The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Day

During my housesitting something I barely noticed has caused some alarm.

I think it was Saturday when I was up on the deck reading and writing when I noticed one or two guys down in the yard doing some yard work. I didn't think much of it (lots of people have gardeners, even me at one time) and the dog I was watching didn't object, either. Since she goes nuts whenever anyone approaches the home she guards or any stranger ventures onto the driveway and paid no attention this time, I shrugged and considered it normal.

They hadn't parked on the driveway, nor in the little "visitor" area at the end of the fifteen or twenty meter driveway that runs from the street past the front yard, the house, the carport, or half of the backyard (a drop of ten meters, easily), and when I glanced at them were raking up loose vegetation and bits of hacked up plants.

Later, I saw one (and there may have only been one) wrestling with a trash can, but I didn't get a clear view because of the deck I was on. Some time later, he was gone and the area he'd been working in looked neater.

Turns out, he was stealing mulch.

This just freaks me out. The home isn't on a through street (it's a loop), and I can't believe this was the result of months of planning a daring, daytime robbery. Nor can I give much credit to its being a opportunistic event. It just blows my mind that anyone would venture onto someone's property, work awhile, and cart off the results. It's as if someone showed up, mowed your lawn, and took off with the clippings.

If there's mulch missing, it's obviously my fault.