http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/708509/ One of the repliers could not believe that Betty in Ontario did not keep her door locked (that & other things) That thread got me thinking, and reminded me of Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore's movie where he goes around Toronto to see how many doors where locked. How many of you, when you are at home, lock your doors?
When I lived in Alberta I really do not remember it being a habit. Now soon as I walk in (after unlocking) I immediately lock up again unless I plan on doing yard work or something similar to do. Just wondering how much things changed..........
Locked Doors – Questionnaire
I believe locks keep out honest people. If someone really wants to break in to your house, they will do it.
Our house is not usually locked. (three very large, protective house dogs)
Go ahead, try to get in.........lol
If we did not have dogs, you betcha I'd keep the house locked when no one is home, or home alone.....
I won't go 'there' again (lol) been called a liar a little toooo many times...but you are right, locked doors don't keep anyone from entering if they wish..probably do more damage in the long run..
Just hope it never comes to locked doors .. would feel caged in...
Never locked when we're at home but, unfortunately, always locked when we're away. Unfortunately because, even in this tiny town I live in, mischief and vandalism by kids and teenagers is becoming more and more common all the time. Reality is that most insurance company's first question is "Were the doors and windows locked?" and woe-betide the person who says no :-(
--Ginny
Every door and window in my place is locked whether I'm home or not......the garage and garden gate are locked too! Simply put, I do not trust anyone in the area where I'm at. And true, they can get in if they wanted to, but I'd like to make it a little harder for them at least,lol.
Never locked here, even if I'm not home...and the keys are always in the car.....even overnight.
Erynne...never come on this site and lo and behold here you are...
Never locked when we are home, not always locked when we are away. Years ago this house was broken into a few times (purse snatched) prior to us living here but nothing since then. In the neighborhood a few houses were broken into recently.........the fellow made himself a sandwich, had a bath, and then either vacuumed the houses he broke into or made the beds, etc., etc. He was one B&E that this town got a huge kick out of (some I'm sure were hoping he'd enter their house whilst they were at work). ;)
Good to see you Betty, you held yourself with style and grace. I am blessed with the best and the worst neighbors. Makes you appreciate the good just that much more, you know.
When I go up to visit relatives it never even occurs to me to knock, we just go in and take off our shoes and well you know make ourselves to home. Cause we figure we are. But now when I think about it, when they visit they have to knock, kinda sad;+{
Lol at that B&E story Pam; maybe he has some sort of weird fetish.
Sadly, alot the break ins we here about in these parts involve the home owners getting beaten up at the same time and usually in the dead of night!
Betty, yup you can find me here in this forum :o)
Lilypon your posts always make me smile. How like Saskatchewan to have a story like that. Everytime I think about moving back up I am always torn between SK and AB. From AB myself but since leaving AB I have taken up fishing AB is not as good as SK for lakes. And please do not tell anybody (there are alot of ON peeps about.........and I am native AB.....;+) but I have just had the very BEST experiences with people in Saskatch my mother's side of the family are all there (do you think that has anything to do with it - your right) love the scenery of BC but its too humid and never been further east then Yorkton, SK. So it's not like I know ANYTHING........would like to visit someday though especially the maritimes. Love seafood......
I think the fellow may have been our one and only homeless fellow (he lives all winter in a un-heated :S shack he put together from scraps of wood) ........ very independent, won't talk and won't accept help. If not him someone very similar (nothing was done that made people feel really unhappy/worried/scared other than the initial shock of finding that someone had been in their home).
Yep MQN a very Saskatchewan story (that is outside of Saskatoon and Regina). ;) I remember the first time our house was locked......back in the 60's when the first person had been killed by a stranger inside their home (up around the Battleford's). The night after the news was released locks, that had never been used, were heard being turned province wide (including in our larger centres back then).
If your thinking of Saskatoon move up there soon........that city is really just starting to boom and prices are starting to sky-rocket there (to a lesser extent everywhere else in the province too). Alberta peeps are retiring there and also purchasing, in unprecedented numbers, most of the cottages in the cottage country up North. Moose Jaw is also getting a number of Alberta born and bred moving here (in the past year or two).
BTW you (and others) might be interested in this thread: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/721491/ it's regarding Grasslands National Park and the release of protected, not for eating, Plains Bison back on their old stompin' grounds.
Gotta get out and continue working on my poor neglected ponds. Water lilies are putting on a nice growth spurt now.
When we lived on the farm, lost the house key after a few years. When my brother from USA came up, he couldnt believe that we didn't/couldn't lock the house.
Now, however, a very diff. story. I live in the inner city. Door is locked all the time. In fact, when coming home after dark, if there is anyone walking down the sidewalk behind me, I don't go in, I walk on to a house with an automatic light on the porch and pretend I'm going there.
