Last time you had to 'clear' your house

[muddywings]

So my most awesome dog (see other recent thread) never barks unless a squirrel has invaded the back yard. Even then she only barks once or twice as she chases it away. And, since I trained her not to bark as a puppy (I don't like dogs that bark), she always comes to me with her head low in shame. I don't mind so I always tell her "good girl" and pet her when she chases that pesky squirrel out. Not a big deal. But she knows better than to just randomly bark.
My dog is NOT a guard dog, at best she is an alert dog. If a bugler came in she would probably point him to the fridge and ask for some left over chicken but ferocious she is not. I don't need or want a a guard dog. I have a Mossberg for that.
Anyway, my dog has never barked at night. But last night, 2 AM, I hear "WOOF WOOF WOOF GRRRR."
Oh crap!
We do have a dog door and I don't lock it at night. I figure if I have to get up once or twice a night to relieve myself, she has the right to as well. I know this is the week point in home security but I live with it.
Anyways, I grab mossberg and clear the house. I'll admit, 2 AM is a tough time to clear the cobwebs and put my A game on. In the end, it was nothing but did make me realize i should practice clearing my own house a bit more often. A few amateur clearing mistakes.

When is the last time you had to clear your own house?

[J]

Mine was maybe 2 months ago. I was home alone, and one of my Wife's cats knocked a glass off of a counter onto the tile floor. It shattered and set off the alarm system (glass break sensors). So I was awakened at 2:30AM with the sounds of breaking glass and alarm siren. Thought for sure someone had smashed a window to try to get in.

[Whistler]

Last night. I'm just paranoid but night before some guys were behind the business next door with a flashlight and a ladder. Turned out they had reason to be there and I recognized one of them when I got close enough.

[crashdown]

If you really want to have some fun....
Go surprise your neighbors by clearing their house at 2am.
Should provide for some real good stories.

[Inconel710]

If you really want to have some fun....
Go surprise your neighbors by clearing their house at 2am.
Should provide for some real good stories.

I don't count obituaries as "good" stories. Just sayin'. [Coffee]

[whiskeyjack]

If you really want to have some fun....
Go surprise your neighbors by clearing their house at 2am.
Should provide for some real good stories.
lol Or you can come clear mine and see what happens! I promise it will make the news.

[exxonv]

Mine was maybe 2 months ago. I was home alone, and one of my Wife's cats knocked a glass off of a counter onto the tile floor. It shattered and set off the alarm system (glass break sensors). So I was awakened at 2:30AM with the sounds of breaking glass and alarm siren. Thought for sure someone had smashed a window to try to get in.

Those glass sensors :) - same thing w/me (over a year ago). Alarm goes off, we go through "the drill", all bedrooms upstairs, kids run into our room, I grab firearm and cover the stairs, momma and the kids stay in room, I check alarm code. Alarm code shows to be my office (computers, etc.). Wife on phone w/alarm company, and I'm making my way down the stairs.

Once I get to the room (cleared everything else w/that room in sight), I make entry, nothing... Check window, nothing...

Clear basement and entire house (inside and out), get back to bed after at least an hour of listening and worry...

In the morning I realize that one of my shelves fell off the wall (had a glass award from work on it)... :)

[glenncal1]

Its been a while but I lived in a 3 story condo in Eagle Vail. Heard a loud crashing noise. There were a lot of breakins with so many of the Condos and houses there being vacation places. Cleared the two lower levels of the condo with handgun. Nothing found.

Next morning found out it was the shower curtain rod in the middle level bathroom had lost tension and crashed into the tub.

[MED]

A few months ago, my step kids left the door wide open when they were picked up by their dad. I was not impressed when I came home!

[birddog]

A while back my dog knocked over a freestanding lamp in the middle of the night. The glass that surrounds the bulb broke. Fortunately it was on the same level as our bedroom so I discovered it quickly. Bad feeling though.

