Guess country life isn't safe either...

[Malamute]

I agree with Owen.

Many places are safer simply because of location. That doesn't mean completely safe, it's all a matter of odds, but compared to a place thats heavily populated, a very rural place is safer, especially when neighbors know each other. In my case, I'm in a very sparsely populated state, a full tank of gas away from anything that truly qualifies as a "city", 30-some miles from a town, several miles and several turns off a lonely two lane hwy, with plenty of other choices before anyone got near my place. That it looks like I dont have much probably helps (can you say "hillbilly heaven?"). I have several neighbors that live close enough to see if anyone comes around, and several are retired. Many semi-local people that drive by on the hwy dont even realize anyone lives in the area.

When travelling, I tend to stop in rural places for the night for the same reason, and prefer to travel in winter when I have a choice, feeling that most crooks arent going to be as active in the cold. That its easier to get rooms is a bonus, and any activity in the parking lot is easier to keep tabs on. I dont have any trouble getting rooms that I can park right outside my window, one or two rooms from the door. I always go to the same places, and request the same rooms when I call. I travel with dogs and am also getting rooms in places that have good dog walking areas right outside the door, so it works well in several ways.

 

[bowserb]

We live in an increasingly troubling world. The portion of the population that is supported by the rest, is growing, and the more we "give" to them, the more they feel entitled to that and more. Consequently, if you have something they want, they believe they are entitled to take it. Our Share the Wealth president has not helped the situation, which is only going to get worse. It will not get better in any of our lifetimes, so we need to be prepared.

A couple of observations.

* Criminals all have cars, so small towns and rural areas within 50 miles or so of a city are readily accessible to burglars, robbers, invaders, including those who have no reluctance to stepping up a robbery to a shooting. Indeed, they see those areas as easy pickings. My friend in a nearby county lives on property in the country. She has been burglarized three times in the last year. 60 miles from Houston. Remember the

* Children outside the major metro areas are no longer shielded from the city. The Internet, satellite TV, cell phones...we're all just one big, dirty city now.

* Even the city can be safer. After several burglaries in our neighborhood (950 homes), I started an email list, initially with 12 people, and now two years later over 70 people plus the principals of the nearby schools. We pass on anything we hear or see, including local crimes or suspicious cruising autos (It's a rule for our list the political correctness will not be observed...if you see an old Toyota Corolla with four young black men driving slowly down the street, it's OK to tell everyone, then call the Constable!)

In addition, we have a sub-list of just our immediate street, where we tell one another that we're going to be away and which we use--along with the phone, of course--to inquire when we see an unexpected car or truck parked on the street. Our Constable picked up a sleeping high school class cutter one day that way. We also used our little list to mobilize neighbors and their kids for a search, when we found the indoor dog of an elderly neighbor, and he didn't answer his door.

Be safe.
Bill

 

[Stress_Test]

If you have the money (and an understanding spouse/family) you can harden a home pretty well. Steel door in a steel frame well secured in the wall. You can get polycarbonate windows (aka lexan) that are impact resistant. Key word resistant. If the bad guy(s) bang the lexan enough with a hammer or crowbar it'll still break, but you should have enough time at that point to be ready to great them with gunfire.

This stuff's expensive though. But if you've got family at home with you it'd be worth it.

Take a look here for examples:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-plastic-sheets/=jtgz9i

Make sure you don't mix up polycarbonate and acrylic (acrylic is aka plexiglas). Found this out the hard way at work; plexiglas is NOT impact resistant!

 

[Killian]

Rural living can be problematic at times. Being far away from central distribution points hasn't really been tested by truly disruptive events as of yet. I'm sure that bigger cities would get amenities like gasoline and electricity faster than rural areas would, if push came to shove. More votes to win by helping a big city too. Still though, I'd prefer to be in a more rural area even if it means we'd be cut off faster than more populated areas.

 

[barnbwt]

They drove clear out to the country to do this.

Question 1: Who blabbed

and

Question 2: Who's the last guy to gun Maps directions off Google to that random farmhouse . Ten bucks says they didn't know the way off-hand (if they did that narrows it even more)

At any rate, thank goodness the goons got what they were looking for and left quietly, as opposed to waking up the household. Hopefully those guns won't get used before they're recovered, either.

