There are a lot of entertaining videos online about how to deter burglars. One of them makes a surprising claim: that a "Beware of Dog" sign might actually encourage a burglar.
How? Well, it means a dog moves around inside the home when the owners aren't at home, meaning there's no motion-sensor alarm inside.
A new fence around the backyard might also encourage unwanted visitors. It means the homeowner has enough extra money to be able to afford a fence, so they might spend more on easy-to-steal valuables too. Walls around the yard aren't great either, but for a different reason. They limit visibility and give burglars privacy while they work on breaking in. Same with large bushes around the house.
One of the best ways to avoid getting robbed is not to own a lot of valuable things in the first place. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19). There's a lot of once-expensive junk in my house, but I'm too lazy to get rid of it for a good reason: it's a pain. If a thief wants my old Pentax LX, he's going to have more work to do later to get any cash out of it. And he'd have to lug my old a/d/s L1290 speakers up from the basement and out of the house, which won't be easy and is going to take a while.
It helps if you live somewhere safe. Check the crime rates if you're thinking of moving. And observe peoples' habits. When I got here to Keuka Lake, I walked by a workman's pickup truck parked in back of a lake house. The guy was way down by the water, out of the direct line of sight of the truck, and his toolbox on the truckbed was wide open. He certainly wasn't worried about getting his power tools jacked. There are places in Chicago where they would lock the back doors of a van with tools in it just to walk to the front doors of the same van! Some people here (including my ex, a middle aged woman who lived alone) don't even lock their doors at night.
There are a few nifty tricks you can try. Even if you don't have an alarm system, stickers that say you do can be a deterrent. Some friends of mine used to spread fake dead mice on the floors of their lake cabin in the winter and put up signs that said something like "WARNING, DO NOT ENTER, POISON GAS FOR RODENT EXTERMINATION." With a skull and crossbones.
Here's one of my favorites. Put locks on the front and back doors that don't open with the same key. Then put a spare emergency key near the back door that only opens the front door. That way, when you need to use it, observers who see you go in the front won't see you going straight through to the back door to put the key back in its hiding place, and any bad guy who might find the key near the back door will try it and find it doesn't work.
I don't do that myself, and I've locked myself out of every house I've ever lived in. Including this one. I keep better track of my keys now. I'm getting too old to climb in windows.
Keep your guns, if you have any (I don't), under lock and key even inside the house. Most burglars come in the daytime, because you stand a better chance of being away during those hours. But if you return home unexpectedly, it's possible your own gun could be used against you if you leave it lying out. That might hurt you twice, once if you had it pointed at you (or worse) and again when you realized whose fault that was.
Impact windows are a great idea. There are videos online of would-be burglars firing guns at them or whacking away with a sledgehammer and still failing to gain entry.
With this house, I inherited a large steel safe in the basement which must weigh five hundred pounds. I bet I couldn't even hire anybody to get it out of the house. Thieves would have to have several large men and a free weekend. Then they'd have to crack it...all to find nothing in it but a few mementos, some old hard drives, and a bunch of papers that are useless to anyone but me.
As to where I keep a stash of cash in the house? I don't. I couldn't put my hands on a hundred bucks without a trip to the ATM.
Cadillac Hal
One of my favorite theft-prevention stories was one I learned about personally. I was working for the rare book dealer William F. Hale, building bookshelves in his Georgetown pied-à-terre apartment, when Bill's friend and neighbor Larry McMurtry, the novelist who wrote Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, and Terms of Endearment, had a friend and business associate come by. It was Hal Webber, who Larry used as one of the inspirations for the main character in his novel about book scouting, Cadillac Jack. Webber, whom everyone addressed by his last name, was a slick-talking bear of a guy who wore jeans, cowboy boots, and a denim shirt and had black hair down most of the way to his waist. He sported a giant belt buckle and wore copper and turquoise jewelry that he had made himself. Webber was a dealer of rare stamps who got out of the business after the mob got into it; he switched to rare books instead. Larry, apart from being a novelist and scriptwriter, was a major rare book dealer in D.C. at that time. Negotiations took place that morning in Bill Hale's apartment over the course of two hours. Webber had a buyer for some books he knew Larry had. I was allowed to sit in for most of it, but was asked to step out momentarily at one point when things got a bit delicate. A stack of books no higher than you might have on your nightstand and some $30,000 were exchanged. After which, Webber invited us to lunch.
