Note to burgled self: write down serial #s

[elf]

Yep. We thought we were moving to the isolation of the country to get away from crime. Nope. When my first weedeater went missing, I told myself, I'd left it at a rental property. When the 2nd one disappeared, we also found several of my husband's tools were missing. They had been all over the carport which the chickens have taken over, so at least the rogues got to clean up poop covered tools. Taking down serial #s of what's left is on my agenda, as well as getting most of my barn sections lockable and getting stuff locked out of view or chained to posts or each other. Seems to be a burglar on foot in daytime before we are up (we're night owls), as I have heard a recent mysterious door knock with 2 others a yr. ago, and only grabbable size things are gone. Probably thinks we're gone as our van is in the shop, sooo...getting my friend to site in my Ladysmith is in order as well as putting the baseball bat and flashlight by the bed.

My good neighbor who owns the pasture (beautiful cattle farm) behind us was describing different people living on the road behind the strip of woods bordering the side of my land; they're all relatives by marriage of hers; she said so and so's got a really bad son; I try to keep up with when he's out of prison...great! The people in this county seem either really nice or straight out of "Deliverance".

 

[vfem]

Oh honey.... ((((((((hugs)))))))

Someone actually stole my duck house! I was shocked, part of our property is bordered by a pond so I was wondering how they got over and took it. Until I saw the trail that cut through our woods to the corner of the property. There is a low income trailer park on the other side. So now a fence is going up... and we even lock up the chickens. If we put something in it we want to keep.... LOCK!

I grew up in the inner city... I trust no one... not even in the country!!!

 

[lesa]

Such a sad statement about humanity... People are just not taught to respect others property. I can remember when we were kids my mom taught us never to even walk on someones land. Last year, I had kids walk through my gardens, driveway, and chicken gate to take a "short cut". I try not to go around thinking the worst of people- but it sure becomes a challenge!! Sorry about your losses.

 

[curly_kate]

This makes me think twice about leaving the garage door hanging open. We are far enough out that someone would have a looooong walk if they came by foot, or I would notice a car idling along our country road. However, I wouldn't put it past anyone.

Lesa, I'm with you - trying not to expect the worst of people. I think that there really only are a few "bad apples," but we notice them more because part of the reason the good ones are good is because they generally mind their own business.

 

[NurseNettie]

There is crime, including violent crime everywhere. Our area is still reeling from a triple murder ( 2 adults and a 10 year old) , next town over ( my town has 140 people, the town over has about 150- so it's VERY small). They still haven't found who did it, but found the victim's vehicle burned out on the town on the other side of me.

A good lesson- always lock and safeguard everything you have, no matter where you live or how comfortable you feel in your environment. I haven't had a decent night sleep in a week since the murders, but I've always locked my doors in the house. We do, however, need to start locking the barn, and take the keys out of our vehicles- something we still haven't gotten in the habit of doing. And, we come from "the big city", we'd never have left anything open down there. We were just starting to get comfortable, and then reality shocked us back to the fact that the world isn't perfect, and there are bad people wherever you go.

Just be careful!

Yep. We thought we were moving to the isolation of the country to get away from crime. Nope. When my first weedeater went missing, I told myself, I'd left it at a rental property. When the 2nd one disappeared, we also found several of my husband's tools were missing. They had been all over the carport which the chickens have taken over, so at least the rogues got to clean up poop covered tools. Taking down serial #s of what's left is on my agenda, as well as getting most of my barn sections lockable and getting stuff locked out of view or chained to posts or each other. Seems to be a burglar on foot in daytime before we are up (we're night owls), as I have heard a recent mysterious door knock with 2 others a yr. ago, and only grabbable size things are gone. Probably thinks we're gone as our van is in the shop, sooo...getting my friend to site in my Ladysmith is in order as well as putting the baseball bat and flashlight by the bed.

My good neighbor who owns the pasture (beautiful cattle farm) behind us was describing different people living on the road behind the strip of woods bordering the side of my land; they're all relatives by marriage of hers; she said so and so's got a really bad son; I try to keep up with when he's out of prison...great! The people in this county seem either really nice or straight out of "Deliverance".

