mrs_b

The human species can be a thieving species despite all our attempts at civilization! It's good you had an eye out and an Akita to warn the guy off.

I'm kind of obsessed about spacing, too, though along my trellis with its 8-inch openings, I can usually space beans without pulling out a tape measure.

But with flowers, it's different. I found a piece of narrow white molding and cut it into a one-yard length, then marked off every 6" to use as a guide since I haven't been able to find a yard-stick to buy for years.

I doubt that anyone would want to steal it!

Your bean garden sounds great!

Hey Anney - your home-made yardstick is a good idea. No matter how careful I think I'm being, I generally end up rolling some dirt up in the tape measure. After a while, they get a little tough to deal with.

The bean varieties all came either directly from GW members or from member recommendations. I figure I can't possibly be disappointed :)

Your story sounds about right, below are a couple of stories of mine, I have more sad to say.

My wife used to work at a large call center and people would steal her food from the communal frigerator. I told her take some food you are going to throw out and put in some habanero pepper sauce. She did and her thefts stopped. My wife is a good cook.

Anything not nailed down is at risk in a city I have noticed. I had an metal awning I took off my house and someone noticed it from the alley and asked for it. I said no, I was going to repaint it and rehang it. Two days later it was gone from my fenced in yard. I have moved to the country since and no thefts yet.

Dean

I told her take some food you are going to throw out and put in some habanero pepper sauce.

Snork! Very clever Dean :) Some people learn things best the hard way. Bummer about your awning. Some people's gall is amazing to me. But then, I moved from the boondocks into town, and I'm still kinda stupid that way (and lots of other ways, too!).

I had a boss who used to tell awful tales about the things he and his brothers did. Things along the lines of reeling in people's night-set catfish lines (that had a fish on the line) and stealing and butchering someone's pet sheep. I guess the catfish thing I'd get over, but the sheep thing could be devastating.

Once a school bus driver hopped the fence at our elementary school and took the only ripe tomato on a small tomato plant the teacher was growing outside. He had trouble getting back over the fence with one hand, so had to bite into the tomato to haul himself back over. The nerve of some people!

What a rotten thing to do! Our dog did something similar the first year we had her. But then, she's a dog :)

We had a fire this year in the house with subsequent clean-up. Despite the fact that we were living in the front yard in an RV we had dumpster divers everyday. Once, we told the guy it was ok and he spent the entire day not only dumpster diving but tearing down our old tool shed!
If it wasn't for our good and very iintimidating doberman, im sure we wouldn't have a thing left in our backyard. 6 foot concrete fence and people walk right in. And, run right out again when they see Miss Lucy, LOL!

I live a few blocks from "downtown." One morning there was a knock on the door. A woman saw the disassembled futon on my front porch and wanted to know if she could have it, since it was "just sitting there." She said if no one answered the door she would have left a note. Good to know at least one person wouldn't simply take something off my porch.

The futon was there because I had hauled the parts out there and then couldn't find the allen wrench to finish assembly. Many people in this town have furniture, including sofas, on their porches. The futon is my "porch couch." It's now assembled and has the cushion on it. And yes, it's still "just sitting there." Generally that is what furniture does.

But that didn't stop the person who stepped over my token garden fence and clipped the flowers off the rhododendron this spring.

When I told one of the other gardeners that one of my tomato plants was missing from the community garden, her immediate thought was human theft. I thought maybe a four-legged critter ate it, but maybe a two-legged pest was the real culprit.

The always-thin veneer of 'civilization' seems to be getting thinner.

Someone once said, "I've discovered the missing link between the ape and civilized Man... it's US".

OTOH, an elderly couple found my wallet with $125 in it at the laundromat and returned it, intact. Balance.

Sue

There are almost as many good folks as there are opportunistic schmucks. But there are more than enough schmucks to be noticed....

We live within a block or two of a college, and do very little with the front yard. If we planted flowers, they were ripped out. When we edged with large rocks, they were tossed through the basement windows. We garden, and live, in the *back* yard. Now, *that* area is nice!

It also really breaks my heart and gets my back up when there is an eviction in the apartments behind where I work, where there are a lot of low-middle income people, and working poor... especially in this economy in this state... and it seems like the "locusts swarm". For heavens sake, let the people have a chance to borrow some vehicle and move their stuff as they can! Instead, people with much better incomes and decent SUVs browse, and pluck out the furniture, the electronics. They generally leave the playpens and big wheels to be eventually thrown in the the dumpster...
Breaks my heart.