A Scary Discovery

I am a freak about my personal safety. One of my biggest fears is being sexually violated, stemming from my control issues, I suppose.

When I walk through a parking lot, I am always aware of my surroundings. I have left a movie theater before because the only other person in the theater was male. I always check my car before I get in. I don't drink too much in public unless I'm with someone that I trust who isn't drinking. I own a knife and a shotgun and I know how to use them both.

Once, when I was working at my last hotel, I was on the back side of the property checking rooms. It was summer and the place was pretty deserted. I had left the front door of the room I was checking cracked and as I walked out of the bathroom there was a man standing in the room.
I put my hands out in front of me and said loudly and firmly "leave the room!" He did fairly quickly and after I closed the room door behind me, I turned to the gentleman and started to apologize. He stopped me quickly and said, "No, never apologize for protecting yourself. It was stupid of me to follow you into that room; I just wanted to get some pool towels. By the way, would you come and talk to my wife and daughter? I'm always after them about being more careful!"
I firmly believe that a nice man is never going to get mad at you for doing what you need to do to make sure you are safe.

So today I needed to go into my back yard and went out the sliding glass door off our bedroom. That porch is fenced in with a gate, and the latch is hard to open. I noticed that the bottom of the gate was pulled way out from the frame. I went to pull on the middle brace and noticed it was very loose. I went out a different door and looked at it from the outside. The gate is cracked. Someone has tried to get into the porch on the back of my house.

Before Dave left for Iraq, he had a good Brinks alarm system installed. Our house is on a busy corner right next to a bus stop and there is always riff raff hanging our there.

Needless to say I am more than slightly freaked out and will be much more vigilant about setting the house alarm from now on.