Friday, September 16, 2005
Clean up... and up!
This upcoming week is Cleanup Week in Siloam Springs. That means that all week the city will pickup old furniture, appliances, etc... for free. The rest of the year you have to pay for them to pick up stuff like that.
I bought the house I'm in now about five years ago, and I like it here. Whoever used to live here did some kind of screwy things, though. One feature I kind of hated about the house is that it had built in desks in the bedrooms upstairs. This wouldn't be too bad, but they're kind of crappily built, and they're not big enough for a non-flat screen computer monitor. I tore out one of them last year. That one was in the bedroom that I turned into my guitarmaking shop. In order to help the town celebrate Cleanup Week, I decided to tear out the desks in the other two rooms.
Here's the aftermath of the second one I took out.
There's a few things that are dumb about this desk. The genius woodworker that installed it used nails instead of screws to attach it to the wall. This means you have to tear the drywall up and pretty much destroy the desk to remove it. If he'd used screws, I could have taken it all as one piece instead of board by board. I'm going to have to patch a bunch of drywall. Also, there's an area with no carpet now, since they installed the carpet around the desk.
Another dumb thing is the built-in ladder that you can see in the photo. It goes to the attic, but the entrance in the ceiling is only about 24" by 24" or so. So it's impossible to put any large-ish boxes up there. Of course, who would ever want to put boxes in an attic?
Here's the interesting part. I bet you didn't think there was going to be an interesting part. When I pulled out the desk drawers, I found bits of a torn up photo, a small bag of white powder, and a bottle wrapped in electrical tape.
I think the picture was just there as a result of falling out of a stuffed desk drawer, but the bag and bottle were definitely there on purpose. Now I'm an innocent cornfed Nebraska boy, so I don't have a clue about this stuff at all. The bottle is made of glass and has some sort of metal nozzle or something stuck in the top. Then the whole thing was wrapped with electrical tape, apparently to hold the nozzle in and seal it to the bottle.
I almost took the powder to the police just out of curiosity to see what it is, but I didn't really want to waste their time. I've been in this house for five years, and it was empty a year before that, so it's not like they would be able to bust anyone. So I flushed it. I should have called the police, and then when they knocked on the door I could have scrambled to the bathroom and flushed it like they do in the movies and on Cops.
Anyway, I feel dumb for asking. Does anyone want to hazard a guess on what it was based on the bottle/nozzle thing?
I bought the house I'm in now about five years ago, and I like it here. Whoever used to live here did some kind of screwy things, though. One feature I kind of hated about the house is that it had built in desks in the bedrooms upstairs. This wouldn't be too bad, but they're kind of crappily built, and they're not big enough for a non-flat screen computer monitor. I tore out one of them last year. That one was in the bedroom that I turned into my guitarmaking shop. In order to help the town celebrate Cleanup Week, I decided to tear out the desks in the other two rooms.
Here's the aftermath of the second one I took out.
There's a few things that are dumb about this desk. The genius woodworker that installed it used nails instead of screws to attach it to the wall. This means you have to tear the drywall up and pretty much destroy the desk to remove it. If he'd used screws, I could have taken it all as one piece instead of board by board. I'm going to have to patch a bunch of drywall. Also, there's an area with no carpet now, since they installed the carpet around the desk.
Another dumb thing is the built-in ladder that you can see in the photo. It goes to the attic, but the entrance in the ceiling is only about 24" by 24" or so. So it's impossible to put any large-ish boxes up there. Of course, who would ever want to put boxes in an attic?
Here's the interesting part. I bet you didn't think there was going to be an interesting part. When I pulled out the desk drawers, I found bits of a torn up photo, a small bag of white powder, and a bottle wrapped in electrical tape.
I think the picture was just there as a result of falling out of a stuffed desk drawer, but the bag and bottle were definitely there on purpose. Now I'm an innocent cornfed Nebraska boy, so I don't have a clue about this stuff at all. The bottle is made of glass and has some sort of metal nozzle or something stuck in the top. Then the whole thing was wrapped with electrical tape, apparently to hold the nozzle in and seal it to the bottle.
