A penny for your thoughts...
 

I live in a rural area, houses not really close together, that gets some strange visitors. Drunks banging on the front doors in middle of the night; cars smashing into a culvert and barrel-rolling down the street, taking out three mailboxes, part of a fence, and a 'Curve Ahead' sign; a young lady running into the drainage ditch and taking out a tree on the way; bikers running out of gas and looking for help or gas (at 3:30am); etc. :rolleyes:

Today, I opened my front door to find a nice shiny dime on my front step. I immediately suspected hobos or Jehovah's Witnesses, but Googled the scenario to see if it was worse. :thumbup:

And Google mentioned (along with good luck wishes) that it was an old thieves trick to determine if anyone was in residence, or on vacation, or away from home. :eek:

So I called the Sheriff and a deputy came out and we talked. No other reports of suspicious activity.

So...Has anyone else had an occurrence like this that resulted in theft or vandalism or whatever???

Yes, I'm paranoid. But am I paranoid enough?... :p

Set up a couple of trail cameras where they won't be noticed. You will at least see who's "stopping by".

Good advice from gunbugs. I think you should take the dime, replace it with a quarter, and see if it disappears.

If so, that would enhance MY paranoia.
-Bob

Good suggestions above. If you do not already have one, I would add a few motion-detector operated spotlights.

KFS

Replace the dime with a used shotgun shell.

Superglue the dime in place

A bit of paranoia is a good thing to have in this World today....especially if you live alone as some of us do.

Interesting idea, the trail cams. My nephew uses them, he's a hunter, I'll get his advice.

Someone may have already been inside my house. I've noticed a few odd things; cabinets I never use not closed fully, things I use not put quite where I would leave them. Nothing missing I can think of, but I might not notice.

Or I may just be imagining things. Old people get that way, I'm told. :rolleyes:

Thanks to all who replied! :thumbup:

Lol! Beat me to it!:thumbup:

As the old saying goes,"Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." Be aware of your surroundings, always.

While it doesn't apply to my environment, I was made aware of this trick a few years ago. If you park in your attached garage with an electric door opener. A thief will prop a 12" piece of 2X4 against the door on either side. When you open it to pull out, the 2X4 falls flat. Then when you close the door, it senses the obstruction and re-opens.

If you drive off and don't wait to actually see the door stay closed for good, the thief enters, removes the 2X4 and gains access to the house after closing the door for privacy. They can leave the same way, and not leave any trace of how they actually gained entrance.:(

Would be interested in the follow-up to this thread. Did you determine who was stopping by?

Sorry, it's too late now. Our buddy Rich Brennon has passed. :(

Oh my. I didn't know. RIP Rich.

Jonathan,
Rich was an accomplished machinist and tackled any number of interesting projects, Luger and otherwise. Throw his handle into a search here for some of the threads he started about such things, and you will be entertained--if not enlightened!

I almost got to meet him in person at the Rochester gun show a few years back, but he didn't make it. I passed on my OFM stainless Luger to him a while ago. I'd made some repairs and improvements to it, and he took up that torch by sending the upper back to me so I could weld a little extra onto the front of its takedown stop/lug, and after he cleaned it up, the front of the barrel extension was flush with the front of the frame.

There's the old-school spy trick of putting a small bit of paper or a splinter of a matchstick in a doorframe as you close it, but not where it is obviously visible. When the person snooping opens the door, the object falls. Properly placed by you, they don't see it fall. When you go to check, if the whatever is on the floor, someone went through that door.

Too bad to hear of his passing.