Posted on 06/06/2011 9:21:51 AM PDT by B4Ranch
I just received a call from a friend who arrived home after a three week vacation to find his entire house cleaned out. That's right everything was gone.
Somebody pulled up with a moving van and the thieves cleaned his house out in one day. Just like a professional mover would do. They took everything down to the garden hoses.
While he was driving home he got a call from the local police who said, "We have found some of your belongings".
He replied, "What are you talking about?." When the cop explained what had been found it didn't make any sense at all.
Here he was in Oregon driving home to the Bay Area and gets a phone call telling him and his wife that all of their belongings are gone. I can't imagine that happening to me. My wife would flip out for sure.
Yep, and don’t post your vacation plans on Farcebook! 8^)
Brazen, daylight robbery using a moving truck as a cover and cleaning out the whole house, rather than a quick breaking and entering and going after only the valuables.
Did he check that he hadn’t lost a kidney?
Better to have a neighbor pick them up - or a teenager who does babysitting to pick up the stuff for a price...
When I was growing up in Queens, someone came in and cleaned out the next door neighbors house one night when they were on vacation. We never heard a thing. We found a window fan in our yard, just over the fence, apparently left there by the thieves. (It was a low fence and they could have reached around a truck in the driveway to temporarily place it down. We should have had the cops dust it for prints, but it didn’t occur to me.)
One little helpful hint that we do is we ask a trustworthy neighbor to park their additional car in our driveway. We have some late teens next door (very trustworthy, good kids) and we actually throw a few bucks there way for the inconvenience. Bless their hearts... last time we went away, we came home to find all the outdoor flowers even watered. We either take the dogs or board them so I leave a HUGE bowl in the backyard. By HUGE, I mean that someone would assume that I was watering a wolf pack. Thus far, these two tips have worked for us and I hope it works for some FR’s as well.
It has occured to me often - usually after a bottle of champaign - that we are actually possessed by our posessions.
To be sure, there are some possessions that we truly love...but....much of our "stuff" is the "white noise" of life.....or "boat anchor" if you prefer....IMHO
I read about somebody who ended up in a small fender bender. The person who caused the accident gave him some tickets to the ballet.
While he, and his wife attended the show, they got cleaned out.
We have an alarm system that calls the police plus if we are gone overnight my wife’s son stays in the house. He is a veteran of the Afghanistan War and well armed.
Then, when everybody is at the funeral, they go to the home of the deceased and steal all the leftover pain meds, and other items.
Those are rally low life bath-turds that don’t deserve to breath air.
Ha! Love the big dog bowl idea.
This is common and usually an inside job. Mail and newspaper deliverers are not always scrupulous and get $$ from passing along who has canceled such services for their vacations. Don’t cancel your deliveries ever. Have someone pick up your mail and papers (yes, some people still get papers).
You need to thoroughly trust your gardeners and maids. Have them still arrive as usual, if you trust them, while you are gone. Consider even giving them presents or bonuses when you get back from trips. Encourage them NOT to be motivated to tell their cousin Jose that your home will be empty for a week. Help them feel part of the household, so they wouldn’t be part of robbing you. ( give them food or drinks, talk to them, befriend them the rest of the year. Appreciate them.) If you are on poor or distant footing with them, you’d better have a house sitter in your home while you are gone!
A trusted teenager from church (or if girls, two of them) would LOVE to GET OUT OF THEIR HOMES and be “boss” for a while.
Make sure the parents are the type to check on them frequently.
I have a mail slot in my garage door. For anything larger, my mailman has it held at the local post office till I get back.
By the way, I don’t tell my neighbors if I’m going away. I live in a rough neighborhood. They might be the ones who would break in. Only my brother and a few trusted friends know when I’m away.
“Make sure your mail delivery is stopped. If you get newspapers delivered stop them too (actually just cancel them, what are you crazy?)”
You’re dead wrong there. That’s the worst thing you can do. See my previous post.
We found some at a Dollar General (thin, stainless steel type of bowls). The kids wrote “KILLER” on one and “BIG BOY” on the other. Since the backyard is already littered with real dog toys, it fits.
That sounds somewhat like a liberal, class-warfare comment.
Ha ha!
I bet a good 15” rawhide bone would give them pause too.
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