[merl]

years ago, had some racoons climb in an open kitchen window and start ransacking the kitchen. Got to say it is scary to cross a creaky floor naked with a handgun when you can hear noises in the next room.

this window would require a ladder from outside so I think nothing of leaving it open. I now have screens on every window to keep out both the small and large pests.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Around 6 months ago.

[T-Giv]

Last month.

[encorehunter]

Last August when we had that earthquake down here. It knocked a few collectibles off the shelf and my paintball gun I use for bears of onto a tile floor. It is really strange and scary trying to get your witts about you when the house is still shaking.

[Irving]

Every time I leave the garage door open. The one time some raccoons woke us up, we were so grogy and disoriented that it would have been a mess if it was a person. The time before that, a drunk kid ended up on my enclosed porch at our apartment. I didn't handle that how I would have liked either.

[20X11]

Later tonight...sounds like a good idea.

[car-15]

I have practiced clearing mine several times, never had to do it for real. but I did have to clear my neighbors once, he was out of town and his wife called him and said she heard something and he called me to check it out, turned out to be nothing.

[bryjcom]

It was about a year or so ago, when I went to the store to get something. The wife thought I hadn't left yet and she pounded on the floor for me to come up from the basement, cause she had to tell me something.

Well when I get home I walk in the back door come up stairs and she starts yelling at me for not coming up and pounding on the ceiling back at her!

Out came the 1911 and I went through just about every nook and cranny in this house. Never found anything out of the ordinary..

[muddywings]

It was about a year or so ago, when I went to the store to get something. The wife thought I hadn't left yet and she pounded on the floor for me to come up from the basement, cause she had to tell me something.

Well when I get home I walk in the back door come up stairs and she starts yelling at me for not coming up and pounding on the ceiling back at her!

Out came the 1911 and I went through just about every nook and cranny in this house. Never found anything out of the ordinary..

i dunno...that actually sounds more spooky than scary!

[josh7328]

One night, I was sound asleep when I hear banging from the room across the hall. I look over to see if my wife is in bed... CRAP still in bed! About that time, as I jump out of bed and grab my 1911, the light comes on in the hallway. I swing around, disengage the thumb safety and end in my weaver stance just as the bedroom door opens. My finger moves to the trigger. Just as the figure comes through the door with my sights on it's head (don't know why COM wasn't my automatic response), I realize it is my wife. I lower the gun and do a few confused double takes at her and the bed. After pulling back the comforter, I realized that the pillows got lined up under the comforter in the shape of a person sleeping when my wife got up to pee. It's not a good feeling to have your wife's face on the other side of your pistol sights. THANK GOD for Shoot/No-shoot training. Getting in the habit of target ID before firing probably saved her life.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

One night, I was sound asleep when I hear banging from the room across the hall. I look over to see if my wife is in bed... CRAP still in bed! About that time, as I jump out of bed and grab my 1911, the light comes on in the hallway. I swing around, disengage the thumb safety and end in my weaver stance just as the bedroom door opens. My finger moves to the trigger. Just as the figure comes through the door with my sights on it's head (don't know why COM wasn't my automatic response), I realize it is my wife. I lower the gun and do a few confused double takes at her and the bed. After pulling back the comforter, I realized that the pillows got lined up under the comforter in the shape of a person sleeping when my wife got up to pee. It's not a good feeling to have your wife's face on the other side of your pistol sights. THANK GOD for Shoot/No-shoot training. Getting in the habit of target ID before firing probably saved her life.

Wow, that's scary. Glad it ended like it did.

[CareyH]

Last year my wife woke me up in the middle of the night and said she heard a loud BANG in the house. So I got up and started clearing the house, and found nothing. Looked out all the windows and saw nothing. I told my wife she must have been dreaming and went back to bed.

Found out what it was the next morning... a can of biscuts exploded in the fridge LOL.

[birddog]

Had another event a couple years ago. Wife hears pounding noises in the middle of the night, dogs are going ballistic. Get myself together and make it to the main floor where a bear is out on my deck working the hummingbird feeder over. Next morning I find claw marks up the post it was hanging on where he climbed up to get it.