~by Ehjude!
(Editor’s note: The following is shared by Judy Tomenga, using her writer’s name Ehjude!. Judy is a rural Greene County resident)
First of all, remember where we live…….out in the middle of NO WHERE!
Sunday morning as we prepared to leave for town to do our Sunday things, we noticed way back at the southeast side of the farm, clear down it what seems to be neighbors’ farm, a white pickup truck just sitting there. Looks a bit wierd but we let it go, figuring someone is going to come get their pickup out of the mud.
We return home after a couple of hours, pickup still there. More we think on it, stranger it gets. My husband Walt gets the binoculars and figures it is pointing east and either door is off or left open. Getting stranger by the minute. By about 7 pm Walt has asked to do some yoga and we are in the midst of that when he says, “Jude we better cut this short since I probably should call Dallas County sheriff to see if a white pickup has been stolen”……..okay there’s a thought I have not had! The drama continues!
Next is the phone conversation with sheriff…..mind you the sun is beginning to go down as Walt continues this conversation. I then access Matt Bryan, our farming partner, since he knows name of guy who farms the place for the owner, so now Matt is involved in the drama, giving me what info he has for Walt to give sheriff.
Meanwhile, Walt thinks sheriff is on his way even though he tried to explain that there is no clean access to the truck……we are not sure how it got there, or if it was driven on our farm. Matt’s saying there is fence on our side and a big ditch from other direction……he has no idea how the truck would get there.
Drama continues more. Sheriff arrives about 9 pm. He confirms there is white pickup down there and doesn’t see how he could get to it…….UH DUH! I guess he at least confirmed Walt was not totally strange and issue seems valid, and yes, doesn’t know if door is open or off.
It gets even better. Sheriff leaves us with the charge “let us know if you see any more activity at the truck!” And no, he knew of no white pickup trucks that had been reported stolen.
We settled into a good night sleep and are up early to get Monday going. We did our civic duty and checked on the white pickup, both of us at separate times. This time I used the binoculars knowing I have better vision than Walt and lo and behold he is correct, it is facing east and I can see the door is open and it is mired into the mud up to hubs. So this is not a beat up pickup, but a nice one that it really muddy.
Meanwhile, Walt calls on his way to Des Moines to say Matt is coming in the afternoon when done hauling grain and he is bringing the drone to see if we can get license number. I figured thank heavens, here comes help and some answers. By 3:30 pm Matt is here with the drone and more info. There was a white pickup stolen Saturday night at the casino in Jefferson and the Greene County sheriff is asking for anyone with info to call…….good grief, the drama is escalating.
So Matt gets the drone going while Walt and I are with him in hot pursuit to keep up with the drone, since his remote has to be within certain distance. Off we trek excited for more info. But before we do, Walt, Neanderthal Man, says “I need to get paper and pencil to get license number.” I’m moving fast to help Matt keep drone in sight. At one point Matt checks on Walt and finds it hysterical that he needs pencil/paper while the drone is busy taking pictures to record what it sees. It was a prize moment.
Within minutes it is confirmed – matches pickup description that was stolen……WOW!!!!! And the unresolved issue has been resolved…..
Walt was correct that he saw tracks in our field. The dang pickup drove thru OUR FRESHLY PLANTED FIELD! Not good. But it is what it is. Onto the drama.
Matt then calls Greene County sheriff and gives all info we have to them….and of course they want to know owner’s name, which reintroduces the guy who farms it, so we are back to that issue. Matt then finishes with sheriff and agrees to get phone number of guy who farms the ground and get back to them. So, the paper and pencil that Neanderthal Man brought WAS put to use, and trust me, people across the road knew that Matt needed Walt’s pencil and paper.
Our group of three now proceeds to get ourselves out of the muck and mire of the Back 40 and once again wait for a sheriff, this time at a more reasonable hour. Matt figured he needed to stay since he had the info recorded to share and that was fine with us.
This time, when the sheriff arrived he moved into action. He also took it seriously about limited access and brought real mud boots. I willingly gave up my spot as one of the Three Musketeers and moved to weeding my flower beds while they proceeded back down to the pickup in the mud.
The sheriff did his detective stuff finding and following tracks and getting footprints as far as he could at the bottom, and after a long while Matt and Walt left and the guy continued to try to figure the thief’s exit on foot out of the field onto our road. He was here well over two hours. He also found the keys…..yes, the keys were in the pickup at the casino……and the sheriff rolled up the window and closed the door that the thoughtless, inconsiderate thief had not done when he/she exited.
We continue to check on the white pickup. Greene County sheriff cancelled the tow truck once he saw how mired in the truck was. Time will tell when it does get towed. Matt has been in contact with the guy who farms the property to keep him informed about the mess. Dallas County sheriff had alerted him Sunday night and he had come out Monday but was unable to find the truck……he did not get the info that it is visible from our farm, not his.
SO, everybody is on the same page. As promised Walt called Dallas County sheriff’s office to let them know the updated status on the truck…..which actually sits in Dallas County but was stolen in Greene County and YES, it is stolen!
The drama continues WHEN they will come fetch the thing. Heaven forbid we miss that, and since it is pointing east it is only fair that they drag it through THAT field It’s not planted, ours is and has had enough disruption.
NOW, to figure out what we can put up to deter folks from driving down onto OUR ROAD and into the bottom field. The drama on that continues…..
And who says living in the middle of nowhere is boring!
PS – All during the drone watching, field hiking and sheriff following I kept saying “Holden and Zooey, my grandsons from Denver would love this!” Such farm drama. It certainly beats an upset grain cart during harvest, which they really found exciting.
PPS- The guy has been arrested….and awaits being returned to Greene County jail.
