Weird things have been happening here lately...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

First, on Tuesday I went outside to feed the feral adoptive wannabe, and a fairly young guy came walking out from the side of my house. I just kind of assumed he was the meter reader, said hi, and he walked across the street to my neighbor's house. Then he walked back over to my side of the street...my neighbor was in his driveway watching the guy, so I began to think something was not right. Then I heard leaves rustling in my side yard, and at least six young adults walked through my driveway on their way from my backyard. My jaw dropped, I was dumbfounded, and I said, "EXCUSE ME???!!!" and one of the girls said "Oh sorry ma'am...sorry." The group all piled into an SUV parked at the corner of the street. I couldn't make out the tag number, and really couldn't remember much about the kids except that they appeared to be Latino, and some of them had backpacks, as if they were skipping school and using my backyard as party central. I opted not to call the police, since I couldn't really tell them much, and I really doubt they were doing anything except skipping school...something I was occasionally known to have done in my youth, though never in some stranger's freaking backyard.

Then today we had another odd incident. We had Thanksgiving, the Sequel here at my house, and my mom, my older son, and his girlfriend came over. It was warm in the house, so I decided to put the wine I'd bought for dinner on the front porch to cool. After a while I noticed Mr GoG was at the front door talking to some guy. I heard him say "No" three times, then he watched as the guy walked up the street. I asked who was at the door, and he said the guy didn't knock or anything, he just happened to walk by the front door and noticed the dude hanging out on the front porch. When he opened the door, the guy asked if he spoke Spanish; and when my husband replied "No" he asked if the neighbors spoke Spanish. Then he left and walked up the street. We're thinking he saw the bottles of wine and figured he could relieve us of them.

Anyway, having had the incident earlier in the week, and now this, I find myself wary of any little noise I hear. Creepy. :(

[RagAss]

1. Werewolves of London, again.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. I hope they aren't werewolves...

I've heard they're worse than vampires.

[Pierre.Suave]

2. I think at this point

I WOULD call the Police, just to let them know about the two incidents.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. I may do that...

The guy today really creeped me out.

[astral]

5. things that make you go 'hmmmmm' . . . .

Some people with nothing to do and no place to go but hang out on the private property of perfect strangers? I'd be majorly creeped out.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. I was thinking that if the kids showed up again,

I'd give them chores to do. could use the help around here, and they could use something to occupy their time.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

6. That is creepy.

You should ask your neighbors if they've been noticing weird stuff too or at least let them know what you've noticed.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. When the kids came out of my yard, my neighbor was watching...

Fortunately, this isn't the kind of neighborhood that is vacant for the better part of the day.

[Kali]

7. This happens ALL the time around here, but I am less than 50 miles from the border.

Mexicans in the back yard, back packs, lots of people in one vehicle, more people the next day. Tomorrow the Border Patrol will come around asking questions.

Oh you are back east? Sure sounds like a typical cat and mouse exercise around here.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. It could have been, but I think it's most likely that they were skipping school.

Though they may be using the same tactics to avoid the truant officers that their parents and grandparents used to avoid INS.

[davsand]

8. Can you borrow a dog for a few days? Hopefully a big one?

Dunno if it is anything more than just folks passing thru, but you might like to know if anybody is out there in the yard messing around. A barking dog would certainly warn you if there was.

A large barking dog inside the house might actually be loud enough to dissuade anyone from hanging around and would most certainly make them reconsider any Breaking and Entering they had on the agenda.

I would call the police now, but seriously, do consider an interior dog for a warning system.



Laura

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. We have a border collie mix...

I was surprised he didn't bark, especially when the guy was on our porch. He's getting up there in years, but he usually lets us know if a strange dog is walking up the street. I hope he isn't losing his hearing.

[davsand]

13. That makes me think it is a transitory thing.

This is HIS yard and you are his pack and if there was much going on he'd sure be letting you know about it. Has he been out in that yard smelling around a bunch? I'd think that the added smells would be making him nuts!

Keep the doors locked and stay on top of what's going on. I would suggest, however, that if you are gonna be gone you might want to have a house sitter come in just to keep the house occupied. My first thought when I read your OP was that you were getting checked out s robbery or something.


On a personal note, one of my friends has a border collie that has seizures. Buddy (the dog) gets a daily does of phenobarbital to ward off the seizures and he's fine. As a side effect, Buddy is probably one of the most MELLOW dogs I have ever known. (Hell with THAT much barbiturate in my system every day I'd be pretty mellow too...)

He rarely barks. I swear, except for thunder or gunfire Buddy is like a rock--and even when it storms or there is gunfire he just kinda cowers and whines while he leans on you. HOWEVER(!) Buddy will bark if anybody is messing around the back of the house. He doesn't care what you do out front of that house, but if you are in that backyard or anywhere near the garage he will start barking. We have a theory that it is because our kids used to play back there with him.


Laura

[Jamastiene]

14. It might be time to talk to our resident pit bull loving vegan

about rescuing a pit bull. It'll give a dog a much needed good home and at the same it might make any would-be-up-to-no-good types think twice before trying anything.

Just walk the dog in the yard all around the perimeter of the yard making sure the dog gets the message, "This is our pack's territory. All of this is ours." After that, spend a day encouraging the dog to look out the window closest to where the trespassers might be hanging out.

You could make it a hobby for the dog to look out the window. My recently departed precious Domino(bad ass sassy cat) used to look out the window with my schnauzer(RIP too) years ago. It was the coolest looking sight from outside the window. He would be on his hind legs and she would be under him in between his front paws on her hind legs.

They would both look out the window that way as a hobby. If the trash collection people walked by, they were fine, but if anyone else set foot into our "territory" they would both growl and River would go nuts while Domino would walk along sideways (it was a wide window) trying to "follow" the intruder. It was so cute the way they protected the house. I miss them both so much.

Even if you don't get a nice but scary looking dog for protection, thanks for helping me remember how much safer I felt with a barking high strung dog and a ferocious guard cat in my family. Damn cancer took the best, smartest, guard cat I ever had, but it sure is nice to remember her. I have decided to make a new file type in her memory. It will be called a .domino file to be opened by my spell book/diary/recipe program I am still working on right now.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. My poor old dog wouldn't know what to do with another pup around here...

But thanks for the thought! :hug::beer::hug:
A gift for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uizPSySXVHE

[Jamastiene]

16. Thank you. That was beautiful.

:hug: