I’m having my coffee, and there’s this dude wandering around in my yard…

6:45 AM. I’m checking my email, trying to ease into the day. A notification pops up that my external camera sees a person.

I ignore it, it’s been hot during the day, and a lot of folks are taking their walks or walking their dogs at the crack of dawn. No big deal…

Then the camera keeps pinging me with “Person” notifications. 

What fresh hell is this?

I bring up the camera’s display. It’s a dude in some yellow safety vest and helmet. He’s over dressed for the ambient temperate and he’s literally in my yard walking back and forth poking at the ground. There’s no insignia on his clothing, not even a company name stenciled on the safety vest. What the hell is this guy doing?

I pull on a pair of shorts & head for the front door. My trusty baseball bat is in its usual position next to the front door.

As I step out on my front deck he’s startled. 

“Can I help you?” I ask.

He mutters something about looking at the electric poles.

I point out that the electric poles are currently behind him, and typically one looks UP at the poles, and does not poke around in the dirt in someone’s yard to inspect them.

Then he references the pole behind my house, not on my property, which does not supply power to my house and in fact is supplying a home the next street down.

I say, “That pole is not mine, not on my property, does not supply my house, and is accessible from the next road down.”

Then he starts to get snippy and agitated. At this point, I reach inside for my trusty baseball bat.

Seeing the bat, and my obvious willingness to casually hit a home run with his head, he backs out of my yard and makes like he’s inspecting the power poles at the front of my property.

He might legitimately have been working for one of the contracting fucks employed by the electric company.

But if so, why was he wandering around my yard and up the side of my house? Why was his face covered? Why did his safety helmet and vest both look like they’d been pulled brand new out of a box? Where was his vehicle?

Even if he was one of the contractors, was this guy scoping out my house and others on the street with the intention of making a little side money by breaking and entering?

I don’t know, but he disappeared pretty quickly after our encounter. Notably, he went back downhill without “Inspecting” any other poles on the street.

Shortly after, I took the dog for a walk. No sign of the guy, There is one of the contractors trimming trees about 1/2 mile away. They’ve screwed up the traffic for people trying to get in or out of this part of town. 1 mile further down on the highway there’s another crew who’ve got power lines on the ground from one side of the wash to the other. Jesse was not amused that we couldn’t get to our normal walking path because of these workmen.

They were literally cutting the tops of power poles off. I’ve noticed that some poles are being replaced throughout town, so maybe that’s what this is about. 

But why was this guy wandering around acting all shady?

Maybe I’m just too suspicious. Then again maybe not…