I almost took the powder to the police just out of curiosity to see what it is, but I didn't really want to waste their time. I've been in this house for five years, and it was empty a year before that, so it's not like they would be able to bust anyone. So I flushed it. I should have called the police, and then when they knocked on the door I could have scrambled to the bathroom and flushed it like they do in the movies and on Cops.
Anyway, I feel dumb for asking. Does anyone want to hazard a guess on what it was based on the bottle/nozzle thing?
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Woah. I have several questions and a couple of theories.
1. How old is your house? Based on some of the quirks your house has, I would bet it's at least 60 years old. Probably older. The design and whatnot leads me to believe that it served a definate purpose back in the day, but then people started to ruin it until you came in and made it tip-top again. I love a house with character.
2. What's with the adult's eye on that torn-up picture? Is it as scary in person as it is online?
3. Since you've been living there, have you ever found anything else out of the ordinary? Do you have a basement?
Okay, there's really no doubt in my mind that what's in the baggie is supposed to be cocaine. I don't know if it is or not, because some people package powdered sugar or flour and try to pass it off as such for a quick buck.
However, because it wasn't sold, and was being hidden so cleverly, it's probably the real deal, and a lot of it I may add.
Secondly, that contraption with the taped up bottle-nozzle? Looks like a jury-rigged pipe to me. Crackheads are very industrial when they have to be. If you removed the tape and broke that bottle open (not recommended), you'd find all sorts of residue in there.
It looks to me that whoever has the black eyes on that photograph might be one of your culprits. This is truly weird beyond what I had expected to see here. I've never touched a drug in my life, but my experience with COPS, along with being friends with several crackheads leads me to this theory.
What did you do with the pipe?
1. How old is your house? Based on some of the quirks your house has, I would bet it's at least 60 years old. Probably older. The design and whatnot leads me to believe that it served a definate purpose back in the day, but then people started to ruin it until you came in and made it tip-top again. I love a house with character.
2. What's with the adult's eye on that torn-up picture? Is it as scary in person as it is online?
3. Since you've been living there, have you ever found anything else out of the ordinary? Do you have a basement?
Okay, there's really no doubt in my mind that what's in the baggie is supposed to be cocaine. I don't know if it is or not, because some people package powdered sugar or flour and try to pass it off as such for a quick buck.
However, because it wasn't sold, and was being hidden so cleverly, it's probably the real deal, and a lot of it I may add.
Secondly, that contraption with the taped up bottle-nozzle? Looks like a jury-rigged pipe to me. Crackheads are very industrial when they have to be. If you removed the tape and broke that bottle open (not recommended), you'd find all sorts of residue in there.
It looks to me that whoever has the black eyes on that photograph might be one of your culprits. This is truly weird beyond what I had expected to see here. I've never touched a drug in my life, but my experience with COPS, along with being friends with several crackheads leads me to this theory.
What did you do with the pipe?
1. I thought it had been built in the 30's, but the lady that lives next door told me the other day it was at least a hundred years old. She said her grandmother (?) used to own that house many years ago. I'm a couple blocks from downtown, and she said our neighborhood was the oldest in town.
2. I suspect it was marked up with a pen, but I couldn't tell, even up close. I looked and looked for the other bit of the picture but couldn't find it. I was seriously freaked at first when I found that part of the pic and the drug stuff.
3. No basement. I did find an aspirin bottle from the 50's underneath the hardwood floor upstairs. At some point a board of it had been pulled up to get access to electrical.
My initial thought was that it was coke or heroin, both white powders that can be smoked or snorted or whatever. I guess meth can be a white powder, too, and there's a pretty big meth problem in this area. So officially I'm going with meth. Now I'm kind of wishing I'd called the police just to know what it was. Is that really a lot? I had wondered how many dollars worth of whatever I was flushing.
The fact that it was there to be found made me think about the circumstance that would lead someone to leave that there. Were they suddenly evicted and weren't able to go back and get it? Arrested maybe?
I don't know if you could tell from the photo, the bottle is broken open, it broke while I was trying to remove the tape. I didn't notice any residue, but I wasn't running my finger around inside.
