Ok, weird.

[Shari]

Signorina, that thought was in my mind more than once while she was here. She was talking very fast. Clearly, but fast, repeated some things. But if I were truly having to do what she was doing, I would be nervous, too. Or she was manic or high. Sad day that we have to consider such things, but that's the reality. The money I gave was enough to help if that's what she needed, and I hoped that giving her something would appease her that we didn't have access to more, and it was crumpled and out of my pockets (it is true I do not carry cash in my wallet...ever) in the event there was a "rest of the story" going on.

 

[Hound dog]

Hmm. Reading through the responses I was reminded about an incident that happened only a couple of years after we moved into this house. It wasn't a young woman, but a man in his mid 30's. It was about 11 ish or midnight when he knocked on the front door. Fellow said he had a car load full of hungry kids and he was trying to get them back home to his ex when he ran out of gas. Now I was ok with the I ran out of gas part, it was the I'm trying to get my kids back to my ex part that got me. At midnight? Most visitation orders state they have to be there by 6pm. But he did explain he'd knocked on most of the neighborhood doors before coming to ours. He was desperate. He was late (car trouble) and he was afraid ex would call the cops on him and he'd not get to see his kids again. As it turned out husband was upstairs asleep. I'm not afraid to talk to anyone, no matter the hour, with Molly at my side. But I told him all I had was a few bucks in change. BUT I did have a gas can full of gas (husband had filled it up for the mower) that he could use to get to the station, then use the few bucks to maybe make it where he was going. He didn't even have to return the gas can, husband had several. The relief on his face was genuine and profound. He was scared to death that at that time of night he'd get no one else to answer the door, most houses were dark.

So he took my few dollars in change and the gas can full of gas and went on his way thanking me profusely. So, at least with this guy, I think it was legit.

I've had a few people knock on the door for something to eat under the pretext of "borrowing". I just give it to them and tell them to pay it forward someday in the future. With my dogs.......if they are casing the joint, they change their minds rather quickly. If they get past the dogs, there is the shotgun to deal with. But Molly's Intruder Alert bark could wake the dead, I swear. So I have no fear of waking and being ready for trouble.

These days I'm often torn between my "do unto others" outlook I've had my entire life and being forced to be wary of everyone's intentions. So I combine them. Since I never expect to be "paid back", I just tell them to pay it forward someday when they have the chance. Because I can't stop doing the "do unto others" thing. Someday it might be myself or one of my kids in a similar situation. And I totally believe in karma.

 

[buddy]

I think I would have done the same and been just as cautious. Hopefully, even if she does not return the money she will just move on and be touched by your kindness.

 

[Shari]

From where she stood, she couldn't see anything of value. husband held the bigger dog off, but she was growling when she came to the door (as she does), so she knows it here.

I stuck the car in the middle of the lot. lol no place else to "hide" it that wouldn't be visible if you were really looking for it, and I'm working with the lights off and only the windows open (its raining).

I have considered if she does call to pay me back to tell her to just pay it forward. Its $14 and if she truly needed it to better her situation, I'm glad to give it.

Hound, I thought about giving her gas instead of cash, but we only had a gallon or so in the can and that wouldn't have been enough. But that would have been a better option.

 

[buddy]

That's a great idea! Tell her to put it into one of those fast food charity boxes or tell the drive thru person to apply it to the person behind them (for their meal) along with a message to pay it forward.

 

[donna723]

Signorina, that same thing happened in our very small, usually very safe little town. Someone was going door to door in broad daylight pretending to be selling something. If an elderly person who appeared to be alone answered the door, especially if it was a woman, they would keep her engaged at the front door while another one went in her back door and robbed her blind! I have FOUR outside doors in this little bitty house but they all stay locked all the time. I never locked my doors when I lived out in the country but I keep them locked all the time now that I live in town. You just never know. With the economy the way it is and with the drug epidemic being what it is, there are a lot of people out there desperate for money.

I always figured that my dogs are my first line of defense. If someone was looking to break in to a house and they heard FOUR dogs barking inside, hopefully they'd have enough sense to go somewhere else. And when all four of them are barking, it sounds like a lot more than four of them! My mixed breed, Freebie, is 40 lbs. tops, but she has this loud explosive bark that sounds like a dog three times her size. She barks if a leaf falls off a tree or if a butterfly poots as it flitters through the yard, or if a stray dog is within a block of our house. But she has a completely different bark if there is a person out there! It's even louder, more insistant. She's ALWAYS right and I always know when someone is coming up the walk.

