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When we built the new house at the farm, some very considerate friends bought us an alarm for the driveway. Unlike the ones with the rubber hose stretched across the driveway the gas stations used to have to alert attendants when a customer pulled up to the pump, this is more high tech, being cordless and using a motion detector. Since the house is well insulated from heat, cold and especially sound, they were concerned prowlers could sneak up on us in the dark of the night and we would be defenseless, living clear out in the wilderness. It really was a nice gesture. The only problem with a motion sensor in the woods is false alarms.

We set it up as soon as we got it. It was too close to the house. It took only a couple hours to figure this out. Every time one of the dogs walked by, "ding-dong" like a door bell went off. Left to their own devices, the dogs wander around a lot. I moved the sensor farther up the driveway and turned it off for the night.

The range for the motion detector is several hundred yards. Before I went to work, I set the sensor along the driveway, past the place Duke usually ranges. Duke is the Mastiff watch dog. He generally stays near the house and feels obligated to guard against all invaders. He rarely ranges beyond a couple hundred yards from the house other than to the lake for an occasional swim.

That evening, when I drove in from work, was the first time the alert sounded. My wife and I were thrilled with having no false alarms from the dogs and knowing technology would let us know whenever we had a visitor.

We went to bed around ten that evening. The alert sounded about 10:15. I sprang lightly from bed, checked the driveway, and saw nothing. It was probably a deer. Almost fifteen minutes passed before we got the next alarm. I checked again to see nothing. This occurred several more times before I decided to turn our trusty alarm system off. Apparently, during the day, wildlife stay well away from the driveway. During the night, every deer, raccoon, coyote, and opossum in the area considers our driveway a major thoroughfare to where they need to go.

The problem with the security alerts has not been an easy one to solve. The new technology is very efficient at alerting us, but does not discriminate about what needs to be reported. Everything that moves sets off the alarm. Duke, our major security system, on the other hand, is rather low tech, but does not perceive a difference between real and imagined threats. He does know that deer, raccoons, and other wildlife are not a problem. He totally ignores them. He has not figured out the difference between a drug crazed heavily armed maniac bent on death and destruction and the UPS guy that is trying to deliver a package. He is going to stop either one.

Perhaps the best solution to our security situation is to tie Duke up during the day and use the high tech motion detector to alert us to visitors. During the night, we could turn off the alarm and turn the dog loose. The UPS guy and mailman do not usually work at night and should be safe. Murders, thugs, and thieves will be in jeopardy during their normal working hours.

If you stop by for a visit around dusk or dawn, it would be best to call first. You never know which alarm system might be activated.[[In-content Ad]]

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