I know a bit of the recent history of the house. In the early 90's. a grandmother bought it for her grandson to live in, he had just gotten married. There was much renovation at that time, made a second floor addition with an extra bedroom, etc... They went through a divorce and the ex-wife stayed in the house, I don't know if it was a rental situation or what. The people that fixed it up to sell right before I bought it had taken out over 30 garbage bags of trash after the ex-wife and kids moved out. Also, the gas company guy told me that sometimes they wouldn't even let him in to come light the pilot light or whatever he does, and when he did the place was nasty. Even he said he suspected everyone living there must be on drugs to live like that. For a while after I moved in, every now and then some shady characters would stop by looking for them.
Anyway, I haven't actually done much to the house except painting and replacing some rotten siding. There's work to be done, but it wasn't in bad shape when I moved in.
So that's my house story.
2. I suspect it was marked up with a pen, but I couldn't tell, even up close. I looked and looked for the other bit of the picture but couldn't find it. I was seriously freaked at first when I found that part of the pic and the drug stuff.
3. No basement. I did find an aspirin bottle from the 50's underneath the hardwood floor upstairs. At some point a board of it had been pulled up to get access to electrical.
My initial thought was that it was coke or heroin, both white powders that can be smoked or snorted or whatever. I guess meth can be a white powder, too, and there's a pretty big meth problem in this area. So officially I'm going with meth. Now I'm kind of wishing I'd called the police just to know what it was. Is that really a lot? I had wondered how many dollars worth of whatever I was flushing.
The fact that it was there to be found made me think about the circumstance that would lead someone to leave that there. Were they suddenly evicted and weren't able to go back and get it? Arrested maybe?
I don't know if you could tell from the photo, the bottle is broken open, it broke while I was trying to remove the tape. I didn't notice any residue, but I wasn't running my finger around inside.
I know a bit of the recent history of the house. In the early 90's. a grandmother bought it for her grandson to live in, he had just gotten married. There was much renovation at that time, made a second floor addition with an extra bedroom, etc... They went through a divorce and the ex-wife stayed in the house, I don't know if it was a rental situation or what. The people that fixed it up to sell right before I bought it had taken out over 30 garbage bags of trash after the ex-wife and kids moved out. Also, the gas company guy told me that sometimes they wouldn't even let him in to come light the pilot light or whatever he does, and when he did the place was nasty. Even he said he suspected everyone living there must be on drugs to live like that. For a while after I moved in, every now and then some shady characters would stop by looking for them.
Anyway, I haven't actually done much to the house except painting and replacing some rotten siding. There's work to be done, but it wasn't in bad shape when I moved in.
So that's my house story.
Yeah, that's an old house, right there. Just be lucky that it's not haunted. Or is it?
I don't know how you took it, but if I would have found that stuff in my house while I was alone, I think I might have wet my pants. Not only because of the mysterious nature of the goods, but because I was now handling very illegal stuff.
There's writing on that photograph. What does it say?
The value of the goods depends on what exactly it was, but you're looking at probably several hundreds of dollars worth, if it's what we think it is.
So, what kind of person leaves a big bag of drugs and a pipe behind? Well, someone who left in a big damn hurry. They probably weren't arrested, because the cops would have run a dog through the house to find it. I think they just hit the road one day, unless they are dead and buried under your floorboards, Poe-style.
Yeah, try not to cut your finger on that bottle. You don't want the same illnesses that crackheads have.
Judging by your "recent house history", you pretty much know what happened in your house before you bought it. There's your culprit. Maybe this will lead you to do more exploring. Maybe you can borrow a drug dog from the police station for a day. Perhaps you should call an exorcist.
What a neat story.
I don't know how you took it, but if I would have found that stuff in my house while I was alone, I think I might have wet my pants. Not only because of the mysterious nature of the goods, but because I was now handling very illegal stuff.
There's writing on that photograph. What does it say?
The value of the goods depends on what exactly it was, but you're looking at probably several hundreds of dollars worth, if it's what we think it is.
So, what kind of person leaves a big bag of drugs and a pipe behind? Well, someone who left in a big damn hurry. They probably weren't arrested, because the cops would have run a dog through the house to find it. I think they just hit the road one day, unless they are dead and buried under your floorboards, Poe-style.
Yeah, try not to cut your finger on that bottle. You don't want the same illnesses that crackheads have.
