Garage Remote: State:ON: 4:06PM
Garage Remote: State:OFF: 4:16PM

Well the sensor has a ten minute time out so the actual way to interpret it the sensor went on and then didnt get any more motion for ten minutes so it sent a shut off command.

I took a quick trip upstairs to see if I could catch a scent.

Smells a little like sweat and chocolate chip cookies.... ( ....?....)

Have to examine it a little further after I get the kids in bed.

You have a blacklight?

seems wierd that they are almost 10 minutes (and 9) earlier today than yesterday....but twice in a row that happening strikes me as exceptionally odd.

Why else would I put Fluorescine down?
I already know where they went. They made a beeline for the upstairs. No big mystery there. My question is why? There is basically nothing there. Oh Iv'e confirmed that there were two. Two sets of prints, two different shoe sizes. One has a gate to them, possibly bow legged ( toes point out), but the other was a bit too tight together

...girl maybe?

I also cant say for certain that they are exiting to the woods. There wasnt any foam there ( baking soda and flour makes a neat trail a few hours afterwards...when its damp) No changes in the flora.
hair traps are useless in open air, so Im going to have to think this one over. No foreign matter, or at least fresh vegatative matter on the floor. Not even leaves.

EDIT: Just went out and had a look around. Wife took both kids to soccer!
The hammer test was a no go. Somehow they managed to get the hammer to slide along the bench and drop in the trash. I wonder if they even saw it. Im going to set it again tonight with a hair trap to determine height. I hope I figure this out soon. My wifes brush is looking awfully clean and I dont want to tell her we may have an intruder.

If this doesnt get me a little more info, I'm going to try the booze trap and see what happens.

Double EDIT:
Plugged in the blacklight to see how things were, got about a second of light and blew the bulb. I have a spare....somewhere. The quick flash I did see tells me that they stopped short of the carpet. Odd. cleaned up all the Fluoro I could. Dyson vacuum. Best in the world.

Gawd Sam, they are starcrossed teenage lovers,,, hehehehehhe

maybe I'm overly cautious, but when is it not going to be a game and actually become an arrest? seems like you are playing with potentially dangerous unknown here.

I expected more from you Jack. Or maybe you are just waiting for the right time to introduce the fence charger or charged coil left "accidentaly" in a conspicuous place (leaned against the hammer)...
oooohhhh I think I see the light now your tactic is to perhaps turn the little perps around rather than scare them.hmmmm. Assimilate them.
Meditate on this we must, Yesssssss........

ehh, from what i've read of this, i'd just stick a nightshot camera somewhere..

Or, like when someone was breaking the the shop where we fixed cars ( they stole lots of rims and such) I'd sit and wait for them with a shotgun.. =P Then club them like seals.

My mistake, I thought that was a denture cleaner.

Well who better to protect your place against thieves than a thief?
I tell them if anything comes up missing, I come find them. They spread the word to their buddies, Dont touch this house. If they pretend to be good long enough they might even truly become so.
I have had "similar arrangements" in other places...

But I'm betting on something else...
Its simple really. I have already established that the persons are of smaller stature and they havent stolen anything, nor have they broken anything. There is no evidence that they are smoking, drinking or doing other drugs that I can tell. They seem to want to be there in the afternoon. It might be couple of kids with a bad home life or something else. Elken's theory has matched my own. I believe my garage is being used as a "rendevous" point.

To the "more cautious" folks. If I thought this was a danger in any way to my family, they would be gone by now. Like Mordeths situation, I will answer force with force, should it become needed, but it is not needed at this point. Clumsy, destructive thieves should be put down like dogs. But...
My family has a saying:
He who raises their fist, are the first ones to run out of Ideas.

Quite frankly, Im very curious.
I could just lock the door, but what fun is that?

