My hearse has been shot at three times now

[Morella]

The first time shattered the window. The second time dented the trim around the rear window, which is Lexan. Now I have a groove about an inch long going up the window, which must have been fired from a .25 or even a .22, from inside the yard. I've done live fire tests on this material, and you can't do any visible damage to it with an air gun.

I guess I put the cover on until it is cool enough to work on it every day, and de-insure it for a while. I'm not crazy about people coming into my yard with weapons, though. I had my air conditioner on, so I couldn't have heard them. I have enough firepower here to shred a car, or devastate a house, much less a human being, but if I don't know that someone is in the yard, it doesn't do me any good. Obviously the dog was asleep on the job. Maybe I need to run a thin copper wire around the fence, easily broken, that sets off one of those little $5 sirens from Radio Shack. You can hear those things for miles. If I shoot someone, though, I'll probably be the one who goes to jail. That's the way Arizona law works.

I am so god damned sick of this place. And Tony wonders why I'm "already" packing, like he's going to be here to help me buy a new house on some acreage, replaster the pool, or fix the holes in the sheet rock and paint the house? Cut down the palo verde trees? Fix the air conditioner? Finish building the garage? Move the furniture into a truck?

Damn, I sure could use a man around here.

-denise

[Morella]

I've forgotten who sent me the hearse cover (that's gratitude for you, isn't it?). Actually, it has more to do with my memory. Anyway, double thanks. I put my original plywood template against the back window, and put on the cover, which fits like a glove (not an OJ glove).

Then I cut up brush and trees and filled the dumpster with them, until the pain in my neck and my headache shut me down. What is really bad is, this is a residential neighborhood, the homes are old, but fairly expensive, and I strap on a Ruger to do my yardwork. We have gang graffiti all over our trash cans, and they walk the alleys at night, but the state of Arizona says that we can't defend ourselves.

Tony says that we can't get a pit bull or Rottie because our home insurance won't cover it, but it will cover everything but dog bite liability, won't it? Unfortunately, our stupid Arizona law allows burglars to sue for injuries, even if they're hurt while breaking into your house. We tried to vote that down, but the Goldbergs and Onksteins, Schwartz, etc. injury firms spent billions of dollars running television commercials, incorrectly saying that the law would prevent you from being able to sue anyone for anything. Instead of reading the voter's guide, people just believed what they saw on television.

I guess it's the people here who make up the stupidity of the state, and the worst thing is that I ended up here because I was sure that I could get a job at Hamilton, and I was out of money, so I couldn't leave, a situation I'm working on correcting.

-denise

[eric anderson]

i firmly believe in the castle doctrine and have my carry permit ( work part time at a shooting range too) unfortunally having your unocupied car shot at does not put you in grave bodily harm, still makes you want to shoot the bastards though. what about the cameras you talked about? they didn't pick up anything?

[Morella]

No, the cameras were shit. I returned them. They couldn't even follow a moving car, much less get the plate number. I could park the Ford so that the dash cam faces out, though, with an 8 GB card. That would record 640 x 480 video all night.

I don't think that anyone can hurt the hearse anymore, but here I am up at 1am on weekends just checking out the streets. I've found that people freak when you take flash pictures of them, even though they don't come out, but I think that a movie just might, with the headlights on. The problem is that I live too close to a school zone to carry a gun, but a cop might be sympathetic, since I have a carry card and a families of fallen officers plate and stickers. I might even put it in a box while I'm by the school. One way or another this shit has to stop, even if I have to do it myself.

-denise

[eric anderson]

wish i had usefull advice, give up sleep an option? didn't think so ask police for more frequente patrols? probabley to busy to help ya, i still like the rottie idea if you could

[CCW webmaster]

Fuck an alarm. Electrify the fence!

[hotroddwayne]

Just do what i did... had some kids that would go around late at night & play "mailbox baseball" hanging out the windows of 'daddy's cadillac'... headlights off... with baseball bats destroying mailboxes all up & down the road. This happened a few times (about the same time of night) over a period of a couple months. I can see up the road from my house... saw a car turn onto my road, headlights went off... then I could hear mailboxes getting hit as I was making my way to the street crouched down with a rope & cinder block tied to the end of it. Waited for the perfect moment & swung that cinder block right through the grill... & radiator! PSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTT steam & antifreeze everywhere as they tore up the road!!! 20 minutes later the sheriff pulls into my driveway... I go out & he wants to know if I know anything about these poor kid's daddy's car getting destroyed by a cinder block?!?!? I said "Yes... it must have been those SAME damn kids who have been destroying mailboxes around here! I heard them earlier... bet they destroyed some mailboxes & hit those boy's car as they drove by!!! Go up the road & look for smashed mailboxes & whatever they threw at those boy's car." He came back & said "Just as you described... smashed mailboxes again & a big brick tied to a rope! Didn't see any kids hiding around though!" The moral of the story... sometimes you have to show you don't take shit from anybody & protect what you have, no matter what it takes.

[Morella]

But who knows which car is doing that? It might not even be a car...I am almost positive, from the line of trajectory, and from comments that I overhead, that the people across the corner did it...so positive that I took some minor revenge. Those are the people who think that I'm a witch.

Besides, most of the people in this neighborhood, all but two houses that I know, are nice people whom I know personally, and I would not want to break their mailboxes.

My beau-père and his neighbors had a problem with a kid riding by on a bike with loud pipes every night, so one of them tied an end of a rope to a tough, reinforced mailbox, and the others held it. The motorcycle sped away, but the driver wasn't on it. By the time he woke up, the rope and the vigilantes were long gone.

