Home Security - a lesson learned

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I learned a good lesson yesterday. My little brother has, on a few occasions come over and found my house keys still hanging in the door, oops. He has chastised me for not locking my doors when I’m home. Yesterday I got home from work at about 12:30 p.m. I came in, changed, turned the music up loud and went to work cleaning. I was standing in the bath tub washing the walls when I heard a sound.

Thinking I was imagining things I kept on cleaning and singing away. I heard the kitchen tap being turned on and I paniced, jumped out of tub and went to close and lock the bathroom door, then got brave and yelled who’s there?

My brother came around the corner and scared the living shit out of me. I said, you scared me half to death, you should have called out that you were here. He apologized and said… you left your back door open again. What if it hadnt been me? Would a burglar have called out and said, excuse me ma’am I’m here to rob or rape you?

Thanks lil bro… the door is locked and now will always be locked when I’m alone. Thank god I live in a low crime area.

Mundane but true.

We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another

2

Good lesson Sue…I live in a very low crime area…rural America…but I still keep my windows and doors locked…even when I’m home…and if I’m working in the backyard I still make sure all my doors are locked. It’s just being safe.

“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda

Senior Intern to
El Presidente
Self-Righteous Clique *

3

My husband thinks I am so paranoid for keeping the doors and windows of our house locked, even when I’m home. He doesn’t understand why as soon as I step into my vehicle, I lock all the doors and keep the windows rolled up. He doesn’t understand why I yell at him every time he forgets to lock the car after he has parked it.

Of course, my husband has never been a victim of a violent crime before either.

Shadowfox

“Distinguished” Sexy assistant to Head Honcho,
Self-Righteous Clique

4

Having lived in a relatively high crime area (Liverpool, England), we learnt to lock everything securely without fail. The bars on the windows helped. However, one time we were burgled through an upper story window, they wouldn’t have been able to make off with much stuff but alas, we stupidly left the back door key in the lock inside the back door. They took everything. We learnt our lesson :wink:
(incindentally, if anyone thinks this was moronically stupid, we only had a single key for the back door between five of us, it seemed logical at the time).

5

I have always locked my doors and windows, I guess being in a high crime area and having my car broken into a couple of times taught me that. I will always remember one night tho. I was awakened by lights flashing around in my backyard and I couldn’t figure out why my dog wasn’t barking so I got up to find several people with large flashlights sweeping my yard with light.

I opened my patio glass door to find out what was going on and a man said, “Police officers, Mam. Please step away from the window.” Still sleep confused, I asked, “What’s going on?”. He responded, “Murder suspect… armed and dangerous was spotted in your backyard. He may have left the area, but we are doing a house to house search anyway. We will be around to your house soon to search your yard and answer your questions then Mam.”

“Ok now this IS spooky!” I thought to myself. I was all alone and according to my neighbor who told me about it all later as we waited for the search to conclude at 3 am, this is what happened…

Evidently the police gave chase to this guy who had shot someone in a parking lot. He abandoned the car a block from my house on a dead end road and set off on foot hopping backyard fences. The thud that was made as he jumped over our mutual fence, woke my neighbor and as he went to his window to investigate, he saw the guy crouched down behind my fence, feeling secure at the thought he had escaped.

My neighbor then went on to explain in amusement, that the suspects feeling of elation lasted about 30 secs as he turned around to find my Norweigan Elkhound bearing quickly down upon him with bared teeth. Solomon had proceeded to give chase to the opposite corner of the yard, and as the guy scaled over the next fence, the dog came close to nearly taking a chunk out of his backside.

Needless to say, I am so glad that I had my dog. Silly me, slept through the whole thing. I am only thankful that it happened so fast that the guy didn’t think about shooting Solomon. The police had said that night that a dog was the best security anyone could have.

I still smile to this day when I think about it. Solomon was the biggest sweetie of a dog… not the sharpest knife in the drawer… but a great guard dog none the less and definitely proved his worth that day. He got the royal treatment for being my protector until he died at the ripe old doggie age of 15.

I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!

6

That’s sad to hear, Purple… :frowning: he must have been a loyal friend as well as a conscientious watchdog.
When we were kids we had a cat named Buttons (we sometimes reversed his name, calling him “Snottub”), who liked to sit on a cabinet mounted just inside our back door. My older brother told me–but now I’m skeptical–that someone broke into our place one night, through the back door–and was greeted by Buttons, who jumped onto his face with mouth open and claws out!
A few years ago I heard about a couple of good signs to post to scare prowlers away:
“Steve–the python got loose again! Better have someone come in to help you–it’ll take at least two people to handle her!”
“NOTICE. UPS and Federal Express, no package deliveries please, after 6 p.m. Poisonous snakes used in biological research have escaped from their cages, and we have been unable to find them.”

7

Good signs dougie!!

Here is a story for you apartment dwellers:
Mom lives in a security building ( you must be buzzed in ) I have been nagging her for ages to LOCK HER DOOR! But she feels safe, despite the fact that the building door doesnt always shut tight. The other day, she heard someone clomping down the staris REALLY loud, so she went to the peephole to watch them go by and see who it was. So she is standing inside her apartment, eye to the peephole, and some man comes down the stairs, glances at moms door, goes over and puts HIS EYE TO THE HOLE!!!

Mom almost shit herself.
She locks the door now.

8

Mrs. Chef is ALWAYS doing the keys in the door thing and it makes me crazy. She’s from a small town where no one locks up anything…her dad not only leaves his car unlocked at home but leaves the keys in the ignition so he always knows where they are. :rolleyes:

My mother-in-law once said, “around here people only lock their cars in August, because if you don’t someone will come along and fill it with zucchini.”

Live a Lush Life
Da Chef

9

A dog is the best home security system you can buy. Burglars and the like would rather move on to a house that has no dog. Reason: dogs are unpredictable. Maybe they’ll be friendly, maybe they’ll bark, maybe they’ll take a chunk out of his ass. In any case, not worth the trouble.

And will an electronic system give you companionship and catch frisbees? No.

10

Very good lesson indeed…
Not knowing what area you live in & not that it would even matter…
I live in a (very) small town & I always lock my doors & windows.