An interesting security measure

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA.

Vandalism Deterrent - Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get into your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you! reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in your house, odds are the burglar or rapist won't stick around.... after a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that.

That's an email I've received several times lately....and oh yes, it seems like a brilliant idea.

Matter of fact, I thought it was such a good idea when Chris sent it around that I actually took my key fob upstairs to the bedroom with me that night.

I'd recently had a scare when I went down the stairs one night and thought I heard a noise in the kitchen. I was standing at the bottom of the stairs and the sound was so distinct I called out loudly, "Is somebody here?"

What did I expect? For the intruder to say, "Uh, yes ma'am, here I am in your kitchen, looking for valuables...?"

Truth is, my own voice scared me so badly I turned around and ran upstairs to my bedroom where I bolted the door and stayed there all night. That's what I usually do at night, stay in my bedroom, but this was the first scary night I ever spent there.

I called my ex-husband Kevin and told him about it and he offered to come by and check things out for me. I was aghast. "Of course not! What if someone really IS down there?"

I just waited for morning and when I went down to view the damage I was met by a terrible mess, which was quite a relief since it's the mess my daughter left last time she was here. And the "intruder" didn't even do my dishes!

Oh well, time to get ready for work. I tell you, I turned my house upside down looking for my car keys, which I ALWAYS leave by the back door because I used to lose them all the time. I finally placed a frantic call to work to get someone to come pick me up because I'd lost my keys and had run out of time to look for them.

Coworker Frank Rush says with an unsettlingly authoritative voice: "They're under your bed."

Startled, I first wondered how HE would know that, but it IS the one place I didn't look. So I went upstairs and just about the time I spotted them under the bed I remembered the reason for taking them upstairs in the first place.

Boy, it's pretty sad when you have a great idea to test and forget all about it when the emergency actually arises to try it out.

I think I need to get a big dog.

Or a bigger key fob. ;-)