William Hallam (Hal) Webber, book scout, book dealer,
and character extraordinaire, with his niece Heidi.
We headed across the street and paused for a moment by Webber's car, parked by the curb on 31st Street in Georgetown. It was a sorry sight, an ancient, beat-up station wagon with fake-wood sides. The back seats were folded down and the entire back was filled with old banana crates made of heavy, waxed corrugated cardboard. Then we headed down an adjacent alley. Halfway down the alley we came to an old carriage house with heavy wooden double-doors held shut with a chain and padlock. Webber flung the doors open to reveal the massive grill of a gleaming Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud—his in-town ride. Off we went to their favorite Indian restaurant. Since it was my first time in a Rolls, they let me sit in the front seat. I had never been to an Indian restaurant before, either. I was a notoriously picky eater and still as thin as Lincoln. So they ordered for me and made me try everything they ordered. I got into the groove, and enjoyed the food. The conversation was fantastic. All four of us were storytellers, even me.
It turned out the old station wagon was Webber's business vehicle. He made the rounds of dealers, customers, and potential sellers of private libraries in the old car. He drove all over the country in it. The old boxes were all chock full of rare books. He said that although he liked the body of the car to look as old and as grody as possible, the mechanicals were all kept in top trim. One of them told me that at any given time, he had up to a quarter of a million dollars' worth of rare books in those boxes. I reacted with incredulity that he would leave so much treasure parked on the street.
"I don't even lock it," he answered. "If anyone is curious enough to sneak a look, what would they see? A bunch of old books. Any thief worth his salt knows old books aren't worth anything. Nobody will buy them." Larry allowed that a he had a steady stream of sad characters coming to his shop every month or two trying to sell a box or two of obviously stolen books. Usually unsuccessfully.
I never saw Hal Webber again, but I sure heard a lot of Hal Webber stories over the next few years. It was great to know who they were talking about. Bill and Larry were very generous with me. I still have two sets of 18th century books that Larry gave me. Both Edward Gibbon. The Autobiography is three volumes, the first Irish Edition of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is in 12 volumes. Both binder's copies, because I was scheduled to become a bookbinder at the Library of Congress at one time.
Plain sight
I adapted a version of Hal Webber's diversionary station wagon trick on a much smaller scale when I started to do freelance photography. I allowed my car to get cluttered inside and dirty outside, and kept the cameras in a brown kraft paper grocery bag sitting right up on the passenger seat. Virtually nobody in D.C. at that time would leave anything remotely valuable in plain sight in a car—break-ins for car radios were a common way for addicts to make enough for a day's high. The grocery bag was old, soiled and crumpled. I kept the top rolled down so people looking in wouldn't think there was much of anything in it. It definitely didn't look like it held food.
There was a joke going around in those days. A man in New York City put a sign on his dashboard that said NO RADIO. He returned to his car one day to find the driver's side window smashed. On the sign, turned over and placed on the front seat, were the words JUST CHECKING. I was fortunate. No one ever broke my window to check what was in the old grocery bag.
Here's another fun story about burglars and cameras, if you're in the mood.
And here's another trick to protect your home—a guy in one video mentioned that he sets a Roomba going in the house when he leaves for the day, so if someone comes in it will sound like someone's home. Smart, eh?
There are all kinds of ways to be smart.
Mike
Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
Featured Comments from:
JH: "On a somewhat similar topic, back in the '70s I often visited with a sales rep for Italy who lived in Milano. It was the era of the Red Brigades. The rep was very wealthy. His father was one the first electrical distributors in Italy and he expanded it to electronics. He had a side business also. In the building he owned in Milano, the first floor had a shop selling antique weapons, mostly guns. Another shop also dealt in modern weapons. He and I often went around the city to visit customers and to go to restaurants. When we walked, his 'sales manager' would accompany us. He was a giant guy, always armed. My guy wore bulletproof vests under his suit coats. When we drove, he had three cars in his garage. A Bentley sedan, a 356 Porsche, and a Mini. We always took the Mini. But it was no ordinary Mini. It was a hopped-up 1275 Cooper S that had been modified with armor and made to look like a crappy, beat-up city Mini."