Shari, I hope this woman was exactly what she appeared to be, just someone who doesn't plan very well and really needed the help. But I always say you should hope for the best but plan for the worst. Someone who was checking you out would be looking to see if you were alone, if you had dogs, if you appeared to have cash on hand. And she may not have been alone either, depending on how you checked out. It's a shame you have to think about things like this now but these are different times and you really can't trust anyone anymore.

 

[Star*]

See at that point? I would have said to her just like I said to our dingaling - HEY IF I give you a TWENTY will you take it to your boyfriend hiding down the road , go get your cigarettes and gas, and bring me back some some milk and 1/2 a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the change??

And so it begins......subtly - but DF said someday we'll be answering the door with AK's.......maybe the Prepers aren't so crazy after all.

 

[susiestar]

I hope she is legit, but make that call to the non emergency number anyway. We don't get many like that in our area because it is a little development with houses but they are fairly close together and no bushes to really hide anything. We also have 2 deputies who have their own squad cars who live here, so the thieves stay away mostly. I know people who have been caught by scams like this and it can get ugly. So giving the police a heads' up could help protect a neighbor if she is going around.

I am glad that she didn't try anything last night!

 

[Shari]

My niece is married to a Preper. He gets all sorts of excited about it, and while on the one hand, it seems far fetched, on the other? IF the dollar were to crash? Yeah, not so much.

Because of him, thought, we do have a semi-plan. They live fairly far from us, but imagining a worst case scenario, we have the horses. It would take a couple days, but we'd get there and combine our assets(which at that point wouldn't be money) and efforts. lol

 

[Jody]

I live in the city but grew up in the country. We were able to leave our doors open during the day so my brother and sister and I could go in and out. But at night no way. Why leave it unlocked, just to say that you can? I think those days are over with unfortunately. It takes a second to lock a door. I lock my door at all times. I have taught my children that as soon as you walk in turn around and lock the door. When they bring in groceries, they set them down and lock the door. I am very cautious about stuff like that. May be overly cautious, but I do not easily trust anyone. There is a lot of good out there and there is also a lot of evil. I think of it like I do defensive driving. My golden Broady will alert me if anyone is trying to get in. I don't really invite friends to my house and I would never answer the door to a stranger. I can't believe anyone leaves their house unlocked. I would never be able to sleep. lol,

 

[Jody]

Probably doesn't help that I read a lot of murder mysteries either.

 

[TerryJ2]

Hound Dog, I don't give cash to strangers. Period. I will buy a meal or gas. 9 X out of 10, they don't want the meal or the gas. You got lucky. So did he.

 

[Signorina]

My niece is married to a Preper.

You know you are a child of the 80's when you misread "Preper" and think of this:

I had to re read it!! LOL

 

[Hound dog]

Terry, I opt out of cash 99.9 percent of the time. We have drug alley less than a block from the house. (I call it an alley but it's actually an entire street where 90 percent of the residents are addicts) If this guy had in any way given me bad vibes, I wouldn't have offered the change even. Usually, I can manage to keep cash out of it. Which is why sometimes I hand out food. You know, can I have x amt for a loaf of bread.........uh, no but you can have the loaf of bread.

I have never turned anyone away that I can recall. Even if I have someone wanting to work for cash, usually yard work, I'll try to find something if I have the cash to give them (and it's usually something I'd rather not do). Nichole's bff was wanting to help clean my house for cash, she really needed it.......but at the time I had nothing needed done as it was too cold to do the family room. Hmm......now that that popped into my head, I may ask her if she wants to come help me and Nichole this weekend. She's working now at pizza hut, but the hours suck, like she said though....at least she has a job. She can help in the garden too if she wants......and I'll give her some fresh veggies/fruit to take home.

But on the yard work..........often I have to turn them down as they want to charge me 25.00 to do my front yard. Uh, no. My front yard literally takes 10 mins to mow with a gas mower. Not worth 25.00. Ten maybe. But lots of times they won't go for 10 and I mow it myself.

 

[Star*]

I am not saying if I do or do not leave my doors unlocked. HOWEVER - the last guy to venture into the yard and try his luck on the door knob of the shop was greeted around 1:30 AM in total darkness with a sign on the fence that reads - I can make it to the fence in 2.5 seconds ...can you? And a picture of a pit bull - ours. A sign on the shop that says - Nothing in this shop is worth your life....trespassers will be shot - survivors will be shot again. A very crotchety man with a shot gun who did fire two rounds into the air, while yelling "GET THAT ROBBER BULL." - and he was chased at full speed by a 70 lb pit bull, a 140 lb American Bull dog - a biker with a shot gun who was laughing and yelling "HEY come on back - Bring yer buddies wahhhhhooo I'm done reloading." and me flipping on the floodlights -

There was evidence that he nearly cleared the fence and left part of his hand on the knuckles up of the fence - and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a raccoon that pooped in the yard. We're fairly certain it was the pothead from the camper park down the road from us, and DF heard him falling and crashing through the woods. Since then? We've been fortunate.

