Silver Lifetime
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You often hear that "quiet neighborhood" bit from shocked neighbors when interviewed by newscasters after some sort of bad incident. It seems like every place must be quiet and nothing ever happens, . . . that is, until it does.
I just discovered my neighborhood is no exception. My wife & I also live in a quiet neighborhood. Twelve years here and nothing has happened. There's even the comfort of having a recently a retired deputy living up the street from our place, and our two nearest neighbors are also firearm owners in a gray man-sort of way. Our own place is tucked away in a patch of woods at the end of a tenth-mile-long gravel lane. Secluded. Wanting to keep it that way, we have a "private drive - no entry" sign near the pavement, and a "no trespassing" sign midway to the house. Quiet. Nothing ever happens here. Until tonight when it did happen here, sort of. Let's just call it an unannounced drill, complete with adrenaline for realism. Here's how it played out:
It was midnight and my wife & I were downstairs watching a TV program when I heard a driveway alert signal from our "early warning" sensor. About 20 seconds later, our "by the house right now" sensor was sounding off. At that point, I was headed up the stairs while pulling at the LCP2 in my sweatpants pocket. No sounds of door kicking or breaking glass yet, and believe me I was listening really, really hard. The DeSantis SuperFly holster released my LCP2 as intended, but the flimsy sweatpants pocket snagged it. I got a mild wedgie from pulling at it, but never mind that now. The ShotLock combo worked like a charm, and with a loaded Maverick 88 in-hand I was already feeling somewhat better. A slight opening beside the window blind let me see that the motion-sensing breezeway lights were on, apparently triggered by the vehicle I could now see reversing in front of the garage. Thankfully, PIR motion alarms focused on the front & side windows and doors remained silent. I heard "by the house" sound off again as the vehicle left the yard, and "early warning" signaled that it kept heading back toward pavement.
I have no firm idea of what that was all about, but midnight and ignoring prominent warning signs make me strongly suspect a prowl. As for the good and the bad take-away from this drill:
Foremost, prior mental rehearsal of actions to take in such circumstances let me get moving without even pondering WTF.
Next, realization that the cost of those two Mighty Mule magnetic driveway alert kits was money well-spent.
Lots of credit to the motion-sensing breezeway lights that probably prompted a quick departure, whatever their plans may have been.
All the fooling around to set up those cheapo Harbor Freight PIR motion alarms was also not wasted; their silence was both significant and reassuring.
No SuperFly-in-sweatpants anymore; there are better ways to keep a gun handy while watching TV.
Feeling around for the little dome light in front of my ShotLock wasted seconds. An always-on LED night light would be better.
The opening beside the window blind served OK tonight, but I think video cameras are in our future.
My wife & I have pre-planned "what to do", but further discussion and actually rehearsing the plan could be beneficial.
Install a telephone in the downstairs bathroom, because that's where she immediately went - urgently - in spite of our pre-planning.
I just discovered my neighborhood is no exception. My wife & I also live in a quiet neighborhood. Twelve years here and nothing has happened. There's even the comfort of having a recently a retired deputy living up the street from our place, and our two nearest neighbors are also firearm owners in a gray man-sort of way. Our own place is tucked away in a patch of woods at the end of a tenth-mile-long gravel lane. Secluded. Wanting to keep it that way, we have a "private drive - no entry" sign near the pavement, and a "no trespassing" sign midway to the house. Quiet. Nothing ever happens here. Until tonight when it did happen here, sort of. Let's just call it an unannounced drill, complete with adrenaline for realism. Here's how it played out:
It was midnight and my wife & I were downstairs watching a TV program when I heard a driveway alert signal from our "early warning" sensor. About 20 seconds later, our "by the house right now" sensor was sounding off. At that point, I was headed up the stairs while pulling at the LCP2 in my sweatpants pocket. No sounds of door kicking or breaking glass yet, and believe me I was listening really, really hard. The DeSantis SuperFly holster released my LCP2 as intended, but the flimsy sweatpants pocket snagged it. I got a mild wedgie from pulling at it, but never mind that now. The ShotLock combo worked like a charm, and with a loaded Maverick 88 in-hand I was already feeling somewhat better. A slight opening beside the window blind let me see that the motion-sensing breezeway lights were on, apparently triggered by the vehicle I could now see reversing in front of the garage. Thankfully, PIR motion alarms focused on the front & side windows and doors remained silent. I heard "by the house" sound off again as the vehicle left the yard, and "early warning" signaled that it kept heading back toward pavement.
I have no firm idea of what that was all about, but midnight and ignoring prominent warning signs make me strongly suspect a prowl. As for the good and the bad take-away from this drill:
Foremost, prior mental rehearsal of actions to take in such circumstances let me get moving without even pondering WTF.
Next, realization that the cost of those two Mighty Mule magnetic driveway alert kits was money well-spent.
Lots of credit to the motion-sensing breezeway lights that probably prompted a quick departure, whatever their plans may have been.
All the fooling around to set up those cheapo Harbor Freight PIR motion alarms was also not wasted; their silence was both significant and reassuring.
No SuperFly-in-sweatpants anymore; there are better ways to keep a gun handy while watching TV.
Feeling around for the little dome light in front of my ShotLock wasted seconds. An always-on LED night light would be better.
The opening beside the window blind served OK tonight, but I think video cameras are in our future.
My wife & I have pre-planned "what to do", but further discussion and actually rehearsing the plan could be beneficial.
Install a telephone in the downstairs bathroom, because that's where she immediately went - urgently - in spite of our pre-planning.