Terry Letton: "Back when the NO RADIO signs were a thing I was always tempted to go to a junkyard and pick up an old random radio and put it in an empty parking space in Boston’s Back Bay with a sign that said NO BMW."
John Camp: "An old anti-burglar classic: a hand-written note on the door that says, 'Larry, the snake got loose again. Be careful.'
"Back in the days when a lot of wives stayed home with their school-age kids, I was a Miami Herald reporter and I'd occasionally go on ride-alongs with cops. One anti-burglary patrol guy told me the prime time for burglars was shortly after the kids would leave for school, and the wife would go out grocery shopping—usually between 10 a.m. and noon.
"Cops would always check walking couples carrying tennis rackets and bags to make sure they belonged in the neighborhood they were in.
"In one situation in Fort Lauderdale, some cops spotted a guy breaking into a house and dumped their patrol car and chased him on foot. They didn't lock the car, and they didn't take along their handset. Somebody stole their handset, and for the next couple of weeks until the battery ran out, every hour or so somebody would call "Hey, piggy piggy piggy...."
"One favorite target in big cities (St. Paul) where they have free-standing garages off alleys, is guys who'd drive through the alleys looking for open garage doors or doors that could be easily opened. Burglars will steal anything, and open garages always have something.
"I once went on a raid on a house occupied by a couple of young burglars (married with small children). The house was completely stacked with crap that you couldn't believe anybody would want, including a lot of obviously shoplifted stuff. But $5 here, and $5 there, and it adds up. They'd definitely take your Pentax.
"In one case in Miami Beach, the building department required fire extinguishers to be mounted on exterior apartment walls in case of fire. If you didn't have one, it was an automatic fine. In one apartment building, every time the manager put up a fire extinguisher, it would be stolen in a matter of days, and the building inspector would spot it and issue a fine. The things cost $40 or $50 apiece, probably sold for $5 or $10, enough for a rock of crack cocaine. The manager carried a gun, and one day, frustrated by the constant thefts and subsequent fines, which the police department did nothing to prevent, he caught a street person stealing the fire extinguisher and shot him. He was charged with murder.
"One burglary cop told me that if you let all the one-time killers out of prison, and put all the ratshit little thieves in jail, we'd be a much happier country. He claimed the most killers would never kill again, but burglars committed maybe 50 burglaries before they got caught, were usually turned loose again without jail time, and went right back to burglary. I don't know if that's true or not.
"I lived in LA for a few years, and one of my favorite places was what we all called 'The Homeboys Shopping Network.' It was kind of a big barn-like place with an amazing variety of stuff for sale, most of it obviously stolen. (Why else would you have one large pack of toilet paper, or miscellaneous sizes and brands of laundry detergent?) My son in law was a trumpet player, and one time I asked a lady behind the counter if they had any trumpets, and she thought a minute and the said something like, 'Let me go look.' She looked, but no trumpet. She said something like, 'It was right here. Somebody must have sold it.'
"Biscayne Bay in Miami has a number of islands, high-end housing for rich people. And they had security guards, mostly retired NYC cops, and all of them armed. The story around town was that if somebody broke into a house and was spotted by one of these guards, the guards always shot them as often as necessary. In other words, the price of burglary was instant execution, with never a prosecution. I heard the story from a reliable source, and have no reason to not believe it. (I believe Trump's daughter and son-in-law now live on one of the islands, as did my source for the story.)"
hugh crawford: "When I lived in Manhattan in the late 1970s early 1980s, I kept a set of keys to the apartment duct taped to a telephone booth three blocks away. I figured that there were probably a few thousand apartments closer to that set of keys than my apartment."
John: "Another way, hopefully, is to find yourself living next to several embassies with cameras trained in all directions and a police officer permanently stationed on the corner, which is where we find ourselves now."
Mike replies: Nosy neighbors are a good deterrent too! My neighbors in Woodstock watched my house like hawks. I had to be careful not to do anything suspicious. When I set up a darkroom in the basement, I used an old marijuana-grower's trick and blacked out the windows with tinfoil. It's easy to handle and lets no light through. But I was careful to tell all the neighbors that I was blocking light because of my darkroom, lest they think I was growing something illegal in the basement.