About a week ago two men in a pickup truck stopped DF and asked first about the dogs - if they were friendly? DF said Nope, neither am I. Then the guy asked about three rolls of chain link fence that we've had in our yard on their side for a long time. The young man said "I have some dogs and I see you have some fence - I'd like to have it." DF said "It's not for sale, sorry." (He always adds that sorry business) The guy got a little snotty and said "Well it's been sitting there for three years!" and well - I told you DF is nice until he isn't and he turned back around and walked back over to the truck like he was going to GIVE the fence to the guy and instead he looked at him and said "SO is that how long you've been SNOOPIN around my place? Three years?" You got a heck of a lot of nerve taking inventory of a mans property." The guy that was with him tried hard not to laugh and the man just pulled off. DF just walked away angry and said "Well he's got some nerve." I just chuckled myself. YUP - he's not really that friendly but he tries to be. I just shake my head --SURE buddy we'll just GIVE you about 4grand worth of chain link fence. NO problem. That's why I moved my camper. I got tired of people pulling up in the yard and reminding me that I havent moved it for years. Finally had to move it and cover it - Nosey damn spectators. NOW I wish I would have put up the wood fence I sold....You know when I moved here this was a LOT farther out than it is now - lol. I'm thinking ALASKA may be the place for us

 

[donna723]

I've gotta share this one ... it happened to the mother of my hair dresser, a nice lady who is well in to her 70's and lives about a block away from me. She had just been to the store and came back with several bags of groceries and a MONSTER size watermelon. She got out of her car and and staggered up to her front door lugging this huge watermelon. She set it down on a bench on her porch, went back to get her other groceries and set them on the bench next to the watermelon while she dug through her purse looking for her house keys. A young guy snuck up behind her while she was turned around unlocking her door, grabbed her by the shoulder and slung her down! He grabbed her purse and her grocery bags, and then in a fit of extreme greediness, he hoisted her watermelon up too and tried to run off down the street with it all! Of course he didn't get very far because it's difficult to run very fast while you're juggling an extremely heavy watermelon! So this d*mn fool is slowly (and comically!) staggering down the street with her watermelon, her purse and her groceries while the poor lady was screaming her head off. Her screams got the attention of all her neighbors who came running out to see what was going on and they quickly jumped on the guy and pinned him down till the police came. The idiot might have made it too if he wasn't greedy enough to go for the watermelon too! Luckily the lady wasn't hurt, just scared silly. In retrospect it's almost funny but it just goes to show you that you should never say, "Things like that don't happen here!"

 

[Hound dog]

Now because you all are family.................I'll admit it. I'm a prepper. And since I've now caught that Prepper show on National Geographic?? Let me assure you that the vast majority are NOT that extreme or a little (or a LOT) off their nut. omg I look at those people and wonder where the heck they drag them up from?

Actually, the whole family preps. (Nichole on very small scale)

I'm not prepping for the end of the world. If something that large scale happens.......I don't want to stick around and have to deal with it. I prep for practical reasons. Natural disasters being on the top of the list. Possible economic collapse. (be it mine or national )

Honestly? I've always "prepped", it was the way I was raised. I've just expanded on the concept over the past year. And I've worked on becoming more independent food wise as in the garden, canning, learning to bake bread and so on. If nothing else, those skills save me money.

And as I've said time and again............if it weren't for my stockpile (preps) I'd be in heap big trouble right now. My SHTF (sh*t hit the fan-prepper term for whatever type disaster) happened when I lost husband last October, not that we were doing all that great before then. IF I had not prepared for whatever? I wouldn't have my house right now

BUT........it's a fact I keep to myself. Simply because there are people in this lovely world who would come and take what I worked hard to get/grow.

With the guy, the car with the empty tank, and the kids? I thought to myself who drives around with their tank on empty? Why didn't he think of that BEFORE he put the kids in the car? But honestly.......maybe his gas guage didn't work or maybe the car trouble burned up some gas or whatever so I was nice and helped him out.

Sadly though, we live in a world where a vast majority of the population live hand to mouth and never think about the future. They don't want to believe hard times could ever fall upon them for any long list of reasons. So when it does, they haven't a clue what to do and they haven't a thing to work with. I call them the Head in the Sand-ers.

