Hello again Blogger! It's been almost a year and while I have fun on Tumblr, I miss actually seeing comments and telling stories. So now I'm going to keep both Blogger & Tumblr versions of A Fuzzy View alive (maybe, I hope, I'm going to try). Too much has happened since last October to write some kind of "What you missed" post. The Tumblr is a nice little photo journey though; it'll show you what I've been up to.

This first return to the blog post is not necessarily a chipper 'life's awesome' kind of post. Recently I had a scary reminder of one of life's realities: we are not always as safe and secure as we think. Someone broke into our home earlier this week, but thanks to the dogs and our alarm system they dropped their tools and ran. That is not to say they left empty handed; they took a little portion of my sense of security. Its not tangible and homeowner's insurance won't cover its replacement; I'm pretty heartbroken to see it gone.

This is our home and has been for almost 4 years. Now I question every noise I hear while sitting on the couch, so does the pitbull. J and I are now constantly checking in with each other about our wherabouts, he even picks me up in front of the office to drive me to my car after work (if he's in the neighborhood at the right time); the pepperspray that used to float around the bottom of my purse is now on my keychain. I trust J to protect me when he is home, I even have confidence in my own instincts to be able to protect myself; but I can't help but feel violated. Our front door stood open for nearly an hour. Someone saw into our private space without our permission. Someone wanted to take what was ours - or maybe they wanted to come and eat our cereal (I've seen lots of "Cops" and people do weird things after breaking in). We could have lost our dogs when they gave chase to the first squirrel or cat the ran by; thankfully though it seems that pitbull's sense of protection kicked in and he scared the crook away and then stood guard like a sentry, keeping our people out and the other dog in. Days later and he is still on high alert.

All this to say I'm left pondering security. The physical barriers and protections that we can put in place around our homes and ourselves to try and trust that we won't be hurt. And the emotional sense that we so comfortably fall into when life gets routine.

The officers who responded that day said that the best things residents can do to protect their homes are: have a dog who is free to roam the house when you are gone (doesn't have to be a big dog, just someone who would bark and make noise); have an alarm system; don't flaunt what you have (don't leave your curtains open to the street, think twice before putting the box for your brand new tv on the curb); know your neighbors; don't get complacent. Loved ones, friends, random visitors... do these things! Though they are no guarantee they are better than doing nothing.

I promise that the next post will be less of a downer... blogging is to be fun!