Security

Whether you are bugging in or bugging out to a retreat location, barbed wire may be your most inexpensive perimeter barrier and warning system of an impending breach if you attach simple bells to the wire.

Barbed wire was first invented in the United States in 1874 to contain livestock inexpensively. Its first use in war was in 1898 in the Spanish-American War and it has been a staple item in wars and conflicts ever since besides being used in prisons and concentration camps as an effective human containment fence.

Barbed wire can be purchased at any farm store for from $40 to $85 for a standard 80 rod roll which covers 1320 feet stretched. I was surprised to see that it now comes in green. I have put in a fair number of barbed wire fences in my life and have found that the cheaper stuff is definitely more wicked. Loosely coiled it will generally cover 5-600 feet.

Most rolls of barbed wire can be deployed just by sticking a length of pipe or wood through the hole in the middle of the roll. Please use heavy leather gloves when handling barbed wire.

For home defense purposes you do not want to stretch it. Rather leaving it laying loosely coiled around the perimeter of your property will deter most intruders. The ends can be loosely tied off to bushes or a stake or cement block, even a large rock set on the end will stop it from coiling back on you. It sends a signal that you are ready to defend your home.

In a landscaped environment with a hedge or even a lot of flowers around the perimeter, if there were an instance WROL the barbed wire can be deployed in less than an hour and hidden by the landscaping.

In my reading about the economic collapse of Argentina one of the things that came up was neighbors and neighbor kids raiding the gardens that people were surviving on. No one wants to shoot a kid for raiding a garden, but if your life depends on that garden, what can you do? By deploying barbed wire loosely around the garden it will slow people getting into it, and it also really slows them from getting out of the garden with their booty. Your garden will be less of a target than other people’s gardens.

It is recommended in most defensive situations that you have a clear field of vision right around your home – lawn. But it is also recommended that any low lying windows have some protective shrubbery to deter entrance or peeping Toms. Here too barbed wire can be an excellent deterrent loosely coiled beneath windows or across driveways or entrances that you do not want breached.

Your barbed wire can be fairly easily rolled up when the threat subsides and is reusable. What else can you buy for less than $50 that will provide an effective perimeter barrier and early warning system with some inexpensive bells attached?

NOTE: For any of you using barbed wire as livestock fencing, alternate which side of the post it goes on so that if something takes it down (deer, horse, bull, snowmobile, 4 wheeler runs through it) it will only take down a 20′ section of fence as opposed to a 200′ section.

It doesn’t take long watching the news to get depressed with reports of terrible crimes and violence. The morality of this country has no doubt fallen and seems to be continuously getting worse. Older Americans are often targeted as they are more likely to carry cash and have the perception of being unable to protect themselves.

Everyone has their own perspectives on self-defense and their own comfort level with the manner which to do so. Some are fine with firearms – others are not. Some wish to no harm to another human being regardless of what is happening – while others will fight tooth and nail.

This article will not delve into all the tools available for self-defense but rather the thought process behind deciding for yourself – “Am I willing to fight for myself and family?” This may be a simple answer for some while others it may be more complex.

In all likelihood, none of us will ever be in a situation where our lives are threatened by another. This is a good thing, however I suspect that if you are visiting this website, you live your life not by that which mostly will happen but that which might happen.

This means you do not ignore possibilities.

Assuming you have a concern for self-defense there are a couple things to consider:

• What laws in your state govern your ability to protect yourself?
• What do state and local laws say about firearms, mace, knives, clubs, etc?
• Do you pay attention to your surroundings when you are out and about?
• Where does crime take place in your city or town? Are you anywhere near high crime areas?
• When looking at your house does it appear “inviting” to would-be thieves and robbers?
• Do you leave your doors and windows open or unlocked at any time – day or night?
• Do you update Facebook letting people know you are not at home at any given time?

Note: Harold was a beloved contributor to SCP who was targeted by some youths who threw a fire bomb at his home, which burned, and he and his wife barely escaped with their lives. This wasn’t the first incident in that town, but hopefully it will be the last. Harold is sharing with us an update and some of what he has learned about the insurance business through this whole ordeal.

Well I persevered and wore both the insurance company and the contractor down and we moved into Bright Acres on Saturday. What a relief without the herd of elephants thundering overhead in that apartment.

Our beautiful curving concrete driveway that we drive up and into the garage to unload the groceries etc., with just an 1-1/2″ step up into the house into the access area next to the kitchen, is pure delight as it has been raining here pretty often the past couple of weeks. So much, in fact, that the property can not be finished until late spring for everything due to the settling of the basement fill and the natural weathering of the treated wood on front and back porches. Still very much liveable though.

Everyone who comes up at night, either front or back, are floodlit by the motion sensing flood lights on front and back when they get close enough to the house that their intentions are evident, they are here to either visit or otherwise access the house, are amazed and readily understand the “Bright Acres” name.

Have not gotten the security cameras in as of yet and will likely not get them mounted until it cools off again in the fall of the year. Likewise will not have a lawn until next year after some more fill is added.

While the insurance paid for the house they really took us to the cleaners on our personal property. Turned the loss list over to a third party who ignored the brand names and picked out the cheapest alternative like replacing an antique four drawer knee hole maple office desk of mine with a tubing and particle board contraption labeled as a computer desk and then depreciating it by seventy percent and virtually everything on the list was done the same way.

I will be very busy building and acquiring replacements for a lot of the items and some will never be replaced. Have to finish off the garage and restock my emergency supplies too over the next year to get back to where I was.

Since the salvage that went on in our house by in-laws and neighbors, with us too sick just out of the hospital to even contend with it, the knowledge that I was prepared to withstand about a year’s worth of upset and turmoil is no longer a secret – much to my chagrin as in the three days we have been home I have already had a visit from the welfarite no goods on the street looking to mooch something off me.

I am going to security fence the entire property as soon as the grant comes through and the security cameras which I had to order will be motion sensing pan and tilt with IR which automatically programs on the TVs when activated. If no TV is on when the driveway sensor alerts, it chimes and turns on a bedroom monitor.

As the intruder nears the house and the floods come on the camera switches from IR to normal light. Sure surprised a grandson last night with the lights.

I will be awhile getting settled in, but intend to go back to writing next week as soon as some semblance of order is achieved in my man cave which is presently being invaded by a grand niece while her mother visits Arizona. Then it will become my den again.

Harold