Why People Wrap Electrical Tape on Their Garden Hoses

[Jim Koepke]

The thread asking why people insulate sprinklers made me think about my brother's habit of wrapping electrical tape on his garden hose.

He lives in an area where all kinds of things get stolen all the time.

So when he bought a new hose, he wrapped electrical tape around it in a few places and makes the last wrap at each "repair" a knot with some extra tape hanging out. He then pulled it through some mud to make it look even less attractive. He leaves it out all the time and no one is going to steal a garden hose that looks old and like it leaks in two or three places.

jtk

[Rich Engelhardt]

I had a similar idea....

Every Spring we get greeted with all the little "brown bombs" the dogs leave in the yard.
I'd thought about puting them all in a big box, gift wrapping it & leaving it on the front seat of the unlocked car... :D

[David Epperson]

I had a similar idea....

Every Spring we get greeted with all the little "brown bombs" the dogs leave in the yard.
I'd thought about puting them all in a big box, gift wrapping it & leaving it on the front seat of the unlocked car... :D

LOL. Those little "brown bombs" are free fertilizer, just water 'em down into the roots.

[John Pratt]

I remember several students at the local college commenting that theft of bicycles was rampant. Their solution was to spray paint their brand new bikes with a couple different colors. They say they haven't had any issues with their bikes being stolen.

[Dave Gaul]

I didn't realize that garden hoses were such a hot item to be stolen!

[Jim Koepke]

I didn't realize that garden hoses were such a hot item to be stolen!

If it is "like new" it is easy to sell at a yard sale, flee market or even out of the trunk of a car.

jtk

[Dan Hintz]

Dave,

If I want something removed from my property, all I have to do is leave it out. Waterguns, lawnmower, bikes, and on and on. The waterguns were on our railed-in porch, so they had to actually come up to the door to get them. The lawnmower was putout for the trashman (got a new one before the old decided to finally cut loose), and it was gone before trashman ever arrived. I'm sure you can figure it out with the bikes.

Sometimes they don't even wait for you to leave them out. Last year or two we've had people complain their lawnmowers were stolen out of their carport sheds. I now keep ours locked to annoy them just a bit more.

[Jim Rimmer]

If you put something out to be hauled off and they don't take it, put a price on it. It'll be gone in a heartbeat.

[Doug Palmer]

I was mowing my backyard and left my garage door open. I ran out of gas and came around front to get my gas can and saw two kids running away with two 5 gallon gas cans. Guess they needed the gas worse than I did. :(

[Kevin W Johnson]

Thankfully i don't have worry too much about that here... my snowblower has been on the deck all winter. Granted its behind a 5ft privacy fence, but the gate stays unlocked until we open the pool for the summer. Then we keep it locked when were not home to prevent kids from wondering in and drowning. My father-in-laws snowblower sat in front of his garage door all winter.

I keep the shop and shed doors locked to the honest, honest. But we dont have many problems aound here..

[Kevin W Johnson]

I was mowing my backyard and left my garage door open. I ran out of gas and came around front to get my gas can and saw two kids running away with two 5 gallon gas cans. Guess they needed the gas worse than I did. :(


I hope you ran the little rascals down.....

[Myk Rian]

Our neighborhood had 12 break-ins at 7 homes one summer.
With knowledge of the Sheriff, we patrolled wearing side arms.
A couple of us talked to one young man that we suspected (while wearing said side arms). Told him if it didn't stop, he would get shot.
The break-ins stopped.

Turned out he was telling his buddies which house to go to. They would sell the loot on CL.
He's in prison right now.

[Curt Harms]

Our neighborhood had 12 break-ins at 7 homes one summer.
With knowledge of the Sheriff, we patrolled wearing side arms.
A couple of us talked to one young man that we suspected (while wearing said side arms). Told him if it didn't stop, he would get shot.
The break-ins stopped.

Turned out he was telling his buddies which house to go to. They would sell the loot on CL.
He's in prison right now.

It's surprising to me that YOU and your friend are not the ones in jail for making terroristic threats or something.

[Myk Rian]

It's surprising to me that YOU and your friend are not the ones in jail for making terroristic threats or something.
Let him try to prove it.

[Chris Kennedy]

Let him try to prove it.

You just posted it on a public searchable forum.

[David Epperson]

It's surprising to me that YOU and your friend are not the ones in jail for making terroristic threats or something.
I saw no evidence of overt threats in his description. And certainly nothing terroristic. I am a bit surprised that the legal system didn't invent some connection though. Relating of a true enough fact that criminal activity by a person might very well end up with that person coming in contact with an armed victim, resulting in the perpetrator getting shot, is not a threat, just a statement of the logical course of events.

[Jim Koepke]

You just posted it on a public searchable forum.

"I saw it on the internet" is not likely to hold up in court.

My father used to have a furniture store. People would often want him to take the old sofas or easy chairs away. If they were in good condition he would donate them to charities and give people receipts if they wanted them for tax purposes. If the item was not good enough for that, he would set them on the walk between the store and the parking lot.

