Trespasser in the night

One of my neighbors caught someone peering into their windows late at night. He went outside to see if he could catch the intruder. Where he got outside he could see a flashlight and followed the intruder through the woods until he lost track of him. A search of the area didn't turn up anything. No strange cars were spotted on the few roads in our area.

There's potential for something like this to get serious. Most people around here are armed. Intruders stand a fair chance of getting shot. If they are lucky people's dogs will just chase them off.

It's possible that someone was checking out houses to see if they were unoccupied. Rural areas sometimes have problems with thieves. There's a lot of houses where the owners are seasonal.

My house is one of them. There are neighbors who keep and eye on it and notice anything out of the ordinary. During years when I've had house sitters I've made a point to tell everyone so my sitters wouldn't get mistaken for thieves. or squatters.

Outside of moving out the guns and a few valuables, I don't worry about the house to much. Too many people become prisoners because they worry about their property all the time. That's why I buy insurance.

-Sixbears

Letting the neighbors know

When you live in a sparsely populated rural area who you call neighbor changes a bit. Around here, it’s people within about a 2 mile radius.

I’ve been letting my neighbors know that my lovely wife and I will be away this winter and that people will be house sitting. It’s not necessary to tell all the neighbors. As long as a few of the more outgoing ones know, everyone will know. Such is life in a small town.

People want to know what’s going on. I don’t want my guests to be mistaken for thieves or squatters.

Then there is the inevitable question and answer game of who they are. Everyone has a relationship to someone else. Once they figure out which family they come from, who’s kin to who, it’s all good. The guy has ties to this area so it’s fine. He has an aunt and distant cousin with cabins around the lake.

It seems that a lot of property has gone missing in nearby areas. One of my friends had a generator disappear. This was a heavy 5000 watt unit secured with a 1/2 cable. The cable had been cleanly cut. A place near him was totally cleaned out and destroyed with an ax. That’s just adding insult to injury.

Having people watch the place is nice. I don’t worry too much about property. Let the insurance company do the worrying, I say. However, there are some things that money can’t replace: one of a kind items, art, photos, and other odds and end that only have value because of the memories that are attached.

-Sixbears

Thieves

My lovely wife and I were having lunch at one of our favorite spots. Business was slow, so we were chatting with the owners and the few other customers. Turns out the couple at the next table were from our little town. I'd seen them around. They looked familiar, but we'd never gotten to know them.

We mentioned the area of town we lived in. The guy asked how we made out with all the burglaries that swept through our area. Nothing was taken from our place, but other places down the road were cleaned out. They even hauled off a 1200 pound generator. He happened to be called up to jury duty for the guys who were eventually caught.

It was a group of young men. They targeted camps and vacation homes. (Something to think about when you plan bug out locations.) One remote camp they cleaned out completely, then left the doors open so everything froze up. The owner repaired and refurnished the place, then the gang did it all over again.

Eventually they were caught because they stole an unusual car part used in racing. The guy who bought it from them displayed it in the window of his store. A local State Trooper saw the part and recognized it for what it was. He was able to unravel the case from there. In the end, the guys went to prison for 5 years.

I suspect my place wasn't targeted as we live here full time. There's cars in the driveway, the walks are shoveled, and there are signs of life. Easier targets were just down the road.

Here's the weird thing, even though there were burglaries near me, I still rarely lock the house. The guy who was on jury duty doesn't lock his house, plus leaves his car keys in the vehicle. One would think that we'd learn.

There is one small thing to consider. I carry a concealed handgun more often than I lock my door.

-Sixbears