Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks @Britesea! Great minds think alike, lol. I started looking this morning at ways to fortify the entry points of the house - and that came up in one of my searches. We are making a trip to the local Home Depot store on a mission first thing in the morning. While we won't likely buy that particular product - we will be picking up similar items.

We have well established Burford Holly plants as foundation plantings under the windows on the front of the house. They're extremely thick and are quite prickly and uncomfortable. Those leaves will stick you just picking them off of the ground after trimmings. I wouldn't want to try to access a window by climbing through them. Not saying it couldn't be done - but since most thieves are looking for an easy target I'm not going to make it easy for them.

The next thing is to increase the lighting - even knowing that most burglaries are daytime events. However, some years back we had cars broken into up and down the street in the wee hours, so we will address that issue also. It's kind of a bummer because we enjoy the darkness...but just makes sense to light things up. I have several solar powered motion activated lights on the barn - we'll be looking at something like that tomorrow for the house.

I'm certainly not going to live in fear but it would be dumb not to react.

I got to an outdoor project this morning before the R.A.I.N started this afternoon. I had placed a round bale close to the buck pen with plans to put a gate there and put the bale inside their pen. That never happened - then it got crazy wet so I needed to come up with another alternative. So, I created an extension of that pen this morning. I took down a pen in another area that I don't really use and confiscated the panels from there. These panels are the BIG ones - 20 foot long and a full 60 inches tall with 4 inch openings. Holy Cow when I say these things are heavy and darn near impossible for one person to handle - I'm not even kidding. But, handle them I did, lol! Got them taken down from their previous location, drug them to the new spot, pounded some t-posts in the ground and wired 'em up. Then I had to reconfigure the electric fence in that area and create a gate so the bucks could access their new feeding station. The boys give it two hooves up!

 

[baymule]

That's too bad about the neighbors getting broken into. You should fence the front and put a gate across the driveway. Our place is fenced all the way around. The front gate is deeply inset for truck and trailer room. There was a known thief living in our neighborhood, but he never came here, big dogs at the front gate were a good deterrent.

It is a pain getting in and out to open/close the gate, I keep threatening to get an electric set up, but so far, other things have been more important. The dogs have been taught to stay in when we come and go and they know certain friends and neighbors. And then there's Cowboy! There's a dog to grab an opportunity if I ever saw one. Maybe you need a front yard dog. LOL LOL

It may be false security, but I feel safer with that closed gate across the driveway.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

For all Cowboy's fence issues - he's never been one to run out the gate when it's open. He's tried it once or twice - but learned his lesson.

There are several issues with fencing the front. One of them is that we live on a very small county road and my driveway is narrow. I pull my trailer fairly often and it's quite a feat to back into the driveway from the road - especially because I'm usually by myself. So, I generally pull into the drive way and use the yard to swing into - then I turn the trailer around and back up to the pasture. I need all of my yard to do that and part of the neighbors, lol.

I've thought of just putting a gate up and not fencing the yard. That would block anyone from pulling a vehicle in and loading it up. Might look a bit strange and would definitely tick off any delivery services but should be effective. Then the thought went to a driveway alarm to give us notice when somebody crosses the barrier - but that would only alert us when we are home. Have even thought of putting wrought iron fencing in the small area between the driveway and the house. That would keep anyone from accessing the front door and windows. Lots of considerations and none of them the perfect answer.

 

[sumi]

That really sucks about your neighbours getting broke into And the worry for you guys now. Talking about your options for security, especially when you're not home, I saw security cameras advertised on TV recently that sends an alert and video to your cell phone, if an intruder is spotted. It also lets you talk to whoever is there. I'm sorry I have no idea what it's called now.

 

[baymule]

We had the county come out to set a culvert. The precinct foreman told us that it had to be no smaller than 15" and that they would set two 20' culverts. I said I wanted both of them at the gate. A 40' wide driveway opening at the road gives us plenty of swing room. We also live on a narrow county road, the opposite side from us, the fence comes up to the road, so no room there either. We have a long driveway and a circle in front of the house. There is plenty of room to back and move as we left a lot of it open. On the side of our "yard", going to the pipeline, we set a 16' gate for swing room. Our property is just over 300' wide and over 1100' deep.

What about fencing the front and setting a pair of double 16' gates where you need to "borrow" part of the neighbor's yard? That would give them added security at least on your side.

I have never lived where the front was enclosed and I have to say that I like it.

 

[Mini Horses]

Personally, I think barking dogs, a tight door/window set up and motion lights will do the job. I have some signs that say property is video protected. I have metal doors and a large deadbolt device which has bolts going into the actual framework, not just the trim area. Plus, motion activated lights at each house corner. My house is pretty well raised with 6 blocks up. (I knew I would be the one under the house if anything needed and I wanted to be able to easily crawl or sit under there. No belly crawls for me -- Easy hands & knees! ) So the motion lights hit a large area, being high.

Just some "entry" reinforcement is probably all you need, FEM. I also have no auto garage opener and it opens onto my back porch, not into the house. My barn & equipment shed have lights that I can turn on/off with remote. It lights the back yard, etc. So, without any house lights, I can light you up! Of course, if it's a daytime issue, they don't help and we may not be home. Then it's window & door access to be the main concern.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

large deadbolt device which has bolts going into the actual framework, not just the trim area.

That's what we're looking for this morning. My front door doesn't even have a metal strike plate on it...argh. We've been complacent.

So....for the immediate future we're going to fortify the entry doors and put up extra lighting. We already know the thieves prefer other houses. The neighbors house - and another one down the street that has been hit twice - are really cluttered and have a lot of hiding places and no dogs. We have dogs! We're wide open without a bunch of "stuff" adjacent to the house. We already have dummy cameras mounted and they might have helped us out in this situation. Shhhh - don' tell anybody, lol.

We can't really widen the driveway. To do so would encroach on the neighbors property on one side and would necessitate taking out my big cottonwood tree if I went the other way. Not gonna happen.

My son has his entire place set up with camera's and lights. He doesn't have a monitored system but it's an awesome array. He loves gadgets, lol. I'm going to talk to him and see about a couple of cameras but likely will not go to the extent that he did.

Heading to Home Depot shortly. Looks like it's gonna be nasty wet today. Ugh. I checked few goats yesterday and noticed that I've got some pale eyelids in the goat pen. Break out the wormer...

 

[baymule]

Please send me your rain!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Please send me your rain!

Gladly!

 

[tortoise]

Most burglaries are impulsive, on foot, and within a mile of the perpetrator's house. Unless there's a pro ring, lots of visual deterrents will be sufficient. You've given me lots to think about on the topic of security. TY