Am I paranoid

[Polish Armed]

About 01:00 this afternoon I was working in the garage. I live on 5 acres, about 100 yards off the road.

I heard somone driving up the driveway, I wasnt expecting anyone.
Grabbed my revolver off the top shelf of a cabinet.

Two guys in a truck, some lettering on the side . Homemade sign.
Passenger gets out, mid twenties, tattoos solid on both arms.

Driver stays in truck. He was about twenty feet from the garage , I had the door open, when I stepped out and said "Something I can help you with ?

He grabbed at his chest and said man you scared me, he looked startled. I kept my gun down beside my leg and kinda out of sight.

He started rambling on about selling some steaks on the back of his truck. I told him " not interested "

He kept on, I told him one more time , he left mumbling something under his breath.
Could have been legit, but hard for me to easily trust people this day and age.

Thinking about getting a driveway alert , have a base unit in house and garage, anyone have experience with these?

My neighbor has a gate , solar powered, but UPS has to leave her packages at the street.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[MSteve]

Better safe than sorry. It's cliche, but true none the less.

[Back 40]

I wouldn't say your paranoid, just cautious. Anytime we have someone just drop by that I or my wife doesn't know or is uninvited your SA has to go up. You didn't draw down on the guy so I would call it well played.

[ErnieNWillis]

They were probably planning on helping themselves to some of your possesions until you "startled" him.

[airworthy]

They were probably planning on helping themselves to some of your possesions until you "startled" him.

Thats what it sounds like to me. He figured nobody at home with an open garage door. I wouldn't say your paranoid, I would say you did good. I never go outside without being armed.

[cammo]

Are you paranoid?

Heck no.

[JJVP]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

[ErnieNWillis]

Thats what it sounds like to me. He figured nobody at home with an open garage door. I wouldn't say your paranoid, I would say you did good. I never go outside without being armed.

I wonder what would have happened if he'd taken them up on buying some steaks and followed the guy out to the truck?

[Hopyard]

Yes, get a driveway alert. They are very inexpensive.

If you watch the advertised sales at Harbor Freight you can find one that costs about 18 bucks including the tax. The detector will transmit 400 feet. The ones I have seem very stable, not prone to false alerts at all. (Unlike the motion detectors which turn on my exterior lighting and get annoying because they react to birds.)

It isn't weather proof, but you can work around that.

Get yourself a treated 4 X4 stud. Dig a hole for it near the start of your driveway. Get a coffee can and paint / decorate it (if looks matter to you).

Fasten that can to the post . Run a screw to hang the sensor through the upper part of the interior of the can and into the post. Attach the sensor. You now have an inexpensive infrared detector, protected from the elements, looking out over your driveway.

I'm in the process of attaching one on each of the 4 sides of my house as exterior announcers. They don't set off loud persistent "alarms" (A plus for exterior use) but they work well to detect and announce an intruder onto the property.

Put these high enough 4 feet up from the ground, and with the coffee can cover blocking some of the detection "spread-out", the dogs walk below the line of sight of the detector. Also, because the detector is hidden inside the can, the whole business can be easily overlooked as a bad attempt at a bird feeder.

These gadgets will give you a heads up to anyone trying to break the perimeter--- without immediately calling an alarm company, the cops, whatever. Since they just make a short beeping tone a few times, they don't wake the whole house at night.

Yes, get a driveway alert and consider other exterior early detection devices that don't cost two arms and three legs, such as what I have just described.

Total cost-- 18 bucks and change for the gadget, empty coffee can = free, some spray primer or spray paint, cost is negligible if you have it in the house,
3 C cell batteries and a 9v battery, about 8 bucks.

If you have a wooden fence or other wood surface to mount the device you don't need the 4 by 4 and cement, so take that cost out of the picture.

[MinistrMalic]

My guess is that they were legit, but you couldn't be sure. Those kinds of outfits are around, but if your spidey senses were tingling then by no means should you have ignored them. I think you did just fine, and a driveway detector sounds like a smart idea to me.

[bsnow]

In these times you can't take anything for granted, no not paranoid at all!

[rich cheese]

I use he driveway detectors as well as a couple of baby monitors so I can hear outside the house too. All disguised as feeders or such.
I eventually made a small mock up of a birdhouse with a wireless camera inside that also has sound that I can see and hear on my TV ch-3.
It is powered by a solar panel and battery that someone gave me that they had used on an electric fence for a while, so no other power needed for the outside
stuff.
Cost effective home security that could save your family some day.

[OldVet]

Yeah, like you'd want steaks from the back of a pickup truck, from a guy with tattoos. Very professional.

Sounds like you did the right thing. No confrontation, just insistant. Very likely could have been a "scouting" mission.

Hommie D sells a wireless door alert that may work on driveways. No idea on the range, etc., but worth looking into. I'm considering one also because I can't see my driveway due to house design.

[ep1953]

No way I'm buying anything (much less food) from some idiot selling out of the back of a pickup truck.

I think the guy was looking to make a quick grab of whatever he could out of your garage and be on his way. In short, no you're not paranoid.

[Eagleks]

They were probably planning on helping themselves to some of your possesions until you "startled" him.

What it sounds like to me too.

I don't think he was paranoid, I think he was smart to take precautions and be prepared for the worse..... I don't think they thought anyone was there and were going to load up, until he was 'startled' and discovered otherwise. IF they keep talking to you, you are being 'assessed' as a victim.