Last Summer, the Girl and I planted seven three-foot Colorado Blue Spruces at the front of the house near the easement to the road. We staggered them nicely so that they would provide a screen for the house down at the road. The existing trees in front of the house are mostly maples and aren’t very good at screening in the winter. The remaining evergreens are hemlocks that are having a rough time surviving the house builder’s regrade of the hill and subsequent deforestation there.

In December after the Girl and Boy returned from their wedding in Mexico, I was out for a walk and noticed that something looked odd about the front area of the house. Upon further investigation it turned out that someone had dug up and stolen four of the spruces. They left the three that were closest to the road. We called the cops and reported it, but how could they possibly find the culprits?

Well we thought that the rest of the trees were safe. We were wrong. Someone stole two more last night. Can you believe that? I hope the stolen trees survive the transplant. I’m sure they’ve lost lots of roots and we have been getting frost almost every night for the last week.

Any ideas, anyone, how to prevent this from happening again here or to others?