we did not move to the country for this

oh let listen to richard... lets roll over and pee on ourselves like good submissive victims.

you assume thieves are brave and agressive.....
if they were they would thieve in full view of you and give you the finger.

they sneek in for a a reason, they fear getting caught. They fear confrontation. most petty thieves are like this.

if they think you are bad medicine, they will keep their distance.

you attribute to much bravery to petty thieves.

Ive been in enough bars and around enough backwoods rednecks to know its a simple rule... if they walk up to you and take your wallet, dont make them mad, they will come back.
if they sneek a few goodies out of your truck, they are weasles and will benifit from a severe beating and wont come back for more.

Know thy enemy.... before you hit them.

Where did you learn that from. LOL

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

Richard, your reasoning is the only reason I would think of buying a locking gas cap.

CN, I said Bad to have done, good to know. I sometimes also add, not so good to share. I find that sometimes knowledge can be very tempting, and I certainly don't want to tempt anyone with... um... 'higher chemical reactions'.

As for the mythbusters stuff, here is the episode highlights:

http://www.mythbustersfanclub.com/ht...ar_capers.html

Though some of those will work over a durational span greater than overnight and a start.

Richard anyone that comes to my place trespassing and stealing is going o leave with more than he bargained with. I will have very little guilt over "lighting" them up the Army made it so.(I will try to hold them for the police but if they make any sudden moves...... It will be just like the high tech vidios of people we shoot at with lasers now in the military. I dont think they will lock me up with my two honrable discharges from the army and no record not even a speeding ticket for protecting my property. Everyone in my area is armed and thieves are pretty rare.

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

Put soy sauce in the gas can you leave for bait. It doesn't need to desolve like sugar. I am sure it will screw up the fuel systems of anyone who steals it.

The concrete filled pipe commonly referred to as a "lolly column" in construction does a very nice job of stopping people from running over a mail box. The post is set in concrete to add to the stopping power. I personally know of a person that did just that. Wham! One late night a young man ran into the "box" and his car stopped right there. He told the police an animal ran in front of his car and he swerved to miss it. The mail box was never run into again. The box and pole are still there and that happened 30 years ago.

I like the idea of a mail box within a mail box and a concrete lining. The young people here seem to get great joy from smashing nice expensive mail boxes. A wood bat or metal bat would have the same results. Ouch. The bat may bouce right back at the swinger and make contact. Double ouch! You could keep score on the box like the fighter pilots do.

I'm sorta curious with all the advice being handed out here, how many have actually, personally done any of it? For instance, how many have actually run off a tresspasser at nighttime at gunpoint? I can see my gate when the leaves are off in the winter and it's about 400 yards from the house. Twice over the years I heard the dogs barking and looked out and saw headlights sitting at the gate and then the lights go off, so I knew there was a vehicle sitting at my gate in the middle of the night doing "something". Keep in mind the road coming in before even getting to my gate is thru woods and is a half mile long, one lane, and the only way out once you come into my gate is to back all the way out, no turnarounds. In other words, very secluded, no 911 quick response is available. Both times I walked out there, flashlight turned off and snuck up on the vehicles. Once it was coonhunters looking for their dogs, the other time was some teens sitting in the car smooching and drinking beer, not really bothering anything. At the time I had a 140 pound Akita and also a good size Chow dog. Both dogs went out with me. I have a Ruger .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk revolver and yes, both times I had the gun drawn when I got to the gate. Even with all that backup, I don't consider myself a coward, but I'll tell you right now I was a nervous wreck.....no, better yet, I was plain ole scared. But I was more scared to just sit in the house and wonder what was going on or if somebody was trying to slip in un-noticed. My point is, it's easy to type in these forums what you'd do, but really doing it is something altogether different. I know for me personally, to work up enough nerve to confront somebody in the dark was not at all easy and I'm definitely not recommending it. My other point is that sometimes what might appear to be something threatening can be totally innocent. The thing that has helped me most is getting to know my neighbors, staying in touch with them, and getting to know the local deputies on a personal level. When something happens, I can usually find out pretty quick who it was..... somebody always seems to know.

