This is Deputy Digby Pancake.  Since the Sheriff is still under the weather a bit, it is my duty to continue with the blog this week.  I am told that the Sheriff may be feeling up to writing on Friday.  But if not, I’ve got this. They say that the reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.  Obviously, they are wrong.  Just sayin’. Everything. Is. Pancakes. A raise in pancakes for a job well done always makes me do a good job.

So when the Sheriff is sick, the Deputy is busy doing all of the writing, and the persons are working as usual, things get left to the wayside.  Where the wayside is, I do not know, but I imagine a lot of stuff is there.

And then, add an extreme amount of rain to our days, and things get soggy.  Things get wet.  Real wet.  Mud, dirt, you name it.  And as much as Girl Person tries to keep everything in order, it ain’t y’all.

So, when you are trying to help the Sheriff and feed me pancakes, sometimes, you forget that there are criminals outside.  You might forget to lock up your wallet.  You might forget to bring in your water jug, or your shoes.  And you remember what has happened before to Girl Person’s shoes.  So you would have thought that she would have learned.  But alas, the rain has clouded her judgement, and her backpack with our water and her wallet was left outside.  And you guessed it.  When we got up this morning…well…it was gone.

Now.  When something is stolen, you call the police.  But what if the police are busy being sick and writing blogs?  Yeah, the persons were in a heap of trouble.  And so Girl Person stood there in shock for a moment, and wondering where she put her backpack, she contemplated the previous night’s events.  We walked in the rain to the beach.  We sat on the beach in the rain.  We came back, got a bath in the rain.  Then Girl Person took off her soggy backpack and left it out on the picnic table to dry.  How was she to know that would be goodbye?

So there it was.  Not the backpack, but a summary of events.  Girl Person looked around.  Yep, there were all kinds of criminals around us.  People that had left their motorhome empty across the road from us for two weeks, then reappeared, drank a soda and left.  Did they steal her backpack?  Then.  There was the camp host down the road with three little dogs, one with only three legs in fact, and they all rode around on a scooter and a wagon. Was it them?  Or.  There was the Scarlet Pimpernel.  Sure.  He was pretending to eat bird seed, but maybe it was just a cover for stealing our backpack.  I needed that backpack.  She carried treats around in there.  Wait a minute.  Treats.

Girl Person remembered.  Although we had eaten all of the treats, maybe someone smelled what used to be in there.  So, as Boy Person reminded her of the past shoe incident again, and I kept hearing the words, “not again”, Girl Person thought real hard.  If a criminal had stolen the backpack, her wallet and the water jug, how far could they have gotten?  Was in fact the criminal that had stolen her shoe in Florida last year looking for an accessory to his outfit?  As she got down on her hands and knees in the mud, she spotted it.  You guessed it.  The backpack was under the Big Blue Treat Wagon RV.  Unzipped.  The water jug was spilled.  And yet, there was something astray here.  This was no ordinary criminal.  This was a raccoon. A very smart raccoon.  Because as I tried to find Sheriff Brickle’s arrest report book, it occurred to me.  At least someone was trying to fix this RV.  You see, they say raccoons are smart.  Real smart.  Now, I may be a man of the law, but a Deputy like me always sees the good in people. And since the Sheriff was sick, I decided that I would try to understand this criminal’s mind.  I would not be so quick to slap on the cuffs.

With all of the problems we have had with this RV, I gathered from all of the evidence that the raccoon decided to take matters into his own claws.  A mechanic always has his tools with him.  And so he took the backpack to hold his tools to not only fix our batteries, but our air conditioning, and even all of the leaks.  In fact, he used the water jug to get out all of the water from the roof.  And then, being as detail oriented as he could be, he took said backpack and put it by the sewer hose.  What detail was this that he was following?  I don’t know.  It is such a detailed detail that only he knows.  That is a criminal mind for you.  And since my raise in pancakes was waiting inside for after our hike, I suggested that Girl Person just pick up the backpack evidence, refill our water jug, check her wallet for her driver’s license, and get to hiking.  As Deputy, as long as I am handling the arrests this week for a sick Sheriff, I will do things my way.

Now.  I will make note of this incident, only because the Sheriff was watching the whole situation.  But I will also make note that the next time we need repairs done, Boy Person is going to have to realize that he can’t do it all.  And as long as there is a criminal raccoon out there with one shoe and a dirty backpack, I say call him.  Come rain or come shine, when you need help, a true friend will always be there.  It is up to us to accept help sometimes. Because we may not always see what is under the hood.

You may be wondering though.  Did the raccoon fix our air? Did he fix our batteries?  That’s not the point.  The point is, he tried.  He also left a bill.  But it says he doesn’t accept pancakes.  Well raccoon?  Take it up with the Sheriff.  He’s back in the office tomorrow.

-Deputy Digby Pancake

Did you miss Girl Person making a dog and person friendly Cheeseburger Pie yesterday? The video and recipe are now available!

Cheeseburger Pie For Dogs and People Recipe