Judging by your "recent house history", you pretty much know what happened in your house before you bought it. There's your culprit. Maybe this will lead you to do more exploring. Maybe you can borrow a drug dog from the police station for a day. Perhaps you should call an exorcist.
What a neat story.
This house is only haunted by me. I guess by living alone in this big old house with a sordid past, I am practically asking to be murdered.
I was a little freaked out, but I was mostly tired and worn out from tearing out those stupid desks and carrying it all downstairs and outside to the street.
I mainly didn't call the police because I figured it wasn't worth wasting their time since noone could be implicated in this anyway, hopefully they have better things to do. I could also see it turning into a possible large hassle.
Funny thing is, I was looking through newsgroups yesterday trying to figure out how I can figure out the age/history of my house. I stumbled across a thread about how the DEA can seize a house and basically tear it apart to look for hidden drugs (say, in the house framing behind the drywall) if they suspect there has been dealing or processing... Even if the current owner had nothing to do with all that. That thread was from 1991, though, so I suppose things may have changed.
There's not too many unexplored nooks and crannies left, but I suppose I should take a closer look around. And I've never looked around specifically for things that may have been hidden.
One thing's for sure... If I ever move out, I will hide all sorts of little ziplock bags full of flour all around my house. It'll be like an adventure for the new owners.
I was a little freaked out, but I was mostly tired and worn out from tearing out those stupid desks and carrying it all downstairs and outside to the street.
I mainly didn't call the police because I figured it wasn't worth wasting their time since noone could be implicated in this anyway, hopefully they have better things to do. I could also see it turning into a possible large hassle.
Funny thing is, I was looking through newsgroups yesterday trying to figure out how I can figure out the age/history of my house. I stumbled across a thread about how the DEA can seize a house and basically tear it apart to look for hidden drugs (say, in the house framing behind the drywall) if they suspect there has been dealing or processing... Even if the current owner had nothing to do with all that. That thread was from 1991, though, so I suppose things may have changed.
There's not too many unexplored nooks and crannies left, but I suppose I should take a closer look around. And I've never looked around specifically for things that may have been hidden.
One thing's for sure... If I ever move out, I will hide all sorts of little ziplock bags full of flour all around my house. It'll be like an adventure for the new owners.
Maybe I'm a little bit suspicious of the man, but you did the right thing flushing it. Calling the po-lice would have resulted in a crapload of red tape. Or you might have been accused of being the owner of the drugs, Holmesian SSPD being what they are.
FWIW that looks like a meth pipe plus a coupla hundred bucks worth of meth. Makes my skin crawl seeing it.
FWIW that looks like a meth pipe plus a coupla hundred bucks worth of meth. Makes my skin crawl seeing it.
# posted by 
: 9:20 AM
: 9:20 AM
Now that I think about it, I'm glad noone ever came back for it. The house was empty for a year or so before I bought it, though, so you'd think whoever owned it might have found a way in to retrieve it if they really wanted it.
Is meth still potent years later?
Is meth still potent years later?
I'm confused on where the pipe/bag was. Was it just laying in the drawer, or hidden away behind something, or taped to the back of something? Or is it just that you've never opened the drawers before?
That's creepy, though. I mean, I *stayed* in that room when we visited, didn't I? Now you're telling me I could have gone on a meth-fueled crime spree and you didn't even tell me? BAD host! BAD!!
That's creepy, though. I mean, I *stayed* in that room when we visited, didn't I? Now you're telling me I could have gone on a meth-fueled crime spree and you didn't even tell me? BAD host! BAD!!
Yeah, I should have explained that better. It was never visible just by opening the drawers. It would have only been accessible by completely removing the bottom drawer, and then reaching around the inside of the frame. There were a couple empty cigarette packages, too, so I'm guessing it was a teenager's stash since an adult wouldn't need to hid cigs. Those could have fallen out of the top of a drawer, though.
That's right, I forgot, you did stay in the meth room once.
That's right, I forgot, you did stay in the meth room once.
Is a drug-themed B&B not far behind?
No. Probably not, no.
Yup, that room belonged to the young lady in the picture. She wasn't a big fan of the older woman in the picture, from what I can surmise.
Were the drugs hers though? I wouldn't think so. Perhaps she was holding them from someone (like a boyfriend), or worse yet, the older woman was stashing it in the younger woman's room.