We will find out this afternoon. Im planning on making a trip home as soon as I see the first activity. It only takes me 15 minutes to get home. I will park my car down my road and cut across to my garage. I fully expect to find a young version of Romeo and Juliet "gettin frisky" upstairs.

http://www.spygear.net/spy_toys_hq/
Ok Samurai your ninja skills may be enhanced with these electronic toys. The kids like em any way.
good luck with your intruders. Perhaps a few booby traps, alarm clock radios set to go off at ten minute intervals during the times they enter the house.

My plan wasn't so much from lack of ideas as from anger, here is a picture of some of the havok the fools caused, Mind you it is a SMALL area of the garage that held 12+ cars.



BTW: As you can see my alloy rims are melted. They used kerosene.


EDIT: Was a 1992 Ford Probe GT, White, nearly mint..

@Mordeth: I hope you managed to catch the person rsponsible. I don't htink that an armed response is out of line for that. I believe in the right to protect your property.

@SamuraiJack: I'm still curious as to the results. I agree that your visitors don't seem to pose a threat to your family or property. Still can't wait to hear all of the details.

In the case of the guys who've vandalised my Supra, (Probably the same as who broke into my sister's garage and stole stuff,) I think that a physical response is also appropriate. If I catch the people responsible, I've been thinking up an appropriate response. I'm no longer as interested in revenge, I just plan the experience to be ... educational to the responsible party. I may just march them to the local community police station... Though I'm still angry enough that the march order may be "Walk or I'll break your OTHER arm."

Oh...I dont know...
A good beating could be very educational for some people...

Mordeth: I think I would have been livid to the point of insanity. Some people just dont get it...

Supraguy: Im very curious too. I set two more tool traps today. Very minor. Going to start watching the web interface to my home controls around 2:30...Should be fun....especially since I have a siege door built into the floor that I can just kick the prop out from under. Then they will have to spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how to open it...Its heavy too..

I'd go steak out your house and see if you can catch them going in or coming out.

I hardly think surrounding SJ's house with meat will help with his problem.

sorry! i got beef on the brian

Well I just finished recovering a server and went a checked the logs.
No activity.


I feel like I have been stood up...

EDIT: OOPS! Scratch that! Garage sensor went off at 3:01....

gonna take a little drive now....TTYL!

CRAP! It was my wife, home early from work and wanted a hammer... what are the odds?

I'm sure they took off as soon as she went inside...sigh

Sadly we never caught the people that did the damage to ours, the whole building was toasted and pretty much all the stuff inside, the stuff that wasn't they took crowbars to.

Now, as far as SJ's visitors go.. lol can't wait to see what they do next. Atleast they haven't done anything harmful yet.

I can tell you with 85% certainty that they will do no harm. They are refugees. They are trying to hide something...

question is: what?

I believe the bigger one is trying to hide something in the smaller one:)

now now boys,,, behave.............

HAHA!

Nice and quiet this weekend. Downstairs tenants were away so we played loud movies and made ourselves clean a bit and I did manage to get the kitchen sink replaced.

No activity at all in the shop. I guess with two cars in the driveway, they know not to visit....

I went out and checked around again to "see what I could see"...and I came across two feathers. Small, thin shaft, and obviously goose down.

The peculiar thing is my wife is allergic to goose down, and so I have substituted polyfil and many other artificial insulators in lieu of said feathers...

Its not cold enough to wear goose down here...yet..

Once again, no activity in the shop....Maybe they have broken their tryst?

maybe they read your plog

Yep, they've actually been trying to catch you to ask you vital questions about
woodworking and speaker stands.

maybe they got tired of waiting for updated pics of your PJ and went to see the beast in person, ninja style

Ooooo.....You guys are FUNNY!

Youre right, however. I have been avoiding the shop the past week to avoid contaminating anything...or contaminating myself depending on what they were doing...

Arrgh...
I go to Disneyland for a week and come back to find all this entertainment just waiting for me on the board... Start reading, checking the dates, sure that there's been enough time for the story to reach its conclusion while I was gone... only to be disappointed that I have to wait to see how it turns out!

