Trash guards needed

I've had this happen before, but this past week the trash shoppers were really bad. I didn't mind when a couple in a pickup truck picked up the dead water heater. I didn't mind when someone stopped by and picked up a silk plant I was throwing away because the pot for it had broken.

I did mind that people tore holes in the trash bags on the curb to check out the contents, and I REALLY got ticked when some young lady started taking trash out of a cardboard box I had it in and just piling the trash loose because she wanted the box, and then she backtalked me when I asked that she not do that, took the box, glared at me as if I was the one at fault

From now on I may put out the trash just a few hours prior to when I think the trash truck is coming. I have mixed feelings- I'm fine with the metal collectors and they thanked me sweetly for the water heater, and I'm happy if they got a couple dollars for it, but I'm upset about the strewn trash left by someone who just needed a cardboard box.

Some of the scrappers where I live will come by, grab a metal chair, kick the cushion off in your yard and take the metal. One time I put an old window out that had aluminum trim. They broke all the glass out in my driveway and took the metal.

Now, I list anything of that sort on CL under the 'free' section. If they want it, they have to show up and meet me face to face. So far it has worked great.

I usually don't have anyone pick through my garbage can though. Usually it's full of dirty diapers and rat litter

Oh yeah, and another time I was sitting on my buddies porch, and a scrapper came down the street drunk (assusming) towing a trailer, swirving down the road, and nailed four cars and hauled tail. He never sped up, slowed down or anything. Like he didn't even notice. He was never caught.

I had a couple of guys in a pickup truck stop here when they saw me out by the garage. Asked me if I had any scrap metal they could have. I told them there was an old car back in the woods they were welcome to take, IF they could get it out without damaging anything. One of the guys walked back there, but I think it would be too much of a challenge for them. They seemed very disappointed that the engine wasn't still in it. It's an OLD Chevy BelAir, upside down, and been there for years before we bought the property. There is no sign of the road used to even get it back there in the first place. I pointedly told them to NOT come here unless they check with me first. And I also told them about the guy I caught stealing bamboo and how I had photos of him that I took to the sheriff's office to nail him. I told them I'm REAL big into electronic doodads and have security cameras all over the place. Matter of fact, they were already photographed when they came onto my property.

Been a lot of thefts around here from metal scavengers, so I'm going to hang onto those pics and maybe even run them to the sheriff's office in case they are looking for suspects.

I've had a person with a trailor stop at my trash pile(day before trash day) and grab up the small chest freezer, toss it onto the trailor and haul butt with it. I actually have the 'crash' noise on video tape as I was videoing one of the tegus when they stopped and nabbed it.

I wonder how happy they were when they opened it to find about 40 lbs of really spoiled rotten meat and lard in it? Shrug. They were welcome to take it, in any case.

I've had people smash up things to get a part, and had folks dump out containers to get one thing out. If I did that, I'd clean up the mess! Just inconsiderate!

Game cameras are a relatively inexpensive, yet effective, way to capture proof of trespassers, thieves, and/or vandals on your property. They are designed to be mounted on trees or other sturdy supports so bears can't remove or damage them (using optional security boxes, mounting bolts, and cables) so even if spotted by a trespasser they will be difficult to remove or destroy.

Plus they are great to use if you have some varmint digging up the garden or damaging your house, or if you just want to know what has been making that path through your yard at night.

Just be sure to get one with a very FAST trigger time. Some of the cheaper units may have a two second trigger time, which can have the subject that triggered the photo to actually be PAST the field of view before the photo has been taken. And they also make units that will capture full video along with audio. But like most other things, the better the quality the higher the cost.

Your peach eater is precious!

Thing is, I caught the young lady emptying trash, told her not to do it, she bald faced did it in front of me anyway, gave me backtalk, and took the box.

I can see though that cameras might be good for real theft or vandalism, and I'm going to look into getting one. Brand name suggestions are welcome, something a low tech person can set up would be good.

I've caught my own neighbors putting holes in my garbage to steal things *grrrrr* really my trash is not that great and if it was, it would be donated to goodwill or left on top the dumpster! I started dumping the used cat litter through the garbage before I put it in the dumpster.

The homeless (and some guy in a van that I've confronted twice now) steal all our recycling.. you know the recycling that the city uses to fund public programs those same homeless people probably need. Or the construction guys that dump their leftover work stuff in our dumpsters and when I confront them they pretend they don't speak english. Anyways, I now bring my recycling to work, at least I know where it's going... the cleaners steal it. ha-ha

Growing up my mom would take me dumpster diving, where I got most of my clothes and toys when I was a kid, right after xmas was always her favorite time because of all the discarded packaging, I'd get in there and pull off the UPC codes from barbies and stuff so she could send them in for rebates. Ah the joys of being poor.

/rant off, thanks I needed that vent

I am also interested in theft cam recommendations as I've been meaning to get something set up this year

Start pissing on it.. lol

I recently bought a couple more cameras to mount around the property after that bamboo theft incident, and honestly, I REALLY wanted video/audio capability this time around. But in anything that I considered to be affordable, the capability just wasn't there. In that I mean that the startup time between trigger and actual start of recording was between 2 and 8 seconds. Two seconds is a LONG time for a moving target.

So what I settled on was a Reconyx HC600. I had used Reconyx before and was quite pleased with the results, and this is a newer and improved model. But it's not exactly cheaply priced, but all things considered, this is the best bang for the buck that I could find. Trigger/photo activation time is a mere 1/5th of a second. And you can set it up to take multiple pics per trigger.

Just be certain to get the security enclosure and figure out a mounting place that will be unobtrusive and able to mount the camera/enclosure securely. You want it hard to spot, but if it IS spotted, you want it to be a bugger to steal and/or destroy.