What does the writing on the photo say? I can't quite make it out.
Isn't it crazy what kind of a weird story you can piece together by finding a couple of things and asking a question or two? I mean, I'm just taking wild guesses here, but it's much more interesting than anything that's going on over at my place.
Meth Room=$300 a night.
No. Probably not, no.
Yup, that room belonged to the young lady in the picture. She wasn't a big fan of the older woman in the picture, from what I can surmise.
Were the drugs hers though? I wouldn't think so. Perhaps she was holding them from someone (like a boyfriend), or worse yet, the older woman was stashing it in the younger woman's room.
What does the writing on the photo say? I can't quite make it out.
Isn't it crazy what kind of a weird story you can piece together by finding a couple of things and asking a question or two? I mean, I'm just taking wild guesses here, but it's much more interesting than anything that's going on over at my place.
Meth Room=$300 a night.
I probably need to ask my local neighborhood punk that used to live next door in the house that got torn down (also featured on this blog). I think it was his cousins or something that lived here, "they was kin." He could probably tell me who lived in that room.
I couldn't make out the writing on the photo. I don't think I've tossed the pieces yet, maybe I should reassemble it again and tape it in place and get a better picture of it.
"Pasty's Bed & Breakfast... We'll get you the highest for the lowest!"
I couldn't make out the writing on the photo. I don't think I've tossed the pieces yet, maybe I should reassemble it again and tape it in place and get a better picture of it.
"Pasty's Bed & Breakfast... We'll get you the highest for the lowest!"
That reminds me, do you have youself a southern accent? Considering that you're from Nebraska, it was something that piqued my interest.
I completely lack any sort of a "midwestern" accent ("hey dare, gunna go up nort' and catch some troot?"). Or, in the words of a friend of my Wife's, "It sounds like he's hosting a radio show...all day!"
I have a buttery-smooth, yet dominant-and-overbearing broadcast voice, which explains why I spent most of my money trying to go to broadcasting school. How I ended up with a music and sound degree is beyond me.
I'm still quite concerned about your new-found drug house, but I can't pass up a chance to ask a random question.
I completely lack any sort of a "midwestern" accent ("hey dare, gunna go up nort' and catch some troot?"). Or, in the words of a friend of my Wife's, "It sounds like he's hosting a radio show...all day!"
I have a buttery-smooth, yet dominant-and-overbearing broadcast voice, which explains why I spent most of my money trying to go to broadcasting school. How I ended up with a music and sound degree is beyond me.
I'm still quite concerned about your new-found drug house, but I can't pass up a chance to ask a random question.
People from Nebraska don't have accents, which is why they put a lot of telemarketing and reservation centers and whatnot there in Omaha. I imagine I've possibly picked up a very slight drawl since I've lived here. I still say "you guys" instead of "y'all."
I have a terrible phone voice, and sound disinterested even when I'm not. I'll have to do an audio blog post sometime. I think I mumble a lot. I feel like I'm starting to stutter sometimes, too, so I think there's probably something wrong with my brain. I think that maybe I just don't talk enough in my day to day life.
Maybe someone that knows me in real life could comment on that, people are usually terrible judges of their own voice.
I have a terrible phone voice, and sound disinterested even when I'm not. I'll have to do an audio blog post sometime. I think I mumble a lot. I feel like I'm starting to stutter sometimes, too, so I think there's probably something wrong with my brain. I think that maybe I just don't talk enough in my day to day life.
Maybe someone that knows me in real life could comment on that, people are usually terrible judges of their own voice.
You clearly have a tumor. Were you inspecting that secret bag a little too closely?
I mumble a lot too, but only when I'm not interested in what I'm saying.
That's quite often, though.
(mumble)
I mumble a lot too, but only when I'm not interested in what I'm saying.
That's quite often, though.
(mumble)
[arnold]It's not a tumor. CIA got you pushing pencils?[/arnold]
It's feeding into my deepseated fear that I'm actually mentally disabled, only I don't know it and haven't figured it out because I'm mentally disabled.
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It's feeding into my deepseated fear that I'm actually mentally disabled, only I don't know it and haven't figured it out because I'm mentally disabled.
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