Well, yesterday I ran out to pick up a movie late in the day and when I came home for some reason I happened
to notice the screen looked funny one of our front windows facing the street.

I live in a fairly new subdivision where though they are still building, many houses have been here 10 yrs plus.

When I approached the windows to look closer at the screen sure enough someone had bent the bottom of the
frame and they had pulled out some of the screen as though they were trying to get to the window to either break
it or test the locks to get in.

Either way, not what I needed to see, but glad I did. Have the local PD coming over to check it out this morning
and report it just to be sure they know in case there are others in the area reporting the same. My house is only 8 feet
from my neighbors house as is the case with all houses in this subdivision so not a very hidden location.

Last night being the first night after I think this might have occurred I stayed up late with the lights off and waited
checking a few times through the blinds just to check the street.

By far we do not look like the wealthy folks on the street so why we were even a though is beyond me, but I often
leave for jobs at 3-4am and with my better half at home this has me concerned more for her than anything.

My thoughts this morning are the room that they were looking to break into is a storage room that we don't use for
anything but that. Thinking about a little belisle home protection on the floor of that room between the window and
the door.

Made me think how stupid someone must be who targets the house of the guy on the street who hunts and traps or
at least has all those tools in their garage.

I do pity the individual I catch on this property inside my home should they get that far. I have 4 local PD on my street
in residence within literally 75 yards of my house, yet it seems those threats don't really put off thieves.

Thought about putting some interpretive signage in my front windows that makes sure folks realize you might get in
but you aren't going to get out.

Sorry morning rant, feel extremely angry just at the thought that this is a potential problem.

VP Biden says just buy a shotgun!! Walk out on the porch and fire two shots. Yeah right!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIdKIM2btoA

I would ask those 4 police neighbors what happens to you for leaving traps set by a window with the intent of catching a prowler?

Do you have any stand your ground laws?

Have you considered a home security system? We use Ameritech's Security Link or setting up your own motion detector, and some bells, whistles or lights

Robb, The more likely thing is for me to leave a good bunch of noise making materials in that room to be sure if said individual comes back through
I'll hear it with enough time to pickup the handgun by my bedside and get on the horn with 911. However, in my minds eye I do delight in the idea of
some worthless human coming through my window only to find 10 belisles scattered on the floor (we have no kids and no pets and we don't use this room). Though do I expect somehow I could be sued for such? Yep likely so, but inside my house, couldn't I say I just washed them all and was laying them out to dry in preparation for the upcoming fur season?

Ahhhh well.... we all know how many ways for criminals to sue us for something that occurs on our property during vandalism and attempts at assault, etc... (except in states that have made it clear people can protect themselves). Though it would hurt, a belisle tied off to one of our heavy shelving units in that room would keep him/her there until the pd could come and haul them away, versus me running them off so they can try another night.

No idea honestly about the regs in my state, but from what I've seen on the news since we moved here some 5 years ago now the homeowner has been legal at least with firearms and baseball bats.

The thing with the alarm is that I've always felt that my particular cookie cutter home would not be high on the list compared to neighbors who drive fancy cars and keep manicured landscaping. How the light shined on us this particular time is beyond me, just fate I guess, or statistics.

We have a house that is pre-wired when built and they come around monthly, honestly it pisses me off to have to think about having a security system just to sleep at night.

Local PD came by to take a report and there have been no other issues in this neighborhood of this type. She said she'd let the graveyard shift know as well as letting my neighbors who are her co-workers know as well.

Guess even if I don't actually do it, I've got charles bronsons old movie where he boobie trapped the apt. complex in my head today!



Stay tuned.....

(Disclaimer, I do appreciate human life, more than my "stuff," it can all be replaced, however my wife and I cannot and you never know who is coming through a window or door and what their intention is and no matter what it is harmful.)

I would guess similar to raccoons in my area, if they failed at entry most likely they will not return for a second attempt.

But that doesnt mean someone else wouldnt try in the

I like that Nate, helps me smile and not take it as seriously. Honestly I wouldn't give two "scats" if I didn't leave pre dawn so often when my better half is home alone. She knows how to "point and click" and is a better shot than I am, but still.

Plan on replacing the screen asap so that if the same person returned they'd see that they were detected at least.

Belisles would work good. Maybe a few TS-85s with a few "teeth" mods. Sorry, just thinking out loud.

Have a pristine Newhouse 115 that was a gift to my wife from a friend in MI years ago, would hate to get anything on it though, or have it
confiscated for evidence!

