After reading Zabali’s post, it occured to me that I have not explained what happened. To clarify-
d_redguy, my husband, works third shift at a not-to-be named computer corporation. He is gone from 6:30pm until 7:45am. This leaves me in the house alone. Never have I been uncomfortable with or felt nervous about this situation. Our neighborhood is considered relatively safe and there are several resident police officers.
Tuesday night/morning at about 2:30am, I was sitting in the living room, reading. Our three cats began acting very oddly, pacing the length of our sliding glass door, which leads onto the back porch. A little background- My two cats, siblings, and d_redguy’s cat HATE each other. They usually occupy entirely different areas of the townhouse. Yet here they were, shoulder to shoulder, pacing and meowing.
My first thought was that some wild critter- a racoon maybe- had gotten onto the porch. I got up to check. When I tried to turn on the porch light, it didn’t work. It had worked a few hours previously, when I took out the trash, but I figured it was just a burnt out bulb. I looked out the window, but it was too dark to see anything. Still figuring on a critter, I went into the adjacent kitchen to do dishes.
A few minutes later, I heard bumping/scraping noises. The cats were still being strange. I thought that it was likely that the “wild animal” had gotten into the trash can, but it still made me nervous. I went upstairs to look down on the porch from a bedroom window. The light through the sliding door from the living room didn’t extend far enough to see the porch well and a slight overhang kept me from seeing the area by the door.
I went back downstairs and got on the computer. I IMed d_redguy and told him what was going on, but I felt silly. I still had bets on the racoon, but I felt kind of funny. You know, that “something isn’t right” feeling? We chatted for a bit, then I started hearing voices. Not loud enough to make out what was being said and not for very long, but definitely voices. Now I was frightened.
I know that it would have been best to call the police right away, but at the time I still felt a little ridiculous. I was afraid that it might be my imagination turning a racoon in the trash into a burgler. So I waited nervously until morning. When the sun came up, I went outside to have a look around. I found:
A completely missing light bulb.
A trash can moved away from the window, just far enough to stand behind and look into the house.
Footprints in the mud in our yard.
In short- :eek:
When d_redguy got home from work, we did call the police. They sent an officer out to look around. He agreed that someone had been on our porch and that there was no way to know who or why, but he also agreed that they could have been “casing” us. He told me I should have called them right away, too. (Consider me admonished.) I met up with a neighbor at the gas station yesterday who had had the same thing happen to him, light bulb and all, just a few weeks ago. His prowler returned a second time.
This seems to be a growing problem in our area.
I won’t be shooting anyone for hanging out in our yard. I won’t even pull a gun if you’re on my porch. But if you break into my house while I’m at home… Well, let’s just say that I’m a tough chick, but there isn’t much I can do if the guy has a weapon and I do not. I’d rather shoot the bastard and go to court than be raped or worse.
The law in our state says that you may not use a gun as a deterent to property theft, but the use of one is completely okay in the case of self-defense. As a woman who is alone at night, I’d like to know I can defend myself if I have to.
I heart you, too Binary- As long as you aren’t poking around my house at night. 