I agree... making yourself more enemies is not wise.

In my neck of the woods if one persons mailbox is under constant attack while others remain in tact, it is because you have ----ed somebody off, it is nothing more than a rude warning but it shouldn't be ignored either. Moving into a new community can be hard but not impossible.

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UK 2005:Treasury Dept./Trade and Industry survey concluded: 3.6 m gay people in the UK/~6% of the total population/1 in 16.66
Biblical Argument for the Acceptance of Homosexuality

YOu just need to do and reinforce the "Crazy lady with a shotgun" routine. In the middle of the afternoon, go tearing out of the in your nightgown, barefoot. Yell and curse like a sailor. Send a few blasts into the woods with your trusty 12-guage, and then calmly walk back inside.

I did this when I was really sick to my stomach and had a coyote after my guineas. I was after the coyote, but you really don't have to be aiming at anything. This show is for anyone who just might be watching or listening. Make sure you're not going to hit anything you don't mean to - be safe about this. People just need to think you have a screw loose and you're not shy about using that weapon.

The people who live across the road from me have had their house broken into, I have not. I've noticed the neighbors across the street are doing a lot more target practice lately, and I don't think that's a coincidence.

Put kerosene in the gas can. Or move back to the city. Either one will work.

[QUOTE=edcopp]Welcome to the country. You are an outsider, and you always will be. It is the "god given" right of the locals to steal you blind. I am on the other side of the Ohio river and that situation exists here too. We live in a miscreant society, and that is just how it is.

Sounds to me like your nearest neighbor is heavily involved, It is very likely that your church group members are as well. Sad but it really looks that way. You will get all you will put up with until you put a stop to it. Remember it is very likely that the locals have cell phones, and/or C.B. radios. C.B's are a bit out of style, but there a lot of spots where the "cell" won't work.

I don't believe in the once an outsider, always an outsider theory. I also don't believe that the people in the church are conspiring against her. Most likely its teenagers stealing the gas, and as long as she keeps a full tank with out a lock, they will treat her car like the golden goose.

We moved to Missouri two years ago. Even though we came from California we've been readily accepted by the locals. The day we got here, we hired a contractor to build a front porch on our mobile home. He's one of the most popular contractors in the area with projects coming out of his ears. He dropped the project he was doing and he and his crew were there the next morning and built our porch. We needed it done quickly because we had a huge truck of belongings coming and no way to get them into the house without them getting ruined by rain. He lives a couple miles from us and gave us his home phone number to call if something should happen at night and we needed help.

The people here in Missouri are no different than our own family. They are polite but cautious till they get to know what type of person that you are.
We're known in the small towns around here as "the californian's" ( I suspect they say crazy californian for me) .
It took us less than six months for the Home Supply stores (lumber yards, etc) to start giving us the "regular customer discounts" and we get our things like wood delivered for free. No one has ever made us feel like an outsider. On the other hand they have bent over backwards to make us feel at home.

I think a lot of it is because we treat the people with respect. We had locals stop by to use the telephone or to bum gas to get to town. In a rural community things like that spreads quickly.

Bad bad idea. A 410 (unless loaded with a slug which are very hard to find) won't do much. What if they are armed? If your going to have a weapon around and have the will power to shoot an intruder, make sure it is a weapon that will put them down and render them no longer dangerous.

roflmao Now, I could handle that! Not really but it'd be interesting to see!

lol Hardly. I'm pretty friendly with the Sheriff and do ride alongs and am basically an unofficial reserve officer.

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Respect The Cactus!

Leave the lawn mower in the front yard.
Leave a 5 gal gas can near it.
In the can put 4 gal of gas, 1 gal of Acetone.

use corn syrup instead of sugar ,but you need lots of either to make a differance but i heard mothballs are worse cause it brakes down any thing rubber

Mothballs and acetone will do next to nothing. Acetone is used to increase gas mileage and mothballs to increase octane. To have ill effects one must use them in excess of what one would be able to pass off.

