In my early years, my parents had a cabin at the Odd Fellows Recreation Club on the Russian River in the California Redwoods. Describing it as a cabin is almost a misnomer; it was, as my mother kindly put it, camping under a roof. Mama also made it clear that other peoples’ “cabins” were more similar to their San Fransisco and Marin homes.
The security system for our cabin while we were in the park was to shut the door and hook & eye lock the screen door. On particularly warm evenings, the screen would be “locked” to keep the pets in and not tempted to take themselves for walks. Nothing was ever missing and we felt quite safe. When we were not in residence, the other 9 months of the year, the door—with a huge pane lass window—was locked with a skeleton key and the screen hooked shut. The porch was left open with everything in full view and only the gate shut. Only once in over 30 years was anything missing and that was alcoholic beverages.
I am guessing that Smitty was correct. For all of those years the simple locking system kept things in the same place they were left. Once in 30 years was not a bad record.
An article I read on a blog today brought the article title in focus. It said to never put your valuables in the overhead bin on a plane; I would have thought they would be relatively secure but evidently on long haul flights things have been missing lately. I guess we cannot screen our flights for only honest people even with our locked, overhead luggage. Now we need to take security a leaps forward as we continue on the theme.
Locally we read about break-ins, robberies, and numerous kinds of thefts. The simple hook and eye lock does not work as a deterrent for today’s individuals with the intent of making what is your theirs. This brings me to the REAL topic of today. What do you do when you are going to be away from your abode to secure your possessions? This can be for the quick trip to the store, a day at work, or an extended holiday. What will you do?
As for the optimistic tourists, we do take many precautions before leaving our house at any time and particularly when traveling. Daily routine is to lock doors; this is not just when retiring or going out, but also lock doors after picking up the morning paper, watering plants, and any other quick trip out doors. Make sure all front and side doors are locked when working in the back yard. Entering the house and finding someone entered through an unlocked entry would be quite unpleasant.
If you do not have an alarm system, get one! Though the police may not come promptly, if the do come, the noise is a deterrent for the would be thief. The alarm is also a reminder to you if any doors or windows are left unsecured as you are leaving. It has certainly made me more aware of making sure the lock catches. Police departments do charge for false alarms which is an incentive to make sure your alarm and system are in working order.
Who is going to watch over your home while you are away besides the person monitoring your alarm? Did you get security cameras installed? Are you going to have someone stay at your house? Will that house sitter care for the plants, pets, mail, and papers on the front porch?
Are your neighbors aware you are leaving? Have you shared contact numbers with your neighbors, closest relative and/or responsible party? Is your pool maintenance person coming by on a regular schedule and checking that everything is “in place?” The gardener has a regular schedule and can be called in an emergency to help out? Someone watering your house plants? Have you stopped the newspaper and have someone to check for flyers left in the drive? Redundancy in doing all of these tasks is not a bad idea.
I am grateful for all of the friends and relatives who watch over our home while we are gone and care for our “baby” so she believes she, too, is on vacation at the spa. It takes planning to have a successful trip and knowing your home is in good hands while you are away makes the trip that much more enjoyable.
Bon Voyage!
No comments:
Post a Comment