The one when HAZMAT was called in

It was the eve before Christmas Eve.  Actually, it was more like the middle of the night before Christmas Eve.. 2 am to be exact.  We had just finished wrapping every present there was for us to wrap (yay us, a night early)... we headed up the stairs to hear the doorbell ring twice.

Funny story... we thought it was odd and our first inclination was to check on Mom & Kelly. Maybe Kelly got up and roamed outside?  The front door does stick and is tough to open... but the doorbell?  At 2 am?  Really?

It wasn't Kelly... we opened the door to be greeted by a two stink/smoke bombs.  They were smoldering on the cement at the front door giving off an awful odor.  Curt ran to the curb... looked both ways, called out.... no one in sight.  Probably some bored teenagers... but who?

We didn't think any more of it until Christmas night at 4 am when we had a do-over-of-sorts.    Except no doorbell this time.  The blast was bigger than a doorbell.  Woke us out of REM cycle three.  It sent plastic shards and acid everywhere... this homemade water bottle pipe bomb.  Gosh... didn't seem random anymore.

So we walked through the shards {& what we later learned was acid}, went to church and when we came home I couldn't shake the feeling of being violated.  This time, it was an increase in violence... what would be next?  There is a history in this neighborhood of helicopters circling overhead, domestic violence, cops running down the street with guns drawn... and it hasn't included us.  Until now.  {It's really not that bad of a street... just crazy isolated incidents}

I called the non-emergency line and the moment I said, "water bottle bomb," one would have thought I said, "fire fire fire!"  She had me dispatched to an on-duty officer and they were on our doorstep within minutes.  Guess it was a bigger deal than we'd thought.  The police rebuked us for not calling the night of the smoke bomb.  Who knew?

The police spent most of Sunday afternoon in front of our house with different investigators coming and going.  They interviewed the older kids.. thinking there could be a middle school connection.  Then we found out that we weren't the only ones.  There were four other homes close-by that were hit.  So the thought was... as the incidences increased in violence, what would be next?

The real fun for the kids began when HAZMAT was called into the scene to test all the substances and clean it up.  Bummer....they weren't suited up in their cool marshmallow man outfits... but the kids all had their noses pressed into the front windows watching every move.  McKenzie was even trying to videotape it.  And that's when the cop got mad... "I better not see this video show up on youtube!"  "You don't want to tick off a cop!" She turned it off really quick!

The best part was that Kelly was ready to pack up the car and head out because of the incident.  He'd come outside and ask the investigators questions and walk around the scene, spreading the acid.  He even told them he's been an LA firefighter for 60, 70, 80 years.  (He's 83).  We all had a good chuckle.  So we had one of the cops tell him that he really just needed to stick around for three more days and wait it out.  That was enough for him... hearing it from a cop... and we all avoided the 'we're leaving now' conversation.

The other best part of this incident is that we get a new much- overdue and needed doorhandle... the acid ate through the fake brass finish.  And yah!  Painted door!  Gone with the disgusting mauve... in with rich brown or black.  Too bad the main floor didn't flood so we could get new carpet.  Is that so wrong?