Definitely wouldn't want to de-value it with a sorry thieving individuals blood!

Have been looking for a reason to upsize the handguns in the house, have always had rifles and shotguns
but want to do the concealed carry as well this year, maybe all this is just karmic arrows pointing the way
to a slightly larger arsenal!

Now that is a device Vinke! I like it!

On a side note, what time is best to reach you tomorrow to talk peacocks? I have a bat talk for a 2nd grade group tomorrow morning at 9am (8am your time) and will be back in action after that for the rest of the day.

Thanks for that link, that looks perfect for these two rooms we use as storage.

Justin

I will be doing a gravy bat job tomorrow in a good service area so,,,,try when you are free

Thanks will do!

A couple of winters ago someone went around my niehborhood checking for unlocked doors. The cops followed the tracks and noticed they went to everyones house but mine. They ended up arresting the kid down the street. He avoided my house because he knew who I was and what I did.

Nice!

I suppose my smart car in the driveway next to the sprinter might lower the expectation of running into trouble! lol!

Justin, whoever did this to you should be horse-whipped. ( You wouldn't need a very long whip, I'm sure it was a kid or kids )

Look for kids in your neighborhood with too much time on their hands. That's the reason we got in trouble.

Think about it: Would anyone who led a life of crime, attack such a lousy payoff like your crappy storage room?

I've got to admit, that since I can get some decent surveillance cameras for practically nothing, I might just do it.

P.S. After reviewing that last sentence, I think I must, once again, have too much free time on my hands!

Paul, I know it is possible it was teenagers or "delinquents," when I say storage room though, I mean the front room of our home, which has nice wood shades that you can't see through, so to them this room would have possibly been a living room, den, bedroom, library, etc...? Once they entered they would have realized how stupid this room was to get into, but they wouldn't have known from the outside and if they know the layout of these homes they would know most people don't use this room for a bedroom as it is smaller, so maybe an office with computers, a spare tv, etc... Just so happens we use it for fightwns supplies, so it has 4 large shelving units from lowes that are nearly floor to ceiling with t shirts and stickers piled up on them, which essentially bar the entry from the windows in that room without worming your way through the racks...

Since we've lived here 5 years now we know our neighbors or at least what they look like and how they behave outdoors. Across the street sort of diagonal there exists the one house that I think could contribute. Not only teenagers, but they like to have garage gatherings into the wee hours of the night on a very quiet street. I've had more than a few morons that have left beer cans in the street and that have been out there tussling long after a reasonable hour. They are also the neighbors who seem to beat the HOA covenants with regard to 5 or 6 vehicles in street and yapping ankle biters to boot!

Ah well, thats another thread!

I do have a plethora of surveillance cams for wildlife work, thought about putting some with black flash outside in the shrubs a few nights just to see if they detect anything.

Justin, you mentioned several reasons why I think it's young adults. First of all, who attacks the home of someone in our business?

You also mentioned that your walls are not exactly filled with Picassos that have safes behind them.

I also wonder at the fact that you could blow your neighbors away with a shotgun. I would need a good rifle or I'd just wound them.

Kids do this kind of stuff for three reasons; money for drugs, to join a gang, or because life on your block has gotten too dull.

Totally agree, and though I can count the ex or current gang types at my local wal-mart each week when we grocery shop less than 1/2 mile from my house, still is an uneasy feeling.

Would have preferred it was a critter gnawing to get in, but the screwdriver pry up under the center of the screen is more than obvious along with the other pulled away portions.

Growing up in the country, I did know some classmates and others that went on to lives of crime both small and large, some of these folks would have been downright scary to have in your house even as teenagers, so to me, no matter whose knocking they better be prepared for the answer....

I had some tutelage under a crusty old beaver trapper who singlehandedly broke up a CB radio theft ring. Weapon of choice was a #4 Newhouse bolted to the radio bracket. Evidently when you reach up under a truck dashboard and get hit with a good pad catch, (it was tooth jawed) you scream real loud and then loose consciousness long enough to release all of your unwanted byproducts. If my buddy had known what a mess he was going to have to clean up, (the guy crawled in through the passenger side) we would have let him have the CB radio. The guy quit stealing people's CB radios though.
Ah, the good old days.
So don't do anything without carefully weighing the consequences. If you go putting out some belisles make sure and put down some plastic or something, and maybe rig a slide cable to the center of the room so they don't chew up your drywall too bad.