TCB

Rural living can be problematic at times. Being far away from central distribution points hasn't really been tested by truly disruptive events as of yet. I'm sure that bigger cities would get amenities like gasoline and electricity faster than rural areas would, if push came to shove. More votes to win by helping a big city too. Still though, I'd prefer to be in a more rural area even if it means we'd be cut off faster than more populated areas.

"A country boy can survive" as the song goes, I guess. That said, a family member who lived just outside of Memphis said brazen break-ins were common due to the 45 minute police response times (20mi away from city center). That's probably worse than the crummiest inner-city 'hood. There's a reason wealthy/valuable homes in poor, rural countries tend to be hardened (or guarded). You truly are on your own out there.

 

[Halal Pork]

This makes me think of the events recounted in the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Thankfully the results in this case weren't as bad.

 

[bowserb]

Halal Pork said, "This makes me think of the events recounted in the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Thankfully the results in this case weren't as bad."

Whenever I get the urge to buy that 15 acres and move to the farm, I think about that book. Then I go buy another box of 5.56mm. Truman Capote destroyed the dreams of a generation with In Cold Blood. Why couldn't he just have quit after Breakfast at Tiffany's?

 

[Malamute]

I never read the book, but always assume I'm probably on my own if something happened, at least in the immediate sense, even if one could get a call out (and cells dont always work where I am).

Theres a couple old sayings that come to mind regarding life out of town, particularly very out of town. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and take what comes". The other one was the Marine officer's saying that's on a few sig lines here and there. You know, the one about being polite and having a plan. Most everyone out here is friendly though.

You can count on most neighbors, and even strangers to give a hand in a pinch, which I like. Strangers often get polite, curious neighborly questions asked of them. At the very least, folks like to meet the new people. No need for a welcome wagon, many of the neighbors will simply stop by when they see a new person move in.

 

[P5 Guy]

Florida tourist shooting

Way back when, there was a couple from England shot at a rest stop off I-10. the male died and the female was wounded.
Those that committed this crime were sent to live with relatives in the "country" to get straightened out. I know that there are no parts of Florida that are as remote as the area discussed above, but where do the relatives of your couple of miles away neighbors live and how good are they?

 

[Zoogster]

stress test said:

You can get polycarbonate windows (aka lexan) that are impact resistant. Key word resistant. If the bad guy(s) bang the lexan enough with a hammer or crowbar it'll still break, but you should have enough time at that point to be ready to great them with gunfire.

Things are also a balance. I recall home fires in some bad inner city areas where everyone had bars on their windows. People would burn alive because quickly exiting through the window while choking on smoke, and half blinded with stinging eyes was hard to do.
Even those with a way to open or requiring a key typically couldn't be opened when seconds counted.

It is kinda like 'bullet proof' vehicle windows. Great if you have a high risk of being shot at, deadly if you are more likely to get in an accident and then are trapped in a vehicle on fire, in even a foot of water upside down (if you roll doors typically won't open anymore) or your head impacts the glass that instead of giving cracks your skull like a wall. Clearly for the typical person a car accident is far more likely than being shot, so bullet resistant windows pose more danger than the risk they mitigate.

 

[allaroundhunter]

"Irish Wolfhound " I call BS - that thing is a freakin' horse, and should be kept in the barn!!

If not a horse, then it's the abominable snowman....that "dog" is huge!

 

[Rexster]

A very prominent doctor, who lived a block east of us, in Bellaire, Texas, was killled by armed intruders on his rural ranch outside of Bellville, Texas, a normally very peaceful place.. (Bellaire is a small city that once was outside Houston, but is now surrounded by the sprawling amoeba of a growing Houston.) The doc was set up by his ranch hand! One of the shooters was a cousin of the ranch hand.

The doc did have a firearm, but died defending his family. Luckily, his defense succeeded, as his wife and baby were physically unharmed.

Rest in peace, Doc.

 

[Gun Geezer]

Not far from hear in East Texas, an 80+ year old man and wife were murdered in their house. Beaten to death if I recall. They were well off the beaten path. Remote to say the least.

