of musicians from Russia.  They contacted our choir director, who agreed to host them.  He set up meals and lodging for them (homestays), and coordinated their concert, as well as doing publicity.  The concert was packed!

I bet that could work for a group like us when we next go on tour.

Beer, gold, and books

Cheers!

If you've been to Dublin recently--maybe you've had a Guinness at the Guinness Storehouse.

Chorale Midwest a.k.a. (for the tour) Cedar Valley Choral Ensemble stopped there on our tour of the British Isles.  The visit was included with the price of the trip. If it hadn't been, I don't think I would have visited--it had a £16.50 ticket price!

When I tried to explain it to people, I wasn't sure what to call it:  a museum?  an amusement park?  a mall?  I finally settled on "an attraction."

During the early 20th century, the building was a brewery and storehouse. It still retained its industrial look with high, open ceilings, exposed pipes, and brick walls.

It was a nice place to wander around on a slightly damp Dublin day.  They had several eateries; I got a nice warm bowl of Irish stew.

As we walked through the 7-story building, we got a long, drawn-out history of Guinness and a step-by-step explanation of how it's made.  We walked into the huge ovens where long ago the malted barley had been toasted.  And we saw huge copper pots like these.

Mostly, though, we were treated to over-the-top PR messages!  They cracked me up!

I think Guinness is pretty clever to build this attraction.  They get tourists to pay to imbibe beer and promotional copy.  Guinness gets its story out with this attraction!

After visiting this . . . . attraction . . . I thought about how tourist attractions present themselves and tell stories to visitors.  I had a chance to look at another approach when a few of us visited the Irish National Museum in Dublin.  I don't have any pictures from it--no photography allowed--but I found a very few images from the web.  Here's the entrance--it was a cool building!

Now this was very definitely a museum--and kind of an old-fashioned one, too. It had displays in glass cases with very brief tags on things.  Unfortunately, this museum didn't do a very good job of telling an overall story. It was hard to find the important items in the collection, and many items were not curated well--there wasn't much in the way of context or importance or how the items contributed to Ireland's history.

I totally missed the Tara Brooch, an important item in the collection.  It wasn't highlighted in any way.  I only found out about it after I left.

There were lots of gold items from treasure hoards, but they were just labelled, with no explanation of what they were for.

I think this little Victorian museum was just overwhelmed.  It was run by the state, and probably didn't have enough funds to hire someone to create an overarching story and decent curation.  Maybe the Guinness curators could stop by and do some pro bono work . . . 

When I went to London, I knew one place I wanted to visit:  The Dickens Museum.

I'd been there ages ago, in 1980 and it was rather boring:  dusty items in glass cases in a house where Dickens lived from 1837-1839.  But I'd read that it had been renovated just last year.  I'd also just read the marvelous Dickens/Nelly Ternan biography, The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin, which got me in a Dickens mood!

I was sure that I'd have to visit this house alone--just seemed about as geeky as could be: far away from tourist attractions, pretty limited in its appeal . . . but three of my chorale friends joined me, Paul, Nancy, and Laura!  I was thrilled to have the company.  And I think they enjoyed the visit because it was awesome.

Would I call it "a museum?"  Well, I guess so, but it was a modern museum:  lively, interactive, full of personality, and with a true sense of narrative and message.  Dickens would have loved it!  In fact, he was there!

My favorite rooms were the dining room, where the table was set for Dickens and his friends, and where a recording of a dinner party was playing . . . 

and his study--there's his desk!  

Also in his study were books you could pick up--they were facsimiles of books he had in his library with a brief explanation of why they were important. Here's a book he used to do his famous readings, complete with his notes! Recordings of people reading from Dickens novels were playing in the sitting room.

The kitchen had implements you could pick up and look at, and an explanation of what he might have eaten.  Turns out Catherine Dickens, his wife, wrote a cookbook.  (They were still living together in this home.)

The upper floors were the nursery and servants' rooms and they had material related to Dickens' childhood.  Like the rooms themselves, the story of his father's imprisonment in debtor's prison and Dickens's work in the blacking factory were off-limits to his public.  A coverlet on the narrow servant's bed had the moving scene where Jo, the street sweeper in Bleak House, dies.  Gave me chills!

Since visiting these places, I've done some reading about the history of museums, and museum theory on Wikipedia.  Fascinating!  These three places are examples show the wide range of ways that materials from the past can be shared with the public--from a plain display of items in cases, to an interactive narrative, to a walk-through advertisement.  I knew which one I liked best . . .