Firewood theft :(

[Erin]

This year for mother's day, if we get my mom another pot of nice flowers again, I was thinking about building a custom holder for it made out of those spikey things that people put on their roofs and windowsills to keep birds from nesting there. (I wonder if that would work for the potted garden I want to try again this year...last year the squirrels were just evil with our hanging tomato plants)

It could be functional and decorative! (I could also get an early start on Halloween decorating that way)

I also thought about slathering petroleum jelly on the sides of the flower pot once we get it put where we want it to stay.

I'm hoping to install video cameras on our back patio and our front patio this year. Hopefully they wont get stolen. (I want little ones that I can mount high up where they wont be noticed, but with good quality video capture...maybe some night vision)

I'd love to know if it's a neighbor who's doing the stealing, or if it's someone from further down the street in our neighborhood, or if it's the homeless people that camp in the field that's behind our house. My bet is that it's the neighbors.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm hoping to install video cameras on our back patio and our front patio this year. Hopefully they wont get stolen. (I want little ones that I can mount high up where they wont be noticed, but with good quality video capture...maybe some night vision)

I'd love to know if it's a neighbor who's doing the stealing, or if it's someone from further down the street in our neighborhood, or if it's the homeless people that camp in the field that's behind our house. My bet is that it's the neighbors.

Make the cameras nice and obvious. And install one of those really obnoxiously bright motion sensing lights that you can turn on when you go to bed. Just make sure it doesn't shine into your house.

A couple of times being outlined by that thing, with obvious video evidence ought to get the perpetrators to knock it off. And if it doesn't, you've got some really nice video evidence of their thieving.

^-.-^

[dendawg]

Make the cameras nice and obvious.

Actually, if you can, install a hidden camera, followed by a dummy camera in a sticks-out like a sore thumb location. That'll give the vandalizer something to destroy, and still provide evidence.

[PepperElf]

It depends on where you live. Where I live, people routinely put things on the curb well before trash day, knowing people will take them.

that's what i was thinking. i thought trash wasn't protected and could be taken - which is why evidence taken from trash is admissible in court.

and one of my friends use to know the dump days for the ritzy parts in VA beach. cos a lot of the people in those areas would buy new furniture and then put the old out to the curb for trash etc.

[Canarr]

In Germany, the so-called "Sperrmüll" (which means bigger trash, like old furniture, appliances, etc.) actually becomes the property of the waste disposal company. As soon as it's put to the curb, it's legally theirs - taking anything away from it is stealing, but not from the homeowner who put it out, but from the company about to collect it.

Apparently, the resale value of this kind of trash is part of the companies' calculation when offering their services to the community. Thus, if too much of that (especially the more valuable articles, like electronics) is taken away before collection, they lose money on their work. Kind of like tips are included in a server's taxable income in the US, I guess.

[underemployeed]

This thread inspired me to be productive on my day off because we have had nice weather lately, and the ground has dried out enough to get my truck to the woods and my friend kinda owes me. We went out cut up some fallen trees, my neighbors manged to make it out to watch what I was doing. I took a video on my phone of all the wood I left out there, It was full of carpenter ants or covered in fungus, but somehow I think It won't be there in a few days. At least the good stuff in bed of my truck.

Gotta repair fence too because someone keeps jumping it, you think if they going to trespass they would just walk to the part where there is no fence(50ft farther?), but I guess when we finish running barbed wire even an idjit couldn't mistake the message of why the fence is there.

Guesstimation puts the wood 500yards ( or meters really) from the road. 40 ft from fence/property line. Oddly same distance our other neighbor had old farm equipment and scrap metal that someone snuck in and stole with an ATV.

[Magpie]

Sigh. Some people seem to live by the modernized rules of property:
1. If it's not nailed down, it's mine;
2. If it can be pried up, it's not nailed down.

Ok, see, when the Nac mac Feegle do it it's cute (I still want one as a pet). When anyone else does it, they're a complete jerk.

[Andara Bledin]

Ok, see, when the Nac mac Feegle do it it's cute (I still want one as a pet). When anyone else does it, they're a complete jerk.

You sure about the pet thing? They're not exactly... um... easily domesticated.

^-.-^

[Magpie]

I plan on pointing out shiny things to keep it happy.

[Erin]

Remember the problem I had with the rocks and flowers getting stolen?

Someone tried again last night.

There were a bunch of kids screwing around last night. Ringing doorbells and stuff. I went outside to see what was going on after they rang our doorbell. Saw several of the kids run off across the street to go behind my aunt's house.

