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Don't drop your cell phone when trespassing through yards...

10K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  Uinta Firearms 
#1 ·
Earlier in the week, we had an incident of an adult Hispanic male, with the requisite neck tattoos, walking through our neighborhood talking on a cell phone, in what a number of neighbors described as a suspicious manner. In full disclosure, I did not see the individual, though I was at home at the time.

Within 5 minutes, he comes blazing through our neighbor's backyard, jumps our fence, runs through our garden, jumps the gate, runs down the driveway across the street past a neighbor and over her backyard fence and down the hill towards a wooded area.

My wife, armed at the time with my dinner: shish kabobs on 2' metal skewers; by our BBQ grill, told me about it, moments afterwards. So I go charging down the hill to find out what was going on. I met up with three neighbors and we scoured the area around our homes and then decided to report the incident to the police.

Fast forward to today. My wife is in her garden, trimming the rose bush adjacent to the entry point where the fence jumper landed from the top of the 7' fence, and lo and behold, there is a cell phone under the bush. The screen was broken and it had been soaked by the sprinkler every day for the past 4 days. We called the local PD and turned it in. Needless to say, the chip will identify the calls and possibly the owner of the phone, be it stolen or the actual perp's phone.

So, if you plan on trespassing through neighborhood yards, be sure not to drop your cell phone on your way through. :wink:
 
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#3 ·
I'm not sure what my response would have been, other than to yell "Get the heck out of my yard!!!".

I don't think I would have drawn, unless he headed towards the house instead of going across the yard. I doubt that I would have attempted to impede his departure from my property, but I definitely would have followed at trot behind to find out what the heck was going on. By the time my wife had me engaged, the perp had plenty of time to affect a getaway.

So what would you do? Obviously, a daytime intrusion of running across one's backyard is not a life threatening event, so shooting at the perp is hardly justified.
 
#4 ·
Me? Honestly speaking, I'd probably be a good witness. If he is running THROUGH and not TO my yard, then I'm apt to think like you do, I'll just let him let himself right on out the other side of my yard. I've 100% got my hand resting on my pistol ready to draw, if he turns toward my house or loved ones.
 
#5 ·
Definitely in Condition ORANGE:
Orange - Specific alert.
Something is not quite right and has gotten your attention. Your radar has picked up a specific alert. You shift your primary focus to determine if there is a threat (but you do not drop your six). Your mindset shifts to "I may have to shoot HIM today," focusing on the specific target which has caused the escalation in alert status. In Condition Orange, you set a mental trigger: "If that goblin does 'x', I will need to stop him." Your pistol usually remains holstered in this state. Staying in Orange can be a bit of a mental strain, but you can stay in it for as long as you need to. If the threat proves to be nothing, you shift back to Condition Yellow.
 
#7 ·
My question is why have the sprinklers been on every day for 4 days? Mine have not been on at all this year and everything is growing fast.

I probably would have asked what's going on if I had seen it, but not gone much past putting my hand on whatever I had for a weapon at that moment.
 
#8 ·
MrReverse said:
My question is why have the sprinklers been on every day for 4 days? Mine have not been on at all this year and everything is growing fast.
No kidding man it would take a couple weeks of nothing but sun to dry out enough to need to water again. Do we need to come take pictures and drought shame you all over the interwebs ;)
 
#9 ·
D-FIN said:
MrReverse said:
My question is why have the sprinklers been on every day for 4 days? Mine have not been on at all this year and everything is growing fast.
No kidding man it would take a couple weeks of nothing but sun to dry out enough to need to water again. Do we need to come take pictures and drought shame you all over the interwebs ;)
Some of us have more sand than clay for our yards
 
#10 ·
I know WET sand. I'm just poking anyway. I haven't watered my yard once and I can't keep up with the growth I wish it would dry out and die so I didn't have keep mowing it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#11 ·
D-FIN said:
I know WET sand. I'm just poking anyway. I haven't watered my yard once and I can't keep up with the growth I wish it would dry out and die so I didn't have keep mowing it.
This should help:



:)
 
#13 ·
I will just point out that local soil conditions do vary a lot. I had to get some water on my lawn early this year because it was dying, despite having a very deep root system. Just no moisture at all in my soil after the dry winter. My irrigation company put water in the ditch two weeks earlier than normal. Then I didn't water at all during May.

With the higher temperatures and drier weather going into June, I've watered again. I water deeply, less often, and letting the top soil dry out encourages deep roots and better lawn. But the lawn has to be healthy enough to grow roots; there has to be some water in the soil to go after.

This weekend when much of the SL Valle got well over an inch, the meter in my yard recorded only about 1/4". That is enough for a quick surface green, but not enough to saturate the soil and encourage deep root growth.

But do take heart. My outdoor watering is done using irrigation water that is so nasty that it cannot be made drinkable. A couple of decades ago the water district tried. They made it bacteriologically safe to drink. They then mixed it 1 part irrigation with 2 parts spring/well water. The experiment was short lived when the entire water district rose up in rebellion at being able to smell their tap water. Took the water district months after they discontinued use to get the smell out of their system. If it gets on the leaves of trees, it leaves a film that shuts down photosynthesis and kills the tree. Used by commercial farmers it results in a 5% reduction in crop yield. But my lawn sure eats it up. :shades: And it is cheap enough to keep the whole place obscenely green all summer long. :dancing:

Charles
 
#15 ·
dewittdj said:
The garden (vegetable) gets watered daily at 5:00 a.m. for a period of 5 minutes with secondary water. There's no waste here.
:shock:
We also use secondary water for almost all outside uses. But I make up for it by only using water in the form of ice inside. They tell me I should drink water occasionally just to give my liver a shock, but I don't buy it.

Mel
 
#16 ·
quychang said:
dewittdj said:
The garden (vegetable) gets watered daily at 5:00 a.m. for a period of 5 minutes with secondary water. There's no waste here.
:shock:
We also use secondary water for almost all outside uses. But I make up for it by only using water in the form of ice inside. They tell me I should drink water occasionally just to give my liver a shock, but I don't buy it.
Mel
I don't waste water in the form of ice... besides, it waters down the potency and flavor of the drink!!! :wink:
 
#17 ·
You make some excellent points Dave. Now if I could just get used to drinking room temperature liquids. Oh, occasionally I do, but I'm spoiled, heck I even carry an ice maker in the Motorhome.

Mel
 
#19 ·
Can't really say unless I'm in that exact position, but basing it on what I experienced back on 5/25 in downtown Chicago, I would have likely come out of holster, low ready, SUL position, fixed on the trespasser while blending in with my surrounding. What are the odds he'll call the police and admit he trespassed.
 
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