There was a popular bar across the street. Most things never made it through the night. I always wondered about the looks on some wives faces when their drunk husband came home saying, "but honey, I was out getting us a new sofa."

jtk

[Jim Rimmer]

We have folks that make rounds in our neighborhood early in the morning of trash day looking for metal and grab it. They generally get enough to make a trip to the recycler worth their while. Usually what is put out at one house is not enough but massed together it is. I flagged one down one morning and gave him what I had.

[Brian Effinger]

We have folks that make rounds in our neighborhood early in the morning of trash day looking for metal and grab it. They generally get enough to make a trip to the recycler worth their while. Usually what is put out at one house is not enough but massed together it is. I flagged one down one morning and gave him what I had.
People do that in my area, too, and I can't believe it would be worth it, especially with gas well north of $3.50 here.

[Pat Barry]

Myk - you should not do things like that. Its way too risky

[Dave Gaul]

If it is "like new" it is easy to sell at a yard sale, flee market or even out of the trunk of a car.

jtk

I could see that, just never thought people would take your garden hose for it! I have several contractor grade hoses on my property, and they've been out for a couple years!

[Dave Gaul]

Dave,

If I want something removed from my property, all I have to do is leave it out. Waterguns, lawnmower, bikes, and on and on. The waterguns were on our railed-in porch, so they had to actually come up to the door to get them. The lawnmower was putout for the trashman (got a new one before the old decided to finally cut loose), and it was gone before trashman ever arrived. I'm sure you can figure it out with the bikes.

Sometimes they don't even wait for you to leave them out. Last year or two we've had people complain their lawnmowers were stolen out of their carport sheds. I now keep ours locked to annoy them just a bit more.

I can do that too, put something by the curb a few nights before trash day, and it'll likely be gone in no time! But if my step son leaves his bike in the yard or driveway, never been a problem... we must be far enough away from the rift-raft!

[Kevin W Johnson]

I can do that too, put something by the curb a few nights before trash day, and it'll likely be gone in no time! But if my step son leaves his bike in the yard or driveway, never been a problem... we must be far enough away from the rift-raft!

Sounds like you have "ok" neighbors. Legally (most places), anything put out for trash is considered to be abandoned by you and fair game for the pickin'. So, you have neighbors that are at least mindful of others property in that they only pick your discarded stuff. Personally, if its out for the trash, i say more power to them. If they can use it, its less in the landfill.

[Dave Gaul]

Sounds like you have "ok" neighbors. Legally (most places), anything put out for trash is considered to be abandoned by you and fair game for the pickin'. So, you have neighbors that are at least mindful of others property in that they only pick your discarded stuff. Personally, if its out for the trash, i say more power to them. If they can use it, its less in the landfill.

I agree Kevin. If I think something is still usefull enough, I'll put it down by the road a few days early, and it's usually gone pretty quick!

[Ron Conlon]

"I saw it on the internet" is not likely to hold up in court.

jtk

It would have to be a pretty incompetent attorney to let it go at that. I'm sure they would have enough to look into the IP address of the person bragging about making the threat.

[Jim Koepke]

I'm sure they would have enough to look into the IP address of the person bragging about making the threat.

Just because someone says they did something on the internet doesn't mean it was actually done.

If it is not said while under oath in a court of law, it is hearsay and inadmissible in court.

There are a few other things in Myk's post that would preclude the "low life" from having much of a case:


- With knowledge of the Sheriff, we patrolled wearing side arms.
- A couple of us talked to one young man that we suspected (while wearing said side arms).
- Turned out he was telling his buddies which house to go to.
- He's in prison right now.

I do not know about "the Heartland of Michigan," but I do know about my locality. In a few square miles around me I would bet there are more guns than people.

Living in the sticks means the Sheriff may not be able to get here in a timely manner.

A few of my neighbors would be more than happy to curtail anyone who felt it was OK to break in to another person's property.

jtk

[Ron Conlon]

If it is not said while under oath in a court of law, it is hearsay and inadmissible in court.

jtk

This is incorrect. Hearsay is testimony based on a person not in court. For example, the court would not allow you to testify that your friend Bob told you that Myk roughed up the young man in question. A posting made by Myk in a public forum is definitely admissible.

[Jim Koepke]

A posting made by Myk in a public forum is definitely admissible.



A couple of us talked to one young man that we suspected

This statement does not indicate who said anything. It does not even prove that Myk was present at the discussion when a couple of them talked to the young man.

It could come down to Myk having overheard a couple other members of the group talking about how some other members of the group talked to a suspect.

Pretty thin, and I would suspect many on the jury would be glad to have such neighbors.

jtk

[Myk Rian]

If the "Perp" wanted to report the incident to the police, all he had to do was walk a couple hundred feet down the road to a plainclothes Sheriff's Deputy sitting in his unmarked vehicle.
He would have been pointed to if the guy had asked where a cop was.

I tend to ignore "Holier than thou" statements and attitudes.

[Ron Conlon]

Hey, where'd those goalposts go?