[Rugerman]

The night before last the wife and I were sound asleep when at 0400 I am awakened by a huge crash and the sound of breaking glass and something hitting the wall.

I jump out of bed and so does the wife. I head straight for my gun safe because when I went to bed I was tired and didn't feel like getting my gun out and putting it near the bed as I most always do. We stupidly open the door from our bathroom that exits to the laundry room because I thought it was someone coming through the glass exterior door. Now mind you we live in the middle of about 200 acres and the road is about 10 acres away. I just built this house and decided to put all the exterior doors as glass.

So anyways, we don't see anything but we are still trying to wake up and are scared to death because this noise was just HUGE. We come back into the bathroom and behind the door to the bedroom there is broken glass all over the floor. It seems the shelf that the wife had hung on the wall that was full of glass candles and knick knacks had fallen off by pulling the screws out of the wall. You know how women are they think pictures and everything can be held up with a finishing nail. This house is all steel framed so you have to use sheetrock fasteners.

We ended up going back to bed with our hearts thumping away. This was great for training....

We discussed it last night and we have come up with a plan because one did not exist. The gun stays next to me every night. Whenever anything happens she is to grab the phone next to her side of the bed and get prepared to call 911. She is to get down behind the bed until I can asses what is happening. The kids are at the other end of the house. As soon as any immediate threat to us in our area is neutralized I head for the kids.

This house that the wife and I just finished building is so well insulated that through all of this the kids did not even wake up. This causes a few problems because the dogs live out in the shop and when they bark I cannot hear them. I do have video cameras and capture devices set on motion all around the house.

Well if anyone has anything to add or change in our plan please let me know.

 

[rocky]

No matter the age, consider the kids in your plans. If they awake to a noise they will haul butt to you. My kids are at the opposite end of my house too.
I have told em, if they hear me yelling at someone , get down and under the bed. At any rate, you need to make up a plan for the whole family.

 

[Packman73]

We had a near break in a couple of weeks ago but the guy ran off after he heard my XD rack on the other side of the door! Needless to say, a plan went into affect the next day.

 

[P95Carry]

Seems to me this was a useful wake-up call - which got you to make some plans.

Nice being isolated as you seem to be but - that and insulation/sound aspects need factored in to the plan.

I thought shelves got put up with sky hooks these days :wink: LOL.

 

[cgraham]

There seems to be a logical problem yet unsolved. If you have to go out to assess, and you are taken down (silently?) your wife may not know what happened, does not know to call 911, and is left unprotected (I got the impression she does not deploy a weapon.) At your location, 911 will do you no practial short-term good anyway. Ideally, she has trained to back you up with a shotgun, but remains within concealment or in an area you have cleared, where she can watch your 6. Thus you BOTH head for the kids, rather than dividing forces.

You could consider an intercomm to communicate with the kids: this gives you options to alert them, remind them to hide, or call them to you if necessary. Maybe they will be able to tell you something useful (we don't know how old they are, but they WILL get older and more capable).

Has anyone ever considered locating a seperate intercomm system where the BG's will "overhear" you talking when you choose: this might be used to fool or disorient them in all kinds of ways. Wild idea?

C

 

[rocky]

Also, if you have a big house, a carbine might be a better option. Especially if a bit more surgical precision may be needed, considering angles and bedrooms on different ends of the house.

 

[dimmak]

.12 ga is another option....

 

[Rock and Glock]

All of the comments above are excellent ideas, and have made me think this through too. Have you considered remote passage alarms on the near perimeter of your property, or at the fence gates? What about house alarms?

Glad it was a "non-event" that got you thinking! Sorry about the shelf.......

 

[Rugerman]

Already have perimeter alarms on the drive and main gate. House is surrounded by corral fence and an automatic gate. The kids are 14 and 17 so they understand. Thanks for all the great ideas so far I have a lot more to discuss with the wife.

 

[rocky]

.12 ga is another option....

the only reason I recommend a carbine over a shotgun is the precision factor. if you need to take a shot without hitting a loved one, a shotgun is not the tool for the job.

 

[Tom357]

We had a shower rack do the same thing in the middle of the night. It made us re-think, too.

 

[MarkM]

Same thing happened to me last week, box in the walk-in closet fell off a shelf.

Woke both of us up: thought process goes: alarm not going off, sound was crash not breaking glass of a window so house probably secure.

Keep lights off, grab gun off nightstand, make sure phone has dial tone, peek out curtain to check for vehicles / animals, motion activated lights not on.

Wait a few minutes listening for more noise. Nothing.

 

[Rugerman]

We actually had a sit down with the kids 14 and 17. Explained to them that if they hear something going on and can hear me or mom talking or yelling they are to stay put. If they are awoken by a noise they are to quietly come and wake me up. We taught them that they need to asses and listen before just running out of their room.

 

[Rickstir]

Some real good ideas here. I live out in the country too, not as far off the road as you do. We have an outside dog with a hairpin trigger if something is up. Could be a possum by the chicken house, or could be a car using the entrance to turn around. He will let us know. That triggers the other three big dogs, we have a lab and cocker pup but I don't count them as part of the strategy. The crescendo that comes to life when they all kick in is something to hear.
We have a landline and a cell phone in the bedroom. We also have no kids to factor in. I have my 92FS next to my head and an 870 within two steps. She has a .22lf revolver with 9 shots. We keep an emergeny light in the bedroom as well as my G2. She calls 911 (the cell gets a good signal out here too) and waits in the mbr closet. I can usually tell what's up by the racket. Only once was someone in the house and that was my brother early one morning. I had never heard them so loud. I would keep a dog with the kids.

 

[Woody357]

I say let the dogs in the house.Best alarm you could have.And they will keep the BG busy till you wake up.my 02.

 

[titandogg]

I agree wtih keeping the dogs in the house. One night my house alarm went off, I think it had to be an insect crawling across the motion sensor because nothing was wrong that i could see. Anyway, I turned the dogs, 2 Doberman Pinscers, loose into the house then I followed with my .45 . Wife had phone in hand ready to call 911. Needless to say, I felt much better walking downstairs after the dogs didn't find anybody.