 

[elf]

Thanks...It helps to vent, somehow. Now, this same week, it seems I've become a victim of a bogus collection agency/fake law firm! They claim I'm going to court for fraud for borrowing $2000 and not paying (NEVER!) They've called and scared my husband, then left message. They sound legit. on phone, but their info. is different each time and the phone numbers aren't the same. Anyway, when I goggled the #, people assure me they're not licensed/legit/legal, so I'll not return their call. Problem is folks say they continue to harrass, calling folks' mothers & bosses, telling them you're going to jail and cursing. Just wait till they call when I'm home!!Guess I will TRY to refrain from cursing, so they don't record it and use it against me, although I don't think they'd dare. Think I'll first have fun with some 100 questions and some classic Southern "Come to Jesus"proselytizing;It's not to late to turn your life around. I can't help it, but sometimes bad things happen to people who really do me wrong. Once it was kidneystones (my ex-boss), once a guy's mother died (insurance agent who harrassed me after a wreck), once a young guy dropped dead jogging (I'd been wishing his co. would fire him and hire someone ethical) (For real, BTW.)Guess that could still be seen as a threat so best not. HOWEVER, I've been under tremendous stress for three yrs. now, so there's no telling what I might say. Sometimes I have to scream like a banshee when things build up, and I may just step outside and let off some steam. Will it break the phone if the decibel is too loud?

 

[elf]

This makes me think twice about leaving the garage door hanging open. We are far enough out that someone would have a looooong walk if they came by foot, or I would notice a car idling along our country road. However, I wouldn't put it past anyone.

Hey, same here. Driveway takes several minutes and would tear up a lot of cars. To go thru the woods, they'd have to do a long circuitous route thru much briars and poison oak. Probably about 50 cars pass in a day. We have no set schedule, and my husband is here all the time except when we go shopping or to Dr. I convinced him to stop driving when he wrecked our only dependable vehicle.Wish I could afford time and money to get help with more fencing right now.

 

[NurseNettie]

The bogus collection agency scams are rampant right now. I have no idea how they get away with it, except I'm sure they figure that lots of folks have some sort of debt now, and enough fall for them to send money, or give their bank account numbers away. I've talked to a few of them, and asked how could someone with no debt ( I got mine all cleared up before we bought our house) could owe them money. They can't answer, and give you the run around, and never want you to mail them anything- they just want your account numbers, which is how you can tell the difference between a "legit" agency (though I think they are all criminals) and a fake one.
Just burns me....
I think they phone will be ok if you scream, but whistles are much louder when they're amplified on the phone... And since most of those folks are wearing headsets----- it sends their ears ringing all day, since they can't remove them quick enough

Thanks...It helps to vent, somehow. Now, this same week, it seems I've become a victim of a bogus collection agency/fake law firm! They claim I'm going to court for fraud for borrowing $2000 and not paying (NEVER!) They've called and scared my husband, then left message. They sound legit. on phone, but their info. is different each time and the phone numbers aren't the same. Anyway, when I goggled the #, people assure me they're not licensed/legit/legal, so I'll not return their call. Problem is folks say they continue to harrass, calling folks' mothers & bosses, telling them you're going to jail and cursing. Just wait till they call when I'm home!!Guess I will TRY to refrain from cursing, so they don't record it and use it against me, although I don't think they'd dare. Think I'll first have fun with some 100 questions and some classic Southern "Come to Jesus"proselytizing;It's not to late to turn your life around. I can't help it, but sometimes bad things happen to people who really do me wrong. Once it was kidneystones (my ex-boss), once a guy's mother died (insurance agent who harrassed me after a wreck), once a young guy dropped dead jogging (I'd been wishing his co. would fire him and hire someone ethical) (For real, BTW.)Guess that could still be seen as a threat so best not. HOWEVER, I've been under tremendous stress for three yrs. now, so there's no telling what I might say. Sometimes I have to scream like a banshee when things build up, and I may just step outside and let off some steam. Will it break the phone if the decibel is too loud?

 

[ducks4you]

You GO AHEAD AND VENT, elf!!
Even though my neighbor (to the south) is terrific, we keep our fence in-between maintained. We, who grew up in the suburbs and now live in the country, have locks for everything, and we lock up everything. I have two medium sized dogs and each has a big bark, but they don't attack our neighbors, and we have weapons for protection, though our neighbors pretty much never see them. I use outdoor solar lighting, and I particularly like my motion-detector lights.
When we lived in town there was a burgler who was making the rounds and he was deterred from breaking into the back of OUR house by the dog (30 pounds with a big bark) and the man (DH) who he saw/heard chamber his gun.
'nuf said.

 

[ShowMe31]

That's terrible. Such an invasion of privacy when someone helps themself to your property. When I was at the house we lived in first things started disappearing out of our barn. We called the police and filed a report. A few days later a detective stopped by and recommended we lock everything up and including our cars. Our neighbor had a history of "borrowing without permission".

We went thru the entire barn and photographed every piece of equipment and put the make/model/serial with it and saved to CD. We were so into this project and concerned by our lovely neighbor we even did all the electronics in the house. It was also nice to have after our house was hit by the tornado. Everything that was damaged was easy to write up.

So sorry for all your troubles