Virtual Front Porch

well my name is not Ralph, and I watched this anyway. funny

An old IHC bringing the tree home.

Somebody must of watched the movie Christmas Carol, eh ?
I like George Scotts portrayal of Brian I mean Scrooge the best..


Merry Christmas

I got consumables for Christmas. I don't need anything so the choices of socks, underwear and deodorant was good.
Who is this Brian you write of, HUH ?
Some one must have watched that movie, but I can not say I was one of those persons.

The losers next door came, stayed, got arrested and are gone. The Police first took one of them, two weeks later, there was another three in hand-cuffs and the last hurrah was when the fire department, police and hazmat showed up together. The Police arrested another person, then towed his truck and camper away. The FD stayed for about 4 hours. The hazmat team, in white suits and masks, stayed for another 10 hours.. The hazmat guys were hauling bags of stuff out and placing it all in their large van.
I did ask the hazmat guys what was going on. I was told they had taken down a drug lab that was being set up and as yet had not made a product. They estimated there might be about 1000kg of chemicals and related equipment.
There has been a parade of stolen vehicles parked at or near the rental house. One was a 2001 Ram 2500 4X4 Cummins. I remember a Lexus SUV and there was a medium duty box-truck on a 3500 Chevy Van chassis.
These better neighbourhoods are not immune to crime. We got our first streetlights about a decade ago. Before the street lights, body dumping was not uncommon and persons walking with their dogs would find tossed handguns in the bushes. In the next block 5 of the 6 houses had a grow-op at one time or another. One of the gro-op operators was executed with a shotgun blast or two. The neighbourhood is relatively safe because the Police are here fairly often.
For the most part this neighbourhood is quiet, or at least it has been, with a few interesting exceptions. A fifty something escort rented the house diagonally across the intersection. Her business hours kept her on the go most of the night. She had two daughters and a son. The daughters 14 and 12 were "entertaining" male persons, often on the front lawn and from time to time in the Jon's car. I remember one occasion when a fatherly looking male stopped and the 14 year old ran out to meet him. The male got out and removed a child's car seat from the minivan back and they got in the back and got the van rocking. The 12 year old was active, also. The child protection services were called and attended from time to time, but nothing really changed. It was a good day when the losers moved away.
There was a BMW X5 bait car parked at the end of our block. It sat there for months and occasionally someone would drive it away to the local carwash then return the X5 to the street. I called the car in as a possible stolen vehicle. The Police knocked on the door and said it is a bait-car.
Vehicles, houses and money are often seized when they are proceeds of crime and then forfeited to the province. Some of these vehicles get pressed into police service. I was amused when an undercover Bentley passed me on Rumble street. The Bentley and about five other police cars had an H2 pulled over on a lawn near Burnaby South School.
So, it is over, for now.

Holy crap Nikki, I live in paradise compared to that scenario. The occasional poached deer, shot up stop sign, vandalized mail box. All I have to bitch about is the local and federal government. I've been here 26 years and called the sheriff once for some slob that dumped a load of building materials in the ditch. We also have a house in Mpls. my wife has owned for 46 years, It's in a 1st tier suburb, working mans area, never had a problem there either.

I have always been under the impression that Canada, with it's sane gun laws and universal health care would be utopia compared to the lower 48, what happened? I remember you posting that perhaps you now lived in the best place possible in this day and age, and after the election I agreed with you. All in all probably still do.

While I too live where crime is minor in most part, I only have to watch the evening news to hear of a killing, stick-up or carjacking. Tonight, it was the killing of thousands of honey bee's, If the problem the bees have with "natural" problem wasn't enough, someone smashed a whole bunch of hives to smithereens. With temps below 0 F none survived.

Holy crap Nikki, I live in paradise compared to that scenario.

I have always been under the impression that Canada, with it's sane gun laws and universal health care would be utopia compared to the lower 48, what happened? .

My opinion, its all about the drugs. These low lifers do what they have to do to buy their drugs and will steal whatever they think they can sell to do it. The closer you live to the big cities, the worse it gets. Stories like this remind me that there are advantages to living out in the sticks. Even at -30F. The only creatures lurking in my yard is wildlife.

The story I posted is a condensed bunch of events from over 40 plus years. All of the drug crime in this neighbourhood is between dealers and growers. The wave comes and goes. Most of the older homes are gone and the lots have multimillion dollar homes built on them. My biggest annoyance is trying to drive anywhere in a reasonable amount of time. The traffic is often grid-locked. I was having coffee at our Harley Davidson dealer. The traffic to North Vancouver passes by 100 meters to the west. In one hour the traffic did not move.
The firearms that are causing the problems across the river from here are imported from south of our shared border.
By this time next year marijuana will be legal. This will take the big profit and crime out of 4-20 and turn a tidy profit for the government. I do not, have not and will not try 4-20. The smell of it makes me nauseous.

I wish a happy new year to all of the members of the forum. 2017 is all over in 12 hours.