So SJ - When you "caught" your wife coming home to get a hammer, did you play it off as a coincidence, or did you tell her you'd been watching for intruders?

*I lied. No sense getting her worked up over nothing...


*(Technically, it was an "omission of truth". I DID leave work early, afterall...)

Heheheheee....Theyre baaaccckkkk!!!!

Garage Remote: State:ON: 2:24PM
Garage Remote: State:OFF: 2:34PM

I'm starting to think I would like my garage back now....Dont get me wrong, its been fun. But I think it may be time to end this little party. I have made up my mind. If I see em tomorrow, then Thursday is going to be the "Surprise Inspection!" day...

Gonna have to lube up the hinges and handle on the door....

I just had a fun idea. You could make a list of all the times you've detected them there and leave it where they'll find it next time they're there. It might not be the way to actually catch them, but can you imagine how much it would freak them out?

i'd decorate my garage in severed heads and human skin suits.

being as subtle as possible of course.

Brilliant idea Shaman. I wonder if SJ'd care to up-the-ante and get some video of them and then get it to them anonymously.

Maybe it's just the underpants gnomes?

Underpants gnomes dont chew strawberry bubble gum...Found it on the leeway next to the garage. They left at their usual time...

Im not going to take video. Thats just too close to a violation of their privacy...I want to get em in person!

Isn't this the part where the wacky scientist befriends the youths and teaches them the ways of the world...

They... so inthralled by him, come by daily to help him with his experiments... eventually he builds a DeLorean that can travel through time...

i wonder if there are episodes of mr. wizard on the net...

Actually Im building a pulse laser cannon...
whats your point?



I dont really need a protege, my daughters take that role just fine. Im just looking for the answer to a mystery. Pretty much like always...
SJ

How's this for "in person"? An elderly gent separated from his common-law wife is sitting in his car with the ring she returned on a chain around his neck. A teenage bicycles up and starts chatting with him through the open window. Eventually, the kid reaches in a snatches the jewels then bicycles away. The guy fires up the car, runs him down, then proceeds to punch 5 holes in him from his sidearm he's licensed to carry.

Musings:

• Did he go overboard? Shoulda' stopped at the car strike or at least one bullet? To his credit, he didn't unload completely . . . unless he was carrying a 5-shooter? One should always ensure one's personal safety by keeping at least one chambered until you're darn sure the job is through and nothing else threatens.
• Don't mess with old guys in cars.
• What should his sentence be?
• Why do these things happen?

I think thats a bit overkill. I just want to make sure they know there is a person attached to their trespass. Maybe recruit them, we'll see in a half an hour or so...

Im thinking that using just enough force to get back his property would be okay...you should respect your elders...

dude you need to hook up a web cam so we can watch!!

"live from samuraijack's shop somewhere in vermont, its the mid day trespassing show with your host samuraijack!!!" (applause)

I can just see me now, sitting comfortably in my overstuffed chair with a bottle of warm sake next to me and my axe leaning aginst the chair discussing "why women have so many talk shows, but when we try to talk to them, we are bothering them"...


No action today...maybe they went on a field trip...

AWW! i wanted some real action today!

I think Durachko tipped them off.

Hmmmmmm....maybe not.
I came home today and noticed a few bent goldenrod plants along the side of my shop and the water trough was still cloudy. They are heading toward the light patch I have up behind my house. Also picked up a few rather long pieces of funky colored fiber. Looks like dog hair only its bright pink. Feels fake. Neither of my kids have anything like that...

Light patch is warm, sunny and has a patch of crushed ferns about 7x3 feet.
Tracks match the others in size but one of them is wearing something with no tread. There is no bare dirt up there, its mostly moss and ferns and short grass. Mocs?

Off to the side, dangling inconspicuously, is a small feather...

Goose down


Hmmmmm.