nizo's Journal: Damn....breakin attempt foiled by $2 hardware screw

Someone tried to break into my house; it looks like they shot a hole in the window with a pellet gun and tried to undo the latch. Thanks bastards for cracking my window, but little did you know that short of a crowbar, you will never move the little $2 screw thingy that keeps the windows shut. Luckily it was one of the windows I wanted to replace anyway, but still damn....

Meanwhile, the installation of the videocameras has just moved up on my priority list. Being able to watch them from work will make me all warm and fuzzy inside. I only hope my cat jumped up and scared the piss out of whoever was trying to force the window open. I did noticed that a concealing bush on the side of the house needs to go away, which will happen first thing tomorrow.

And since the dumbass* across the street was working on a car right in front of our house with two of his buddies, I have a pretty good inkling of who the culprit might be. The officer that came by to file the report was interested that the car they have been working on has had a temporary license sticker since early April (and no license plate, which showed up wonderfully on the pictures I took today and last month). Luckily the little old lady across the way said she would keep an eye on things more closely too.

*Yeah, the same dumbass who blasts his radio and runs a car repair shop from his house. The one that the city has already told to stop repairing cars in the yard, and yet they continue to do so (thus the pictures I take periodically of the junkyard that is their front yard). Might not be them, but whoever it is, I should get a few nice pictures next time to share with the cops. On the upside I can now better document the constant flow of cars across the way as well with the new cameras, so I can catch multiple dumbasses at one time.

Concealing Bush

[Shadow Wrought]

Mayhaps you could "drop" that antique bear trap there;-)

Take care, and good luck. While that's certainly scary, I'm glad that you already see the measures you need to take. Installing the cameras will be extremely helpful, even if they aren't hooked up. A rottie might not hurt either...

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[nizo]

I may end up putting bars on this window too (rest of the house has them). I hate the way they look, but then again I hate people breaking in too.

What the heck is everyone doing on here and multiply so late???

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[GeckoFood]

What the heck is everyone doing on here and multiply so late???

Some of us just can't sleep...

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[Shadow Wrought]

Hopefully you're sleeping better now. I was up baking... Sourdough! It turned out great except that there's really no sour flavor:-/ But, its still very good bread. I'll have to talk with you more about the mixing and kneading components- I could only get about half of the last bit of flour in. But since it didn't end up as a large nugget of chewy flour I'm still pretty happy.

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[ak3ldama]

Not me, I slept like a rock. heh.

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[bersl2]

Security bars are the way to go. You are not getting in through the window with those things. And there are ways to make them fit with the look of the house.

Are you sure these guys are actually repairing the cars? Could it be a chop shop?

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[nizo]

Actually they are already being investigated by the FBI for having stolen car parts; the dad even spent some time in jail for it already. And they are constantly driving in "new" cars that stay around for a few days and are never seen again (with the exception of the car that they were working on yesterday). I swear it is like a used car lot in their front yard. Yeah this is my life....

Good to go

[RM6f9]

Glad your home was not further victimized nor burgled. Me, I'm thinking about taking some notes on home security out of Heinlein's "Friday"...

Are you sure it was a burglary attempt?

[benhocking]

Are you sure it was a burglary attempt and not just the people across the street exacting some petty revenge on you? I mean, if you've been taking pictures of them, they might not care for that so much...

I hope it goes without saying that I am in no way defending them. I'm just pointing out the obvious fact that crooks don't like having their pictures taken.

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[nizo]

Yeah that thought came to mind as well. Though this may be more of a chronic problem, because I talked to the guy next to us and he said someone had entered the house he is working on too (currently empty, in the process of being sold). Though now that we have both trimmed the bushes way back on the sides of our houses, that will be much harder to do without being seen...

I try to be subtle about the picture taking, and even they have finally started to realize they have pissed off everyone who lives around

Sounds like the best guess, then

[benhocking]

Although if they know multiple neighbors are mad at them, then multiple "fake" burglaries (presumably lower risk than real ones) couldn't be completely ruled out. Still, your assumptions are the safest ones to make.

Actually, it's fairly simple to break into homes

[WillAffleckUW]

I find a 5 to 10 pound sledge is all you need, aimed at the door jamb or lock mechanism.

Failing that, a shaped charge does wonders. Or a satchel charge with a foil blanket (same basic thing).