On 6/29/2017 7:39 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Thu 29 Jun 2017 04:06:51p, jmcquown told us...
>
>> On 6/29/2017 5:57 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> On Thu 29 Jun 2017 02:43:49p, jmcquown told us...
>>>
>>>> On 6/28/2017 6:57 PM, lucretia wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, 28 Jun 2017 17:49:26 -0400, jmcquown
>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 6/28/2017 5:38 PM, lucretia wrote:
>>>>>>> On Wed, 28 Jun 2017 16:49:43 -0400, jmcquown
>>>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 6/28/2017 3:45 PM, lucretia wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On Wed, 28 Jun 2017 13:22:49 -0400, jmcquown
>>>>>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You believe they are so dumb they don't see a pattern?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> All I can say is I was never burglarized when I was away from
>>>>>> home.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jill
>>>>>
>>>>> Aren't you in a gated community or something?
>>>>>
>>>> Yes, I am now. But I lived in my last apartment for 12 years.
>>>> When I went away, either on business or a vacation, I just set
>>>> the timers in different rooms to lamps on and off at the times
>>>> they normally would if I was home.
>>>>
>>>> Jill
>>>>
>>>
>>> You're smarter than most.
>>>
>> Thanks for that, Wayne, but I doubt it. It's just common
>> sense. My car was parked out front, I didn't park at the airport.
>> My parking space was just a few steps from my frong door. The
>> lights in the living room were on at times when I would normally
>> have them on. Ditto the bedroom when I was getting ready to go to
>> bed. Then out for the night.
>> Unless potential burglars were camped outside for days, watching
>> to
>> see if I actually came and went, no one had any idea if I was home
>> or not.
>>
>> I once had a neighbor in the adjoining apartment (the apartments
>> were more like duplexes in a complex). They subscribed to the
>> daily newspaper. The paper carrier tossed them on the grass
>> behind our patio fences. Could have belonged to either of us.
>>
>> She'd let them pile up. She was home alone with her 3 year old
>> all day while her husband was at work.
>>
>> When I asked her to please bring in the newspapers, at first she
>> thought I was just being a mean, cranky neighbor. Uh, no.
>>
>> I said look, if you don't read the paper either cancel the
>> subscription or at least take them inside. I'm at work all day
>> and my apartment is empty. You're at home alone with a *baby*!
>> It looks like you're not home, an invitation for someone to break
>> in. What can I say, she was young. She'd never even thought
>> about it. After that, no more newspapers piled up.
>>
>> We became friends and watched out for each other. One day when I
>> was at work a guy showed up at her door claiming to be my brother.
>> Said he'd knocked on my door and didn't get an answer, could he
>> use her phone? She refused to take the chain off the door and
>> didn't let him inside. GOOD! Because it definitely wasn't my
>> brother.
>>
>> Jill
>>
>
> It's good to have common sense, but it's also really good to be
> intelligent. I've always felt you are both.
>
Thank you again. I don't consider myself to be stupid. But I certainly
was young and naive once. Weren't we all? Still, the newspapers (in
bright orange wrappers!) piling up would certainly indicate to any wanna
be burglar "no one is home".

Kind of like Nancy pointing out (and others have concurred) when people
go out of town they leave the porch light burning. For *months*. Huge
red flag.

Where I live now, there is a couple who live two houses down from me. I
always know when they're here. When they are here a small Japanese
style decorative wooden foot bridge appears in their front yard. When
they leave, it goes into the garage. Everyone on the street knows when
they're here and when they aren't.

At any rate, the timers for lamps worked when I was gone for any length
of time. I was never burgled. I do believe the neighbor cancelled
their newspaper subscription after I pointed out what to me (older) was
fairly obvious. It was also pretty obvious no one was reading them. LOL

Jill