Have to bring in tools even when coming in for a quick whatever. Sad, isn't it.
inanda
Travel to Toronto with SIL, her daughter and her sweetie are moving into their new home at the end of the month..her daughter last night in a conversation said "You know mom what Ryan is most excited about?" then she went on to say "that for the very first time he will actually have a house key" ... that all the years living at home the doors were always open and no-one had a key...amazing...lol so I'm not the only crazy lady...lol/lol
lolol Betty (small town living certainly does have it's positive points). BTW we also rec'd a text message from our daughter (she's in Alberta right now) ............her BF was out branding calves (and castrating them). For supper guess what he had????????? We informed her they were good rolled in flour, salt and pepper, then fried in lard with beer or whiskey (also helps to be really, really drunk). ;)
...........btw we were never silly enough to try prairie oysters.
Our doors are locked when we're away but not when we're home. I even leave the door wide open when I'im out in the yard or in hte house. we've had the neighbours dog come visit ours when the doors open.
Pam, that is just ewwwwwwww....yuck! LOL
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL but it is true. :)~ :S
PanamonCreel (one of our DG members from Quebec) just loves to tease me about that: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1540121 Gotta update that picture........it was a picture quickly taken on film for weeds (DG member from Florida) before we had a digital.
Of course being my usual *evil* self I invited him to come visit the prairies: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1931543
Doors on our house are always locked, even when we're in the backyard gardening. I grew up in the notorious Scarborough suburb of Toronto, and necessary habits are hard to get over, even though I now don't worry at all running to my car for something in the dead of night in my PJ's.
My Mum tells me that her and I might be dead if she didn't lock doors; when I was a toddler a strange man followed her home from work and tried to violently enter our home. I love the city (cultural and variety), but living in the 'burbs or the country certainly is less anxiety-ridden.
Locking doors to prevent petty theivery became a habit after living in an English town. The folks there would steal the milk off the front doorstep if you weren't quick to take it in! Then my hubby and I were in the States for a few years, near a town that was bursting with armed criminals (according to the daily newspaper) although I never met one personally, and we lived in fear behind locked doors and motion-detectors. Now we live in the mostly crime-free (unless you count the "grow-ops") Ontario farmlands , but there is always the odd person that likes to take stuff from people's barns and will rifle through cars looking for spare cash, so I still keep everything locked up. Most of the time, I think it is adolescent kids getting adrenaline kicks or stealing for dares, not career criminals.
MY front door is always locked - I rarely use it any more except to get the paper/mail or when somebody I dont know comes (if they know me they come to the back) The back door is never locked if I am home ( unless I go upstairs to shower) and the porch door is always open.screen door not locked. That is a signal around here that we are home and OK! Of course I have dogs and they are often in the yard without me and they bark at everybody who comes in the yard even when they know them so that is a signal for me.
The most common B&E system around here is for somebody to ring the front doorbell and if no answer to go around the back to break in where they are less likely to be seen. Not in my yard!
I grew up in Saskatoon in the 50's. I dont recall my mother locking the doors if she was home or at night, Neither did the rest of the family - when we visited we just walked in!
A funny incident I recall - there were several houses in the block which were identical outside. One evening somebody put a key in the (unlocked) door and came in - turned out to be somebody renting at the house next door - picked the wrong house in the dark!
I recall my brother coming home from Toronoto once too - just walked in and said Hi!
carol
My door is rarely locked when I'm home until I go to bed. But if I'm home alone and working in the back yard or basement, I will sometimes lock it.
Ann
I consider myself very lucky to live in a heritage house, let alone a house. I'm surrounded by highrises, office towers and condos. The Wall Centre is a 48 storey, 491 foot tower a block away - I guess I couldn't be more downtown. Crack users, tweeking crystal meth users and street people are just a part of living here. Neighbours have mentioned their hanging baskets, chairs, etc being stolen but I haven't (knock on wood) had anything stolen. I guess my 120 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback dog sitting on the front stairs makes people think twice. I've left the door wide open with dog out front and done quick errands but most people wouldn't do that.
Growing up in a suburb of Vancouver, we left the doors unlocked until a crime spree bit my parents. They have locked the doors for the past 15 years. I think I'm more of the exception than the rule in this thread. Our biggest threat is the drug users will do anything to pay for their next fix but there is an odd respect etiquette.
MQN this is in one of those areas where doors are most likely never locked: http://www.tomgreen.com/blog/ Each Blog should have a film clip to go along with it. Now keep in mind it is Tom Green's site and he is being himself. ;) I can truly say he didn't find the real treasures of Southern Saskatchewan in the areas he visited (ie Grasslands National Park http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/721491/ and Big Muddy http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/the_badlands.html, http://www.lino.com/~marcelg/bigmu_an.htm or Cypress Hills http://www.cypresshills.com/cypresshillssask.html (tallest point in Canada east of the Rockies) but I must admit I chuckled at some of them. The camera truly doesn't cover the wonder of the wide open space either, where heaven meets earth (though he does make mention of it). Keep in mind his pictures were also taken just after the land dried up from snow melt. Saskatchewan does put on her green like Ireland finery when the grass/crops starts growing. ;)
p.s. the clip of him, his New York cameraman and the Ottawa sound man driving their convertible in reverse down one of the country roads is a hoot (and soooo Saskatchewan ;).