David Dyer-Bennet (partial comment): "This level of paranoia about theft sounds really extreme to me—and my three houses in Minnesota have all been within the city limits of Minneapolis, not even in first-ring suburbs. I do pay some attention; we have an alarm system, we do lock the doors, there are no hidden keys. It's an older house so you can't really climb in through the windows from outside without a ladder, they're too high (the basement windows are barred). And if you did, you'd have to climb back out; you can't open the doors without a key. But I think having four residents not all on the same schedule might make the biggest difference. In this house we've always had at least two people not working outside the home, and we've got a third-shift worker. Very confusing to look at!
darlene: "I learned early on that the best way to protect your belongings during a break-in is to slow down the intruder. In every home I’ve owned, I’ve always had an alarm system. Today, my alarm system includes cameras in various rooms that record off-site and I can monitor and record from my phone. Additionally, I have locks on several rooms to slow down intruders. The alarm system is powered by both battery and AC, and it’s connected wirelessly. If someone is determined to break in, they will, but the goal is to delay them and capture their image.
"When I lived in Miami, I saw too many house fires where children died because windows were barred to prevent break-ins or hurricane shutters that couldn’t be opened from the inside. By the time the fire department would arrive, it was too late. I don’t have experience with impact windows, but if there’s a fire and the only way out is a window, I want to be able to break it if it doesn’t open.
"I’ve experienced home break-ins twice. Once, when my boyfriend and I lived in a mobile home, I lost a Yashica camera he gifted me. Another time, while working during the day and attending the School of Visual Arts in the evenings, my jewelry was stolen. Although it wasn’t valuable monetarily, it had great sentimental value. The police educated me on how the break-in likely happened and advised me to visit the station periodically to check for recovered jewelry. Unfortunately, my pieces were never recovered.
"When I traveled on the NY subway to SVA at night, I was advised to dress like a guy. Despite being short, I wore my boyfriend’s jackets and hoods. I was never bothered, and carrying a large portfolio case and a box full of X-Acto knives probably helped.
"During my studio business in Atlanta, I always had two vehicles for jobs that didn’t advertise my business. The Yellow Pages and other marketing tools were for that. One vehicle was a 'mommy van' with the middle seat removed, and the other was a big Ford Bronco, often the Eddie Bauer version because they were attractive. I made sure my vehicles did not give away my profession.
"Despite these precautions, cases with lights, stands, and other gear were occasionally stolen at events by people working there. My assistants did their best to watch the gear boxes stowed under skirted tables, but they couldn’t be everywhere at once. I was never angry when it happened and always replaced the stolen items, knowing they might be taken again.
"Ultimately, I try to slow down intruders, keep my business private, and secure my gear with an alarm system and multiple locks on doors.
"I loved reading about the vehicles in your post, but I’m pretty sure my clientele or neighbors would’ve freaked out if I rolled up driving a Ghostbuster wagon on a mission. Who you gonna call? Definitely not me!"
i before e, except after c.
Posted by: Farhiz | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 01:18 AM
"Beware! Don't step on our black mamba."
Posted by: s.wolters | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 05:00 AM
I met a decorator on a building site who had an estate car (station wagon) adapted to his needs; it was what we called a sitemobile. It was a Ford Granada, and for economy he'd fitted a diesel engine from a Ford Transit van.
The sunroof had leaked, so he'd covered the whole roof with a sheet of profiled aluminium roofing, the sort that is fitted to big warehouses. The gaps at each end were filled with the same shaped foam that's used when these sheets are put on buildings, and held down with the big hex headed self tapping screws that roofers use to fix down these sheets.
The car had been repainted with building paint and the rear seats were permanently laid flat. He had another car for home and social use.
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 05:45 AM
In the seventies (previous century) Zeiss Ikon left the camera business. But the factory did’t close, they just started to make "something else".
I have a pair of these in my front door, for decades now, and I’ve never been burgled.
You can still buy these locks today, but the lovely "photographic" logo is gone, unfortunately.
