And continuing on …

Returning to crafting tomorrow. I haven’t had a lot of sleep lately. After a week of moving and unpacking and working, trying to sleep in a strange place and then! someone trying to break in …. (good luck sleeping after that). Well, I just am going to say hi, then I’m going to have a nice cocktail, read a few chapters and hopefully sleep a lot. That’s the plan.

Update on my attempted burglary: there are three outside doors on this place, all with three locks, one with a latching screen. One door is blocked and unused.  Two are on the side of the house, accessed via the backyard (we’re the garage apartment in back). At the time this happened, the lights were on, and it was only 8:45 pm.

So the first time I heard the garden gate open, then footsteps on the grass, and then someone trying to open the side screen door (it was latched from the inside). Jeff had just left 5 minutes before and I thought maybe it was him. I was in the next room, but I went in and said, “hello?” and saw the guy with his hand on the door trying to open it (jeans, t-shirt, patterned tan-blue hoodie, one hand in a pocket, hood up). When he saw me he took off running. I never saw his face – too much shadow. The second time I didn’t see anyone, but 15 minutes after the first incident I stood in the room and heard and watched the doorknob rattle and heard the lock scrape on try 2 (that’s the blocked door). When I banged on the door, it went silent and still.

Was it the same guy? I don’t know. Why me? I don’t know. What the hell? I don’t know. Honestly, given the circumstances, it was one or two really stupid people. Who tries to rob a lit, locked house? Who tries to pick a deadbolt?

Anyhoo, since we just moved in we were still fixing the busted motion lights, the busted blinds, etc., and had just fixed the screen door and the latch (whew!).  We do have bars on some windows, and are of course not insensible to other security precautions like being careful and listening. I filed a police report, called my landlord (they’re installing another light and a security system), made sure to come home before dark today, and Jeff has a baseball bat (neither of us is a gun person).

The most popular suggestion today? Get a dog. Honestly, I never realized how insulated we were by her barking all those years, until she was gone. Maybe it’s time.

My favorite suggestion: NRA stickers on the windows.

My idea: a system of motion-sensitive cameras and electrical shocks to anyone who touches a door or window. Not practical or legal, but a truly satisfying thought.

Ah, well. I guess after years of living in major cities with no burglaries, no muggings, etc., it had to eventually happen just when I moved to a safer neighborhood. The irony is not lost.