This place is secure

A few weeks back, I wrote about the wonderful Christmas gift from my darling bride.

As the story goes, I had just had a tire patched for the third time in a year because it had a nail in it.

“Maybe someone’s got it in for you,” a fellow customer at the repair shop told me.

On top of that, we had a thing or two turn up missing. I decided it was time to beef up the perimeter around McLoone Manor. Obviously having two large dogs that would open the door for intruders if they could isn’t working. They weren’t fired from their watchdog roles, because they are incredibly adept at spotting squirrels, so they’re doing that fulltime now.

We picked up a couple of inexpensive security cameras, and these things have already have caught countless intruders and other miscellaneous violations of household rules. Every time one of these cameras catches someone, my phone gets sent an alert. One night, I was at a meeting, and I was able to call my wife and let her know that the dogs were ready to come back in the house. She appreciated that.

Most of the intruders are innocent. A bunny hops through several times most nights on his way to and from somewhere. I put carrots out. He/she sniffed them and kept right on going. Someone’s cat is on the prowl a couple nights a week. There’s been a raccoon here and there. Last week, this $80 investment in cameras paid for itself many times over.

We were out of town at a family funeral, and were having lunch with family afterwards. My phone alert went off, which during the day usually means those squirrels are taunting the watch dogs. They know where the birdseed is, and they’re staying fat and happy around our place this winter.

This was no squirrel however. It looked like a delivery was being made at our home. That has been another common occurrence with the camera system. When a package is left at the door, the UPS guy comes into view, drops the goods and hits the road.

There was a man standing a few feet back from our front door. He was holding a package and one of these handheld computer thingies like UPS drivers have. His hood was up, and he was kind of hiding his face. He glanced up, saw the camera and exited stage right. There, the second camera picked him up heading back to his “delivery vehicle.” It wasn’t a brown truck, however. It was a car, and it was positioned in a manner that if a home had cameras, they wouldn’t pick up the license plate.

I’m assuming this person scanned obituaries, knew we’d be four hours away, so he was casing the joint, as they say on TV. He walked to the door, intending to pretend he was delivering a package but he must have had the wrong address.

He sure did! He was caught in my trap. He hit the road, I texted the footage to the police. They were on the scene in minutes. He was long gone, but he house was safe and sound.

I used to think the squirrels were just a nuissance around our house, but when my phone vibrates, and I see them at the front door, it’s a relief. I still don’t know who may have it in for my tires, but someday I will.