I won't be paying over 4.00 a gallon to mow my yard. My mower doesn't require gas, just manpower. My garden tiller doesn't require gas. My edge trimmer doesn't require gas. I have a grill that works with wood/propane/ and charcoal. (and you can BAKE with it) When I bought my mower..........3 neighbors asked me where I got it and went out and bought them. lol I have a bread maker that doesn't require electric. Tomorrow I will have a sewing machine that doesn't require electric. (a early 1900 treadle sewing machine that works & in excellent condition) I have a food dehydrator that doesn't require electric, and a mixer. I have my washboard, wash tubs, and clothes line. So I can do ALL those things without either electric or gas......so even if it's not a "diaster" going on, I can save money on those bills and put it elsewhere.

And that folks, has been saving my rear for the past 6 months. Because I save money in so many other areas, I can continue to pay the house payment and my other bills.

Lady was walking down the alley wondering how she was gonna pay her rent while in the next breath she's discussing a facebook game she plays. Now honey, if you can't pay your rent maybe it's time to cut off the internet. ugh

You can't fix stupid. So I concentrate on paying it forward and helping when/if I can. Plenty of kind folks helped me from time to time, I can do the same. Not everyone can or will prep (either small or large scale). Heck, most folks today are so used to just running to the store or the fast food joint when they want something.......They can't even figure out how to cope without a paycheck. They have some article series thing on fb about folks out of work and how they're coping.......well honestly they're not coping, they can't figure out that kids don't need to see orthodontist when you can't buy bread, or that maybe the teens don't need cell phones when they can't afford to buy school supplies. Ok, I'd better not get started on this. lol It's a major issue of mine.

My point is, expect more people to be knocking on your doors. Decide how you're going to handle it now, before it happens. And please put a little "preps" back for yourselves. I last bought peanut butter when it was like 4 bucks or so for the huge family size jar. Today it's 14.00 for that same jar. Some of this stuff last forever, some you need to rotate. But I'll just say I won't be buying peanut butter at 14.00 a jar anytime soon. I personally, hope the outrageous gas/food/utility prices don't last too long and that this is just a bump in the road. But if they do........well, I continue to add to my preps even as I use them.

 

[InsaneCdn]

I didn't know it was called being a "prepper". Grew up that way, to some extent... like, Dad always kept 3 jerry cans full of gas partly to run equipment like snowblower and lawnmower, and partly so he could bail the rest of us out when we "ran out"... so, if some neighbor came to the door and needed $ for gas... Dad would just offer to grab his (smallest) jerry can of gas. If the person really needed GAS? They were grateful. (one neighbor we did this for... had her gas tank syphoned dry by her X... Dad not only got the jerry can, but figured out which locking gas cap to get for her... she didn't even know those existed!) If they were really just looking for $$... tough luck. Of course, it doesn't hurt to go to the door with a big, Lab/shepherd cross with his hackles up...

We stockpile the less-perishable stuff... paper products, soap, toothpaste, canned stuff... If it has a 6 week shelf-life, I won't be able to keep track. Even if it's a 6-month shelf-life. But 2-3 years or more? I re-org the cold room yearly, so we catch anything that got pushed to the back during the year.

 

[Shari]

My neice's hubby is no where as extreme as the show, but he puts a lot more thought into it than the average joe. They raise cattle, and his thinking is the economy will collapse and he will have a food source. And he's right.

If he wants to keep his food source, he'll need a way to protect it. In that economy, there won't be running to walmart to buy ammunition, so he's stashes black powder, etc. They buy an extra can of soup every time they buy groceries. Soup can be poured over white rice and you'll survive. Their goal is to have 2 months of supplies on hand. They figure in 2 months, they can get a good handle on how they'll need to function going forward, and those 2 months' supplies will buy them the time to focus on that.

If it were to happen, we'd be mad canners here. We have gas and wood to can over, if needed, and enough jars to process about 70% of what's in the freezers, which are full. We would be on major protein diets, but we'd have food. If the situation was dire, we would gather the fam at the neice's farm (its central and large enough to support us all) and combine our efforts.

But I'm with hound. If its that bad, not sure I wanna still be here.

 

[muttmeister]

OK, maybe it is just because if where I live (a rural community) but even the "little old ladies" in this town (including me) have guns and most people know it so we aren't bothered much. Do you all read Janet Evanovich? I have to laugh when something happens in her apartment building and all of the old people come out into the hall with their guns. Makes me think of home. LOL