Posted by: Nico. | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 08:18 AM
How do you keep a violin from being stolen? Keep it in a viola case.
One of many old viola jokes. Violists must have good senses of humor and/or thick skins, though it probably helps to know that it was the preferred ensemble axe of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
Posted by: robert e | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 09:49 AM
A better sign is "Beware of Doug."
Posted by: Chuck Albertson | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 11:30 AM
Meanwhile, Djokovic beats Alcaraz to win Gold, and to complete his resume.
[A Grand Slam is not on his resumé. --Mike]
Posted by: Jeff | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 11:31 AM
Re: Old grocery bags
I’ve heard of diaper bags and dog food bags being used for camera concealment.
Posted by: Gordon R. Brown | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 11:56 AM
There was a period when this would have been an abstract subject, until a few years back when I came home from work to find that my house had been broken into (literally) and I was robbed. There were three entry attempts at multiple places, and then they completely ripped out a window frame and crawled into my bedroom. I entered my house at a bit after 8pm in the month of June and found my house hot and humid with the A/C blasting and flying bugs zooming through the house... an entire window missing allowed air conditioning to escape and insects to come in.
I was amazed at what they took and what they ignored. I had a cheap Nikon D40 DSLR sitting out which they grappled, ignoring the Leica M2 and Rolleiflex 3.5F sitting out a foot away. They took my laptop which had my budding digital photo folders (I just transitioned from film) and I had no back ups, so all those photos are gone. They took my Fender Stratocaster which was the last thing my late Mother bought for me, but left two other guitars.
I called the police and they were amazed and a little suspicious that I had photos and serial numbers for all my missing high value items... I'm just organized that way. The sheriff sat in my driveway and typed all the info into a data base that all pawn shops are required to check before buying any items. By luck they had already sold my Fender to a shop before the crime report, so the pawn shop didn't break any laws, but because they acted in good faith, I had to buy my guitar back for exactly what they paid the criminals. The sheriff said he's never seen anyone beat the pawn shops in court and a lawyer would cost more that just buying it out of pocket. That guitar had tremendous sentimental value, so I guess I was lucky. No other items ever showed up, so I assume they were sold on the street with no paperwork.
A month later, the burglar was caught in the act of breaking into another house, and because he used his real name at the pawn shop (required by law), he was charged with my house too. I had to spend months with the DA in prep for his trial, but he decided to just plead guilty, so no trial and he went to prison.
Sorry so long, but this subject hits home.
Posted by: Albert Smith | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 01:38 PM
What a great article!
Sharon
Posted by: Sharon | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 01:46 PM
Back when I actually depended on bikes for transportation, I lost two bikes, a seat, and a rear wheel to theft. The stolen bikes always feel like a gut punch. Riding a beater is one partial solution, though even they can be stolen, and who wants to ride a beater? Better is just having a place to bring it inside. If you are a boss, let your employees store bikes somewhere!
Posted by: John Krumm | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 02:01 PM
I learned early on that the best way to protect your belongings during a break-in is to slow down the intruder. In every home I’ve owned, I’ve always had an alarm system. Today, my alarm system includes cameras in various rooms that record off-site and I can monitor and record from my phone. Additionally, I have locks on several rooms to slow down intruders. The alarm system is powered by both battery and AC, and it’s connected wirelessly. If someone is determined to break in, they will, but the goal is to delay them and capture their image.
When I lived in Miami, I saw too many house fires where children died because windows were barred to prevent break-ins or hurricane shutters that couldn’t be opened from the inside. By the time the fire department would arrive, it was too late. I don’t have experience with impact windows, but if there’s a fire and the only way out is a window, I want to be able to break it if it doesn’t open.
I’ve experienced home break-ins twice. Once, when my boyfriend and I lived in a mobile home, I lost a Yashica camera he gifted me. Another time, while working during the day and attending the School of Visual Arts in the evenings, my jewelry was stolen. Although it wasn’t valuable monetarily, it had great sentimental value. The police educated me on how the break-in likely happened and advised me to visit the station periodically to check for recovered jewelry. Unfortunately, my pieces were never recovered.
When I traveled on the NY subway to SVA at night, I was advised to dress like a guy. Despite being short, I wore my boyfriend’s jackets and hoods. I was never bothered, and carrying a large portfolio case and a box full of X-Acto knives probably helped.
