The Marcottes

This is a short video of Nicole and her school dance team on Beach Bash Night

When Patti and I bought our new house, it came with a little bench that sat on a stump in the front yard. It had a vaguely Victorian air about it and was designed to look like marble — even though it was only painted concrete. It wasn’t really our style, but hey! A free bench is a free bench.

Last summer we started noticing things being left on the bench overnight. Odd things. Children’s books. Cassette tapes. Candy. CDs. We ignored it at first. Our house is only four in from a major Sacramenoto thoroughfair. I figured that a homeless guy was finding stashes of stuff and using our bench to go through his loot, leaving what he didn’t want. Patti was not so sure.

Over the winter and into the spring, the items left on the bench increased in frequency and gradually became more alarming. Many of the items appeared directed at Anya. Tinkerbell pens and posters. More kids books (although they were in Spanish.) Toys from McDonalds. A CD of Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits (which I kept over Patti’s objections — stalker or not, Johnny Cash is good stuff.)

Then flowers began showing up on our doorstep in the middle of the day three or four times a week. Patti was concerned that someone was watching her and Anya as they were at home alone during the day.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was a “gift pack” that include a bottle of cheap whiskey, a Tinkerbell pen and rambling note that said:

Please drink this — your sickness will go away.

I your dad’s friend.

ALL OF IT AT THE SAME TIME!!!

UNTIL IT IS GONE

We saved these items because we were seriously considering going to the police at this point. The next week we found a brand new velvet color-it-yourself Tinkerbell poster with markers on the bench — another gift for Anya. We also got flowers three times that week, often while Patti was at home in the house. I filled out an online crime report form and waited.

I didn’t have a lot of hope, actually. My thought was that a guy leaving us presents wouldn’t be a top priotrity for the Sac PD. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got a call from a sergeant later that same day. He was very concerned and asked us to bring in the items we collected and to make a statement. They were waiting for us when we got there.

That was followed by calls from another sergeant who was in charge of our area, a visit from a male and female team that patrolled our neighborhood, and promises of increased patrols and surveillance.

Shortly after the gifts stopped. A few weeks later we got a call from the police stating that they had caught the guy doing it. He was a local man who was a little mentally off, althoguh they didn’t consider him to be violent. He was not a sex offender. He had never hurt anyone. But he was in the system because he had been picked up for strange behavior before when he went off his meds. They matched his prints to the items we saved. He gave rambling answers to the police’s questions and admitted to leaving specific items that they had not mentioned. He claimed that he had never even seen my family, but “thought we might like the music he was leaving.”

The police told him to knock it off.

One afternote to the story, we later found out that all the flowers came from our next door neighbor who was getting them for free at her work. It was a complete coincidence that she started leaving them, just as our stalker ramped up his gift campaign. Oh and the police never gave the “Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits” CD back. The crazy guy was right: I do like his taste in music.

Here’s our new house …

It’s starting to come together

1) Our House

2) Me at the front door

3) The back patio/porch

4) Family room windows looking out to the back yard

We went in for the ultrasound today and everything looks good so far. Anya is very excited to be a big sister. The kid wasn’t cooperating much for pictures, but here are a few.

If you click ‘continue reading’ below, you will know if it’s a boy or girl. Grandpa wants to be surprised, so please don’t share the news with him.

Grandpa - don’t click past here!
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We took a long weekend trip to Bodega Bay. Anya got to go back to the first beach she’d ever been to (at 6 months old.) We played in the sand and had a great time. Here are some photos of our adventures.