Back in my yard, there's a kid in my next door neighbor's yard trying to tell me that he was chasing these kids and that they'd vandalized his parents house...and that he chased them from there. Told me he lived at an address that's about a half mile or more away. (yeah, sure you ran down here from a half mile or more, wearing just jeans and a t-shirt in the 38 degree weather) I told him I didnt believe him, and that he should go home and do his homework or something.

Then I saw another kid coming out of the backyard of another neighbor (how many freaking kids were out there!?)

I did call the cops because I could hear them smashing stuff down the street. (called my aunt and told her to turn her outside lights on to scare them off)

Sheriff's deputies showed up within a minute or two (wow...that was fast! it takes the city FD about 10 minutes to get to our neighborhood...for a fire!)

Deputies drive around a bit...went over to tell a neighbor to close their garage door because that's how you get murdered in this neighborhood if you leave the door open.

This morning, I went outside to see if the kids had vandalized any of our stuff. Several of our large rocks, the kind that you have to move with a dolly and several large guys, were in the middle of the yard. (not where they're supposed to go, think they rolled them there) Another neighbor's bench was in the sidewalk about two houses from where it's supposed to be. (didnt see this last night)

Some of our river rock seems to be missing. (it's either in the creek behind our house, or in the runoff pond behind my aunt's house now or in these kid's parents yards)

I'm hoping the kids fell in the pond/creek while screwing around and got wet and had to walk home in the 38 degree weather like that...and that their hopefully wet pants chafed a lot! I dont know if the deputies ever caught them or not. Hopefully they did and that they had to drag their parents to the Sheriff's office to pick them up.

Why cant people leave our things alone?? It was a school night...dont they have to study for tests? Plan their day of playing hooky? Write up their list of underclassmen to harass?

[greek_jester]

Ok, see, when the Nac mac Feegle do it it's cute (I still want one as a pet). When anyone else does it, they're a complete jerk.

They don't work very well as pets. The amount you have to spend on whiskey to keep them quiet & happy, then hangover remedies for when the whiskey runs out, is prohibitive. That's why they come so cheap - the upkeep's a crippling. I'd look elsewhere. How about a nice werewolf instead? At least they're only a problem once a month.

[dalesys]

... How about a nice werewolf instead? At least they're only a problem once a month.

Just be very very careful they're not in the barber's chair at full moon rising!
(ref:Cosby)

[Pagan]

It depends on where you live. Where I live, people routinely put things on the curb well before trash day, knowing people will take them.

That reminds me of a recent episode of "How I Met Your Mother". The put something out they wanted to get rid of and by the time they got back up to that apartment, it was gone.

Ok, see, when the Nac mac Feegle do it it's cute (I still want one as a pet). When anyone else does it, they're a complete jerk.

I wonder if this is where they got the idea for the Cornish pixies in "Chamber of Secrets"?

How about a nice werewolf instead? At least they're only a problem once a month.

As long as they've got a body like Taylor Lautner the rest of the time. (Thank goodness the boy is legal. I don't feel so much like a dirty old woman now. )

[Ironclad Alibi]

That reminds me of a recent episode of "How I Met Your Mother". The put something out they wanted to get rid of and by the time they got back up to that apartment, it was gone.

Occasionally I will put a piece of old furniture out on the curb. I will bet my wife that it will be gone by a certain time.

One day I put an old office chair out on the curb. Ten minutes later it was gone. The kid across the street claimed it, and his father was able to weld the broken piece for him.

Another time I put an old LazyBoy rocker on the curb. I saw a car stop to pick it up, but they were having trouble getting it into their car. So I went out and showed them how to put to take it apart.

Yet another time I put some cast iron lawn furniture out on the curb. Almost immediately a woman stopped and asked me to set it aside for her until she could get a car that would hold it.

The funniest one was when I put an old record player cabinet out on the curb. Now this cabinet dated from the 30s, had water damage, had the guts stripped out, and was painted a pale blue. Shortly after I put it out, a VW bug stopped. A man jumped out and stood guard while the car left. A few minutes later a station wagon arrived, they loaded the cabinet and departed.

[mattm04]

A relative had a stone retaining wall holding back their yard as their house was build on a hill. Thy actually had people steal rocks from a retaining wall. At one point a part of the wall near the driveway collapsed when someone tired to yank a big rock out whit a tow strap and their truck.

The Police eventually caught that person ans they had their name on the tow strap, which they left behind when the wall partially collapsed.