Apparently nothing stolen. No motive. Nothing. Rangers think it was a "thrill" killing. Perhaps a gang initiation. That was 3-years ago.

Nobody is safe anywhere at any time.

Stay ready.

 

[tarosean]

Rural living can be problematic at times. Being far away from central distribution points hasn't really been tested by truly disruptive events as of yet. I'm sure that bigger cities would get amenities like gasoline and electricity faster than rural areas would, if push came to shove.

Youve got two sides to that coin.. There is less stuff to "fix" in smaller towns, however less resources to fix it... Last Hurricane to pass by, I regained power a 1-2wks before my co-workers in the Houston area and Ive had the opposite they were fine and I was without.

Course I wasnt worried about looters and violence as all the neighbors banded together to cook and provide what some were lacking.

 

[Malamute]

All of these tragic sad stories do not in any way shape or form influence me to want to live in or near any town.

To me, the imagined or potential risks of living out of town are far outweighed by the benefits.

Living in or near a town by no means guarantees that nothing bad will happen, or that anyone would help in any way if it did.

 

[Apachedriver]

Things are also a balance.

I agree with Zoogster.

In any situation we can think up, a Probability vs Possibility assessment comes first as it applies to our individual situation. Only then can effective and realistic controls be developed and implemented.

The other thing is to realize there'll always be a weak point in our control/defense measures. (Heck, even a US President doesn't have 100% assurance of his personal safety.)

Country life or city life, any good security/defense/alert plan needs improvement/changes over time. Sure, some changes are more permanent than others but avoiding complacency goes along way towards enjoying a safer chosen way of life.

Oh, and people need to understand that safety isn't a 100% absence of danger/risk but instead a state of being in which mitigated dangers/risks exist.

 

[Apachedriver]

Zoogster

Dogs also don't shoot,...rather than actually adding physical protection.

Your security plan is obviously lacking. lol

 

[checkmyswag]

The safety of country living is a real illusion. I knew a woman...her house got robbed shortly after her husband died. This was also in IL.

Really easy to "case" a place out in the country and many neighbors out there anymore are just renters that don't really know anyone.

 

[bowserb]

Youve got two sides to that coin.. There is less stuff to "fix" in smaller towns, however less resources to fix it... Last Hurricane to pass by, I regained power a 1-2wks before my co-workers in the Houston area and Ive had the opposite they were fine and I was without.

Course I wasnt worried about looters and violence as all the neighbors banded together to cook and provide what some were lacking.

There are no absolutes. Every place in the country is different, as is every small town; same in the city. After the referenced hurricane, my daughter, who lived about a mile from me, lost power for about an hour. We lost it for four days. Other parts of Houston were out as much as two weeks. I seem to recall from the news that some rural areas in southeast Texas were out a month or more. Luck of the draw.

My neighbor across the street has a whole-house natural gas generator. He told all the neighbors to bring over their phones, ipods, and other things in need of recharging to his house. He also rolled out his gas grill and emptied his freezer, while inviting anyone to bring their stuff and cook it before it went bad. Most of us had electric ranges at the time, so that was a help for those without at least a charcoal grill. Luckily, we never lost water.

This thread has been helpful to me. In spite of In Cold Blood, I've been watching the farm and ranch real estate listings for a while. I can imagine a situation where a subsistence farm might be nice to have, if/when things go to hell. Of course, it will then be important to be able to defend those crops from the third of the population who has never taken care of itself. Then, the AR, shotgun (don't have one yet), pistols, and in the worst case, the bayonet (yes, Mr. President, the military does still have bayonets--one for every rifle) may be necessary.

I have this idea. Four like-thinking families. Four farms with houses where the four meet, within 50-75 yards of each other. Shared, single access road. Video and live surveillance, coordinated travel schedules so that at least two are on site all the time. All with sufficient but inconspicuous armaments. Probably a dumb idea, but I have one other party interested, if she can convince her former FBI husband... It's an old idea, I know, but maybe one whose time has returned.

 

[allaroundhunter]

Dogs also don't shoot

I dont know about yours, but my dog's gun is always loaded....

