Things are not always as they appear. I was awoken at 2:06 am by the sound of someone trying to open the gate to my neighbors back yard. By the time I got my pants, shoes, and 870 on, whomever it was had left the yard. I looked down the sidewalk and saw a gal staggering down the sidewalk and naively assumed it was her.

It was not.

I reeled back the video surveillance this morning and a few things started clicking into place. When I went outside to investigate (2:10 am) , I found one of my garbage cans, open end down, on the sidewalk by my neighbors front fenced yard. Hmmmm.

I talked to my neighbor this morning, she said that when she went outside to let her dog out into the yard at 3am, there was one of my garbage cans in her yard, open end down. She moved it to its proper place in the alley.

And something in the back of my brain started itching. I found that garbage can, open end down, on the sidewalk by her yard at 2:12am. And put it back in the alley. She found it in her yard, open end down, at 3am and put it back in the alley.

Scenario: Guy on video took the can from the alley, set it on the sidewalk to use to climb over the fence into her yard. But got interrupted. I come along and put the can back in the alley. He comes back later, uses the can to climb the fence, pulls the can over into the yard with him, and then leaves it behind in her yard when he uses it again to climb over the fence to leave her yard. She lets her dog out, finds the can in her yard, and replaces it in the alley.

So this guy creeped around her house, tried the doors, came back within an hour and climbed the fence into her yard, and tried the other doors. Thats more than a bit creepy.

Still assessing the situation. I passed the footage along to the neighbor who was a bit shook up. I suspect it might be a guy from the creepy crazy-people house down the block. But…it’s going to be  gun-intensive next couple days, I suspect.

My neighbor didn’t understand what she could possibly have that she thought this guy would think was worth coming back and trying to break in over. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that people who want to steal aren’t going to try to break into a house that they reasonably expect is occupied at 2am. They break into a place they know is occupied because what they want is the occupant.

I don’t know if my neighbor is a gun person but I’m betting not, nor is she likely to be. I told her to set out motion lights and keep a report with the cops so that if we see this guy we can have a record of what happened. Not much else I can do, although I did get permission to rearrange the security cams to cover more of her property. Also gave her my number and told her I’m just one panicked scream away if she has problems.