I read this thread with interest but sad for you too. I have a couple of questions? Do you have a yard light? I wouldn't be without one. And then, do you have a local radio station where you can call in? Do you have a fence? Are there neighbors you can visit that have teens?

I am agreeing that this is probably kid jerk offs. Fits the profile.

Please DO NOT get a dog, especially a grown, large, "guard breed" unless you are prepared to care for one, be responsible for it, love dogs and know what you are doing. I get hostile at people who talk about this move like a dog was a inanimate object!

I had a problem with some idiots(kids)stealing my mail for awhile. The Mail box being out on the road 3/10's of a mile from me. In a rage(I learned my kid who was a Navy SEAL wasn't getting his letters from home) I visited every neighbor around here and told the parents et al that I was totally mad about this, was buying a good camera set up with high speed film, a comfortable chair and had my 20 gauge loaded and was going to pick nights at random to sit out concealed in the trees where I could see the mailbox.

I talked to every school kid around here and told them they'd better pass the word at school that I was after whoever was doing this and I wasn't happy! And I posted notices at the schools re a reward for info.

I called the radio station here and told them on the air what was going on and that a reward was offered for whoever could be proven to be responsible and while the sheriff would get them in time they were going to be missing somebody parts first. I don't ever remember being so mad! LOL

Never had a problem since that day. LOL I believe that you can't just sit back and be a victim..be proactive....they might do that "at home" where your family is, but we don't have to do that here! As for that remark about how we are regarded elsewhere...with all of our faults, we are the richest(better standard of living), most sucessful democracy that has ever came down the pike and people don't die here trying to get OUT...they die trying to get IN. If we worried about all those foreign twits out there and how they think of us we'd be speaking German, Japanese, Russian or the Queens English now!!!!

I sure hope you get this solved and get it out of your life.

Good luck....LQ

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" Live in the Sunshine,
Swim the Sea,
Drink the Wild Air"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing." D. Duck

CN, you know I think you're great, but sometimes you really, really scare me with the things you know and the methods you employ.

I don't think I really want to know how you learned some of this stuff.

Tracy

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Ignorance is the true enemy.

I've seen the village, and I don't want it raising my children.

www.newcenturyhomestead.com

thank you all for your input, It is much appreciated. It really is a flustering experience. we are not springchickens anymore and have lived in the countryside here and there most of our lives, and I never ever bothered to lock a garage before and never had a problem before. so it actually hurts to come here and wham, something like that. a totally new situation.
we had planned to get a couple of dogs anyway, my husband is good at training animals. he has trained a cat and a chicken, he can train a dog. the mad lady sounds amusing, but would be an exercise in futility. nearest neighbor is a 10 minute walk. And I could not pull it off, I am outside most of the day. I will have a chat with all the neighbors and warn them of the gasoline thief. I will also mention that my husband is a good shot and we are installing security gear. what would several cans, way too much, of gas additive do? yes we have a light, it is motion activated. I get the impression, if somebody comes at night we are just holding the lantern for them. I am sure it happened during the day as we never heard a car, unless someone walked in. whoever did must know our coming and going. we allowed a neighbor down the road to hunt for coons on the place, he has a teenage son and helps the nearest neighbor with whatever. Drugs seem to be a problem in the area and several meth labs have been busted in the area. we have barb wire around the whole place and a gate that we need to replace and lock when we go anywhere. Thanks again. it was good to read all your posts. very interesting.

It was bad enough when they stole our gas...but then they stole all 6 lug nuts off the wheel of our Blazer. Going down the road the wheel fell off......lemme tell you it was quite a ride!! Luckily we weren't hurt or killed but the Blazer has $3500 in damages. We put up a motion light AND a trail cam, which is a motion activated camera. Haven't had any problems since.