Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a gun in the house. About an hour ago, I had a really frightening experience. It's late here (after 12 a.m. right now), and I was in the living room, at the back of the house, reading some stuff on the Internet. My husband was in bed, and JC was on his window perch in the kitchen, at the front of the house. The only light on was a reading lamp in the LR, plus my laptop screen. I heard JC jump down from his perch, hissing like crazy, went into the kitchen to see what was wrong, and saw a man's face peering through the window. His face was about 2 inches from the glass. I screamed for my husband while turning on the light, and the guy took off. I didn't get a good look at him - just saw a watch cap and ski jacket. The dog next door didn't bark until I screamed - he's old, senile and a bit deaf, and the movement-activated spotlight out front didn't go on - it's smashed. The police came within 5 -10 minutes and searched the yards, garages, etc., but didn't find anybody. They told me Christmas was the peak season for burglars. Right now I have all the shutters closed, and we checked all the doors and windows, but I doubt we're going to be able to sleep. This is JC's second "burglar alarm". A couple of years ago he woke me up in the middle of the night and insisted that I go out on the balcony. I saw flashlights in a building on our main street, called the cops, and they caught some burglars. No such luck this time.