Are you a Tom Green fan? He grew up in my neighbourhood and went to high school with my elder daughter. Always was a bit "unusual". Did things like painting his parents' house plaid when they were away.
A few years ago I hosted a visiting handbell choir from a church in N. Carolina. these were high school kids (very good handbell players, BTW,), but the hi-lite of the trip for the 4 I billeted overnight was driving by Tom Green's house. LOL
Ann
"Did things like painting his parents' house plaid when they were away" for some reason or other that doesn't surprise me Ann. ;) No I can't say I'm a huge fan (he's humor doesn't always tickle my funny bone) but I've watched a few and chuckled at some segments of his shows. His written postings on the web pages makes him seem a *little* more normal than actually seeing/hearing him.
Personally though I think he originally had other intentions re Southern SK but discovered that those that live (and have managed to survive in it's extremely harsh conditions) wouldn't be good subjects to be ridiculed. ;)
locking doors for me is a hit and miss thing - would, but forget - have very large dog soon to be joined by anther large dog - from Saskatchewan Pam
Hey Lynn :)
So what breed did you get??????? Pictures????? :)
ViolaAnn,
Do you play the viola?!!!!!!!!!!!!
I teach violin and viola in my home so keep the back door unlocked for 10 hours at a time. Knock on wood, never a problem.
Yes. Also teach violin and viola, though not so many students anymore. Play viola in two orchestras (one did Mahler's 6th last Monday evening). You might like to check the page I did when I commissioned a new smaller viola in 2004.
http://www.magma.ca/~fredrkng/Ann/ann.html
What part of Calgary are you in? My inlaws lived there for many years and DH's aunt until she was the only one left and moved to Vancouver to be closer to her daughter; so we don't get there so often any more.
I see you're a member of only a month. Don't know how I missed that you signed up as I have that front and centre on my DG home page and usually try to send a welcome note. So, consider yourself welcomed to DG. What are your gardening interests?
Ann
This message was edited May 12, 2007 6:21 AM
Hey Violist - welcome to DG - where are you in Calgary?
I have made it a habit of locking the car doors when driving, and the house doors! I've explained to my grandbabies, ........there....now no one can steal us...and they accept it! Elaine
Viola Ann, I am astounded by your garden photos and website. That is some spring garden you have! The viola story is fascinating too. John Newtion made mine (and about eight others for students in the past ten years) and it is a crazy shape with cutaway with a short string length. I have the very same viola playing frog in my garden! Who knew there were two garden fanatic violists!
Fancyvan, I live in Varsity (NW). I recently emerged on the CHS chatline after years of listening and learning. I am an Ohio transplant so it took me a while to warm up to Calgary gardenig.
As for my gardening interests, just trying to grow whatever will survive in this !!@#$%@! climate. I love starting things from seed for fun under lights , have a small greenhouse and a small vegetable garden (that's where it all began), am a new winter sower this year, and have been on a quest to slowly turn all of my grass into beds. Biggest gardening challenge is two beautiful Mayday trees (in bloom now and the smell is intoxicating) which make it impossible to grow much in my front yard.
Hope this is not too much information but this website seems so friendly!
Theresa
Welcome to DG Violist. We are a friendly gang, many different hobbies but all are gardening one way or another. Tons of different forums for all our different interests. Weather isn't too bad really. The cold kills most of the bugs. Calgary has the distinction of having the oldest Hort. Society in Canada I think so lots of gardeners in Calgary. Fancyvan will let us know if I'm correct. Another goodthing about Alberta. Wonderful lilies on the prairies.
inanda in Winnipeg
violist, you have D-mail
Hey Teresa/Violist/
Yes I have seen your name on the forum. You will find that tons of things will grow here!
I am organizing a DG Round up for weekend of June 9/10 so mark that on your calendar and come meet some DGers in person!
carol
This message was edited May 14, 2007 6:13 AM
At the risk of revealing my complete ignorance can some one clarify the meaning of Round up? It sound like a serious chemical. I did mark it on my calendar though! I would loe to meet other northern gardeners!
Inanda and Carol, I do love gardening here now, it has just taken me a while to get the hang of it is all. I grew up in a milder zone and used to wander out with bushel baskets collecting red peppers and eggplants. When I first started gardening here it was a bit of a shock.
And the open gardens in Calgary are truly inspriational. I have learned so much from the CHS members.
And I just recently read an article by you carol! You are famous!