One thing that Tony already knew when we moved in here was to go around and talk to the neighbors when he saw them outside. He met Earl, who cleans up my front yard, comes by just to see how I'm doing, and goes to breakfast at a waffle place with me sometimes. I know that the guy directly across the street from me has an alarm system business, the neighbors on my left are complete assholes who finally got rid of their dogs, probably because they were taken away by the county, and the people on my right are OK. The people in the line of trajectory from both my Chrysler and the hearse are across the corner, and they are enormous rednecks who park their truck diagonally across their yard, and sit on the porch behind security bars all day long, in the hear. They look very comfortable behind bars. I hope their house doesn't catch fire, because no one could get out with all of those bars outsite of the windows.

Get to be friends with these people, and they will help with any problem that you may have in your neighborhood, because they are their problems as well. It's funny that most of the people we know around here are millionaires, and they don't want to move, because it would be a waste of money to them. They don't spend a lot of money on clothes or fancy cars, which is why they are still millionaires. Earl tried to buy a used vacuum cleaner, and his wife, who is normally very quiet, spoke up and said, "Why do I have to get some piece of shit used vacuum cleaner?" She's right. I recommended the Dirt Devil upright. Ours has lasted almost three years, I've only had to unclug the lower hose once. It comes with some ass-kicking attachments, and for less than a hundred bucks, it's a deal.

Well, I'd better shut up before I fall asleep with my fingers in the keyboard again.

-denise

[pyro]

make friends with some bikers. Have a party and invite them over.

[Otto Baron]

When the city of Temecula was presuring us to move our antique shop in a 1910 residence from their 80 million dollar civic ceter, one of the things (Besides a series of mailboxes being destroyed, was having the side windows of our 59 shot at. Fortunately, they didn't get the rear or windshield,

[Xanthus]

Moments like this make me LOVE Florida.

I can carry, and if you force me I CAN shoot. I do not need to retreat.

Still, the abuse of a car is not threat of bodily harm unless I caught them while walking my dog, then it's 2 parties armed and a shootout at the OK corral which is still not what I'd want.

I hope you find some resolution soon.

[Otto Baron]

You need to be armed in Florida. Some of the mosquitos you have there can only be brought down with a .357 magnum!

[Xanthus]

You need to be armed in Florida. Some of the mosquitos you have there can only be brought down with a .357 magnum!

And that's the friggin' truth right there!

[Morella]

I am not going to run away. That is a good way to get shot in the back. I am not going to back away, because someone might be standing behind me ready to grab me. This is what my firearms instructors say to do (I have had two carry cards, which proves that I have taken classes, although I also have some other training):

If someone who looks dangerous comes within 7 feet of me, and follows me when I move over, (most shootings happen at 7 feet or less), I tell them that they are making me a little nervous and ask politely if they would move over just a bit. If they jump at me immediately, or reach into their clothes and I see an object, I will have no choice but to draw my weapon and fire, and believe me, I can draw it quickly. I practice every day, and I use a paddle holster with the thumb break cut off. I usually carry a Ruger P95D. Most people who look at it hate its boxy appearance, but people who have big hands who draw it and feel its balance, check out the $500 or less price tag, or field strip it and clean it in 5 minutes, can easily fall in love with it. You should rent several sidearms before you buy, though, so you know that fits your hand, your weight, and your posture. The right holster is important, too. Mine swivels, and I can have my finger on the trigger while I'm talking to him, so that he can't see it, then just turn, point it up a little, and open fire. Even with my purse on that side and a jacket on, with the weapon concealed, I can do this.

If people try to surround me, I will draw my weapon to the ready position, which is feet in the Weaver stance, and weapon pointing down at a 45 degree angle. At this point, I am not guilty of having pointed a weapon at anyone. I move back through their circle, always looking around. The first one who draws is the first one who gets fired upon, and all I can do is my best. I'm going to be moving, so I will keep my eyes mainly on the front sight. A side step, crossed foot over foot, I learned in a martial arts class, is the absolute fastest way to move, and usually isn't expected. If their distance is 40' or so (practice this one first), you may be able to do a falling forward roll, and come up with the advantage of surprise and a closer shot, or get away from someone who is behind you with a falling forward roll or shoulder roll and turn around, so that you have the element of surprise, and if he has a N*town Saturday Night Special, you are already out of his 9' maximum range. You're free to open up. Keep in mind, though, that these are tactics that I learned on mats, 20 years ago, and practiced. On asphalt with ruts and broken malt liquor bottles, older bones, or body injuries, you might do yourself more harm than good.

I don't care about having to leave, unless someone follows me. I don't loiter anyway, but they are obligated to get out of my way, and if I am at my car door, I will ask them politely to move away from the car. I had to do this once...I parked at Walgreens (a mistake at night), and when I got back, two of "them" were leaning on my car. I put my hand in my purse, finger on the trigger, and said, "Hi! Say, would you mind letting me into my car, there?" They just slowly moved off, and I got in. It couldn't have worked out better. Nobody got hurt, and I didn't even have to draw my weapon, because it was obvious that I had my hand on it.

If you ever have to face charges, the prosecutor will try to get you to use the word "kill", or get you to answer to it. Don't let him do that to you. Explain that you fired because you were in fear for your life, and you felt that there was no other way to "stop" the attack. "Stop", don't "kill". If you take an intermediate pistol class, they will drill that into your head until you're sick of it, but it might keep you out of prison.

-denise

[Venom]

I never leave home without at least my KelTec PF9 9mm in my pocket
less than an inch thick - it disappears even in shorts
if its cool enough for an overshirt, theres a jackass shoulder rig with either a Sig .40 or an H&K .45 under my arm