Oh good - I'm so excited to see I have some responses!
I have to run off shortly but I'll answer a few things here and then I"ll come back later and read the rest of the responses:
- My garage does have a lock. It's a slide open typical garage door (not automatic) and the lock is a pretty standard one. The key isn't very beefy at all. I'd given my mom the key to go get out the bike pump for my child's science experiment and stupidly didn't make sure she locked it up again. She said "I *think* I did" and said it with no conviction whatsoever. So if I know my mom (and I blame MYSELF for this), I should have gone out and made sure it was locked afterwards. She may have thought it was locked when the door wouldn't pull up again (after closing it) however one turn of the handle would have shown her it was still unlocked (if indeed she left it unlocked). The lock isn't broken.
- They wouldn't have all the time in the world once in the garage because the door is LOUD (light aluminum-sounding, rattling thing) and sits right between my and my neighbor's house in a very echoey driveway that we share. They were very gutsy - you could spit on the garage door practically, from a corner bedroom we have there. I in fact actually heard them open it (!!!) - in the corner front bedroom - and I STUPIDLY (yet again) thought it was my next door neighbor's garage (they sit side by side) cause he's always in there late and it was 1:30 a.m. when they opened it. What kills me is I almost got up to make sure - as I have countless times in the past - but I thought I was being paranoid! The moment they opened that garage, they grabbed the two easiest things they could and quickly left. I heard either a car or truck bed door close only moments after - though oddly didn't hear the motor drive off (but I have a white noise little machine thingy in the hallway that might have drowned that part out). So in that sense, it's not the easiest place to rob.
- Also, my next door neighbors usually have a light that turns on automatically when anyone's walking between our houses back toward the garages. I'm guessing the bulb went out and they didn't bother replacing it cause they built a fence around their garage so no longer need the security. If we got along with them better I'd offer to put in a new bulb myself but they're not the friendliest beasts you ever did meet and would probably ask me in an accusatory tone who's going to pay for the electricity use. That light worked wonders though. We never once were broken into until that thing went out!
- They're not someone we know, most likely. It goes in waves in which they hit our whole neighborhood every couple of years and it's always the detached garages (thankfully) and they're always after bikes. Besides we know everyone and their dog and it's just not characteristic of anyone around here including any mischievous teenagers or anything like that. Of course i could be wrong. There are a couple of interesting characters who walk by every so often and might be scoping the places out - though we definitely don't know them (but yes, they could be watching and looking for patterns). They may have already discovered the light was out, for example. Yeah - not the happiest thought!
Ok thanks for now - very much!
p.s. my son's up super late for a school night and just saw how much I wrote here and said "Uhh, they must think you're a real chatter box." Hahaha - gulp - sorry!
