Any recent occurences of vandalism to report?

I dunno....the sound of a Mossburg being pumped is a pretty strong deterrent....no actual shots need to be fired.

 

It generally does not even have to be loaded for that matter because nothing else quite sounds like that.

 

Indeed. It's story time: Years ago, before we moved to NC, we lived on a pretty isolated cul-de-sac in TN. Maybe 5 houses total. One night I'm home alone getting ready for bed, DH is away on a business trip and I hear what I think are footsteps in the basement. No time to call 911, phone is in the kitchen, no cell phone back then and I think there is someone IN MY HOUSE with me. DH kept a Mossburg in our BR (no kids), I picked it up and pumped it just the way he showed me....I hear the basement door slam shut........... and that was that. Was someone in the house with me? I'll never know. Maybe I didn't have the door latched and the wind caught the door? I don't really believe that, but there is a chance. I didn't call the police, because I wasn't 100% sure and being young and dumb, I didn't want to appear foolish if there hadn't been an actual person. On the other hand, I was prepared to follow through if whomever was in the house hadn't chosen the prudent option of leaving immediately. In the year 2015, I'd be using my cell to call 911 AND pumping the shotgun, LOL.

 

I grew up in the mountains of WV. I had a great uncle who was a county commissioner for decades. He had lost his left arm in a mining accident and decided political office suited him. He hunted and fished better with one arm than many did with two and when there was nothing to hunt he dug ginseng. He and I seemed to have a lot in common so my wife liked to point out his less than civil actions when she "suggested" that I change my ways. One of her favorite points happened during the depression after he lost his arm. There was something in his chicken house one night and he thought it was someone so he grabbed his pump shotgun on the way out the door. He would rack a shell in the chamber with one hand by quickly moving it up and down faster than the gun could change directions. The sound was distinctive and the person inside the chicken house made for the door. Orville had the door covered and shot a round of OO buckshot through it. He killed two chickens and only one pellet hit the man inside. He and his lookout got away leaving a bit of blood. The story went that the guy left town and later died but none knew if it was from the gunshot or not. That was always pointed out as a little over the top by my wife .... until doing some research into her family tree brought out an interesting note in the census concerning her grandmother, who was a Cherokee. It seems that my wife's grandmother was a witness to a dead body on the census record, which sounded more than a bit odd. IT happened that her grandmother was still alive and I asked her about it. She had not witnessed anything but she had shot a man trying to kill her husband because he was working to unionize the miners. They had jumped him when he came home and were beating him to death when she stepped out onto the porch and racked the shell into the chamber to get their attention. She was about 4 feet tall and the one guy laughed at her and told her she did not have the guts to use the shotgun as he left her husband and headed toward her. She shot him in the chest with the first round and racked another round. The second guy was on his way when she told him to stop or she would drop him too. She made him take his "trash" out of her yard if he was leaving. Her husband was ok and was never attacked at home again. I used that as an example of how my wife might need some civilized training too .... until we agreed to just ignore those interesting segments of history, but still remember where we both came from.

 

My life's been pretty boring. I once ran off a Jehovah Witness because he woke me from my Sunday nap. That's about all I got.

 

That is just the thing my wife pointed to me being too muck like my great uncle. In my defense I did not know the Witnesses were pulling into our drive way when I ran out of the garage yelling and firing blanks from my Mini-14. I was just chasing the stray cat away (again) that had decided to live under my work bench. The result was neither the cat nor the Witnesses came back. I viewed that as a win-win but my wife thought it might have been just a tad too much .........

 

I usually just answer the door holding my German Shepherd by the collar as he pulls and barks at whoever is there. That's usually enough for them to say something like, "Oh here's a pamphlet, good bye!" lol

 

Next time just answer the door naked.

 

That does not work. When I tried that they wanted to pray for my recovery from the horrible accident or deformity ..... and I had neither .... or so I had been telling my wife.

 

Very interesting!! And good for her! What an idiot to suggest she wouldn't actually USE the gun. I guess she made her point! I learned early on in my life I'm not one of those people that would go out without a fight. I'm originally from Southwest VA myself and there is a goodly dash of Cherokee in my family tree. Howdy neighbor!

 

My sister has a French Mastiff that goes a good 150#'s and still growing. Funnily enough she has zero issues with the door to door folks.

 

That does not work. When I tried that they wanted to pray for myrecovery from the horrible accident or deformity ..... and I had neither .... or so I had been telling my wife.

I'm thinking for you ... I think we've all been prone that incident

 

My brother-in-law had three of them and a German Shepard. The Shepard looked like a puppy in comparison but was the leader since the Mastiffs slept most of the time. Two have passed away and the problems getting them out of the house and to the vet when they could not walk was very very difficult, but they never had to lock their doors and they live in Chicago.