Thanks guys. I am going to try and enjoy the garden and not let it worry me too much. Hopefully it was just a one time thing and won't happen again (although I have a feeling those Black Prince toms I planted might be tempting, LOL!) -LL, that is a very good idea with the lattice. You did that up at your mom's didn't you? Think I might go with a couple of those pre-made panels to fencing if they go on sale (since I am bad at woodworking, lol!). That will give more privacy too, since the alley gets a fair amount of traffic from people using it as a shortcut. Have a feeling latice might make good peep-holes 8-) -Susan, my neighbor (power tools guy) has a motion detecor light and it is a maddining thing! A sheet flapping on the clothes line overnight set that thing off. Funny story, some relatives in town have one of those motion lights. One night someone came and stole the lights right out of it...LOL! Yay! Had a downpour this afternoon. Great for the newly moved rose and plants!! CMK

I feel your pain. I have had so many things stolen from me. Before I moved here, I raised waterlilies and I grew antique roses from cuttings. I'd start the small waterlilies and the rose cuttings off in quart pots....very easy for someone to just pick up and walk off with. To make it worse, the area I used for my ponds and for raising the roses was around my barn, which was up by the front of my property, and my house was to the back. It was very easy to tell when I wasn't home, and if someone came by, and they felt like just helping themselves...I guess they thought I'd never miss it. One of the worst incidents was when we were working on the house here. I had a guy doing the work that was recommended because he was my best friend's husband's best friend. In the bathroom, we built a platform for the clawfoot tub. There was a big window all across that wall. I had already decided what I wanted to put on the platform, near the tub. One item was a metal boy that stood with his hands held above his head, and was a plant stand. The other item was an old doctor cabinet. It was so cool. Had a beveled glass and the little butterfly hinges hand a matching clasp. It was metal but had a cast iron base and and a cast iron molding on top. I mentioned to him how excited I was to use them. Unknown to me....he had already been in my storage building and stolen them. He went out there to get some windows that we used in the sun porch. Actually, the windows were in a different building nearby, but he went snooping out there. We had already fired him for stealing $8,000 from us and doing crappy work...and he was long gone. I know he got them though because he was the only person who had been out there and where I live now, it is not an easy place to get to. And besides, it isn't like at our other place where we lived in "town". We are on a dead end road here and out in the boondocks. A person wouldn't just be able to walk into here and steal something so easily. But, since he had permission to be here, and I trusted him..........but that ends all trust. From now on, if anyone is here working, I don't care who it is, I will be right here watching. There isn't much that I hate worse than a thief. I hope somehow, some way, you get your things back.

Hey everyone! Been a while since I visited this forum. How is everyone? People tend to steal my roses at my front yard especially my Austins : Golden Celebration and L.D. Braitwaite. It is always the blooms on the top of the rose which is definitely higher for any animals we have here and it is ripped off which is how I know someone did it. This is the main reason I decided to grow most of my roses at the back which is unfortunate because no one else except my family can enjoy it. When I bought Don Juan last year, I took the advice from a poster at helpmefind website not to plant this rose at the front because of theft.

I am so sorry to hear your tools walked off. We have had a few incidents over the years but most involved folks we know. I once had some copper pipe stolen and we are fairly certain we know who did it. Another time we had some electronics show up in the pawn shop and my partner gave the culprit the suggestion to leave pronto and he woudn't need to talk to the cops.  Being in a small town does have its advantages and chances are the local miscreants know who ran off with your stuff. Do you have a connection with someone in that community or a place to post a flyer?  Tak to the police about how to offer a no questions asked reward for return of the tools. Many addicts will sell their mother for a fix and if they can do it on the quiet, even better.  Do pawn shops in your area take photos of people bringing in items? If so the tools will probably go to another town or get sold on marketplace or Craigslist.   Are your tools marked? I write my name on everything and also write the year on batteries and such to help me track them. Most guys aren't going to show up at a job site with tools marked with a girls name. One carpenter I know paints her hand tools with pink spray paint. I use aqua since most people use red or yellow. We also have some red and white tape I put on big items since it is easy to see at a distance.   We had one job site broken into where the person didn't steal anything  but cut power cords on everything and destroyed our lighting. After that we went to the recycling guy and bought several 2x5 feet metal grid store fixture. We installed them to protect every window and screwed a board over the back door when we left the site.  At that time, security cameras weren't as cheap as now.