About a year ago, I bought an extension cord, a good one - 50' long, single lighted end, supple in bitterly cold weather. A bright yellow, almost neon yellow cord that I put outside about two weeks ago to plug in my truck when the weather turned cold up here in the great white north. And of course, the night it did turn cold, I went outside to plug in before bed and it was gone. As I live in not the best of neighborhoods, I thought about the stupidity of what I had done and said a gentle swear word or two in the general direction of the person who had relieved me of my possession. The next morning, while walking my dog down the back alley, I noticed a cord, same bright yellow, same single lighted end, hanging out the second story window of a dubious quality apartment building not 100 yards down my street plugged into a ratty, damaged older car. No one was around so I walked closer and checked it out. Yep, same cord definitely, as I had marked the end with a piece of tape. What to do? Call the police? Knock on the door? Both pointless as far as I could figure. So, after some thought, I went back this morning at 5 am with my trusty side cutters and, reaching up as high as I could, snipped that cord and took the 30 foot chunk with me. I'll bet the thief won't have the skill or ambition to repair the cord when stealing another is so easy. So, I'm pretty sure that if I keep my eyes open over the next few days, I'll find the other end discarded and be able to repair the whole thing. My new cord is locked to my fence and I won't make that mistake again. The only morals to this story that I can figure are to lock up your stuff and if you're going to steal from your neighbors, don't display the goods. Thanks for letting me vent.