Sent from my HTC One X

 

[Jaxondog]

A couple Chihuahuas and a Jack Russell Terrier and you have about as good as it get's for a home alarm.

 

[bowserb]

Some suggestions from our Harris County Sheriff.

Timers. Timers on several lamps in the house. Use them all the time, not just when away, so that the house appearance never changes. Also have a timer on a radio or TV, so that it comes on and off at different times of day. I like the TV, because at night the light from the screen shows movement from outside. I have AT&T Uverse, which times out after a few hours, so TV is a problem, although you can get a little light thing from Amazon, called Fake TV, that has a pattern of colored LEDs that light up randomly giving the appearance of a TV in the room--just be sure you don't put the device where it can be seen from the window.

I also have a CD of "household sounds", but I haven't tried it yet, as I don't have a player that will start playing from a timer or repeat. I did play it, and it sounds pretty good, if I can work out the logistics.

Rex. The motion sensing electronic dog. This picks up motion in all directions, including through doors and windows. It barks once initially, then twice, then five times. If you know it's there, it sounds fake, but if you just hear it from outside the front door, and you're a thief, you might just move on. Keep a dog bowl outside to help with the illusion.

Garage doors. Most garage door openers have a release rope and handle, for when the power is out. Thieves can slip a coat hangar over the top of the door and snag that rope handle or loop. Cut it off so there is nothing to snag.

Garbage cans. It may not be the "green" way, but I will not use a garbage can that gets emptied in the morning while I'm away, then sits out at the street advertising "no one at home" to cruising burglars. I put my garbage in garbage bags. Sorry, Greenies. I do at least compost my grass clippings and leaves.

Cars in the driveway. If you always park outside, then when you are away, it is obvious to those casing your residence, that you're gone. I park both cars in the garage...a unique concept, I know. Garage doors--keep 'em closed, so you don't show passing thieves what you have as well as giving them easy access.

Sprinklers on timers. Good to keep continuity of appearance, except if you get a few days of rain.

Gates. We have a wood fence with gates on both sides of the house. Sheriff advises putting locks on access to the back yard. If it is difficult to get back there, thieves will often just move on to an easier target. It was a problem for meter readers for a while, but now we have smart meters for electric and gas.

Obvious things. Newspapers, flyers on the door knob, etc. Get someone to pick them up when you're away. That's where neighbors can be helpful. In my little area of the neighborhood, we cooperate and help with security.

 

[dstryr]

One thing Trent mentioned was word-of-mouth and people who talk piss me off.

I used to have a few old cars stored at my dad's place and guys would 'hear about them', come through the small town near the farm and start asking the good ol' boys where the guy with the old cars lived. Seems like my dad would call once every year or two asking if I was expecting company. I feel he was very lucky to not ever have trouble, though I know most people are good.

I never could understand why neighbors would openly give information to complete strangers.

 

[bowserb]

One thing Trent mentioned was word-of-mouth and people who talk piss me off.

I used to have a few old cars stored at my dad's place and guys would 'hear about them', come through the small town near the farm and start asking the good ol' boys where the guy with the old cars lived. Seems like my dad would call once every year or two asking if I was expecting company. I feel he was very lucky to not ever have trouble, though I know most people are good.

I never could understand why neighbors would openly give information to complete strangers.

Most people want to be helpful. Bad guys count on that. It's why so many robberies and muggings are preceded with a request for directions.

 

[Trent]

Most people want to brag about things which are unusual.

A remark like this one - "Man you should have SEEN that guys basement! Holy cow he's got enough weapons to start world war III"

Can end up getting your place cleaned out.

... And the guys who show up to do it might be "loaded for bear."

When me and mine run drills (about once per month) on what to do, we now plan on multiple attackers.

All security is an illusion.

That gun safe you have is great, sure.

Until a bad guy waits in the bushes for your loved ones to pull up, then marches your daughter / wife / son through the door with a gun to his/her head, with two helpers in tow to haul the loot.

You're going to give up that combination REAL fast.

Suddenly that sturdy physical security isn't quite so secure.

This is why home defense is a FAMILY WIDE event. Doesn't matter how good YOU can shoot or plan or prepare - there is always a weak link somewhere, and smart bad guys will find it.