During my studio business in Atlanta, I always had two vehicles for jobs that didn’t advertise my business. The Yellow Pages and other marketing tools were for that. One vehicle was a “mommy van” with the middle seat removed, and the other was a big Ford Bronco, often the Eddie Bauer version because they were attractive. I made sure my vehicles did not give away my profession.
Despite these precautions, cases with lights, stands, and other gear were occasionally stolen at events by people working there. My assistants did their best to watch the gear boxes stowed under skirted tables, but they couldn’t be everywhere at once. I was never angry when it happened and always replaced the stolen items, knowing they might be taken again.
Ultimately, I try to slow down intruders, keep my business private, and secure my gear with an alarm system and multiple locks on doors.
I loved reading about the vehicles in your post, but I’m pretty sure my clientele or neighbors would’ve freaked out if I rolled up driving a Ghostbuster wagon on a mission. Who you gonna call? Definitely not me!
Posted by: darlene | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 02:02 PM
Went to a neighborhood presentation on crime and safety given by the police a few years ago. He said the number 1 preventative measure to do was have a dog. Potential burglars would often go along the side of the house and rap the siding, alerting any dogs inside.
Posted by: Steven Ralser | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 03:11 PM
Don’t have nice things because someone might take them? That seems an odd way to live your life.
Posted by: Dave Richardson | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 04:30 PM
One friend talked about buying special paints and other finishes to make his good bicycle (maybe low 5 figure price?) look like a piece of junk.
This level of paranoia about theft sounds really extreme to me—and my 3 houses in Minnesota have all been within the city limits of Minneapolis, not even in first-ring suburbs. I do pay some attention; we have an alarm system, we do lock the doors, there are no hidden keys. It's an older house so you can't really climb in through the windows from outside without a ladder, they're too high (the basement windows are barred). And if you did, you'd have to climb back out, you can't open the doors without a key. But I think having 4 residents not all on the same schedule might make the biggest difference. In this house we've always had at least 2 people not working outside the home, and we've got a third-shift worker. Very confusing to look at!
Perhaps an accordion case could be adapted to hold cameras?
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 05:39 PM
One trick someone taught me was to set up a "honeypot". A jar with a few dollars in it (a $20 on top of a stack of $1 bills) and a jewelry box with a bunch of cheap or fake jewelry in it. Place them on top of a shelf so it looks like you made an effort to hide them. Also, leave an old broken laptop out on your nightstand or somewhere in plain sight. Most thieves want to be out of there as quickly as possible, and if it looks like a good score, they will leave without searching any further.
Posted by: Michael | Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 07:32 PM
The guy locking his van in Chicago was ‘target hardening.’ Your neighbors leaving their doors unlocked are ‘target easing.’
Everybody here is familiar with ‘Go where the pictures are,’ which usually means leaving your environment. For a discerning thief, it’s ‘Go where the less security-conscious are.’ This, too, usually means leaving your environment.
Somebody who has never faced the consequences of leaving their property unsecured should not tell themselves that history has proved them right. They’re not wise, just lucky.
Posted by: Sean | Monday, 05 August 2024 at 11:13 AM
I remember Elaine Boosler, the comedian, said she had 6 locks on her apartment door and left 3 of them unlocked. That way the thief would always be relocking 3 of them as he attempted to break in.
Posted by: Tom Duffy | Tuesday, 06 August 2024 at 12:24 PM
Commenter Michael's "honeypot" trick works, as I accidentally discovered when a group house I lived in was burgled. I'd just set up a new component stereo system, but the old, broken all-in-one unit it had replaced was still sitting on the floor waiting for disposal. Well, I guess its compactness and readiness was more attractive to the burglers than the brand new system. So, basically, they took my trash out for me. It seemed from the few other things they grabbed around the house that they were interested in convenience above all.
Ironically, that old mid-century Fisher all-in-one is probably worth a lot more today than the then-new sleek entry level solid state hifi system. Come to think of it, maybe it was even then, even broken. So maybe those burglars were wiser than I gave them credit for at the time!
Posted by: robert e | Thursday, 08 August 2024 at 11:34 AM