I'm a Work at Home Dog Mom. It's no big news that I'm here alone in the morning and most of the afternoon with the kids while Lisa is at work. The doors are always locked. The kids let me know if there's someone close to the house. I keep my eyes and ears peeled for anything that's out of the ordinary. For the most part, our neighborhood is quiet with very few disturbances. So, early this afternoon, when all of the kids rushed to the front door growling and barking, it immediately caught my attention.
I peeked out the home office window. It's one of the windows off the front porch. That's when I saw an adult male with his arm reaching over the doggy gate. He was having trouble unlocking the latch lock on the dog gate. I witnessed him punching the lock. The man was putting in an extreme amount of effort to get the dog gate opened. I watched him for about 20 seconds.
I backed away from the window. I felt as if my heart was going to explode from my chest.
Fear.
Was someone trying to get to the front door so they could break into our home?
That's the first thing I thought of.
My first instinct was to whip open the front door and meet him at the gate to address his intentions and ask why he was trying to break the lock.
However, all 4 kids were still at the door. That wasn't an option. I would never put our kids in harm way.
I already made the decision that I would put all the kids in the bedroom and lock the door. Then, I would call the police while meeting the man at the door.
Much to my relief, it didn't come down to that.
I took a quick look out the home office window again. The gate was opened, but the man was walking quickly across the street.
I exhaled.
My heart was racing.
What just happened?
I put all of the kids in the kitchen and secured the gate. I was uncertain if the man would return. I waited a few minutes before going outside to lock the dog gate.
That's when it hit me. There's a big dog bone 'Welcome' sign on the front of our gate.
I didn't think people would interpret that as "punch the lock and possibly break the lock and/or gate to get to the front door..."
I obviously needed to put up a second sign to translate what 'Welcome' means in our household.
By the time Lisa arrived home from work, I had the sign finished. I'm fairly certain I broke a DIY Dog Mom Project record when I made this sign in under 2 hours.
Lisa hung the sign and added a security padlock that she picked up on the way home. She didn't comment on the tone of my newest DIY sign. She knew what happened today really scared me. I think it rattled her too.
Lisa is very protective of our home and family.
I know the security padlock and my translation of 'Welcome' won't keep someone away if their intent is to break into our home. However, the lock gives me peace of mind. In a lot of ways, the sign does too. Yeah, it's candid and rough around the edges, but I'm not messing around.
Apparently, the man was a solicitor. A few other neighbors had to deal with his forthright demeanor. It wasn't taken too kindly. He made them nervous.
Does anyone else have problems with overzealous, creepy solicitors?
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