Is there a tree next to the house? A branch scraping back and forth in the wind can make an unidentifiable sound when blowing in the wind.
@casailinglady the cats are invaluable… I love your grandma’
@dpfromva I am in squirrel country and this lady was overworked (13 hrs/day) and had some personal problems - she said - and maybe that’s why she freaked out.
Im installing cameras tonight. I have to buy the keyless things too. Do you know if they work with keys too in case internet is down or electricity out?
Thanks for all of your advice.
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Maybe it’s haunted! Is it a free standing home or is it attached to another house? She might be hearing the neighbors next door.
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Yes, there is a manual backup key for our programmable door lock. I keep it in a Master brand combination key locker, which is attached to our well house and contains keys to the detached garage and other outbuildings that are all off limits to guests. Our ‘staff’ all have the combo.
Lol ikr? if it were me, along with the cam and code lock…
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We have done that—keypads on every bedroom door, including our own bedroom door.
Guests are impressed. Few actually end up locking their room’s door, but some do. Our three-month guest (not through Air) locks her door every time she leaves the house. For her, it was her prerequisite for booking with us.
We lock our bedroom door every night that we have guests here. We could keep it locked all the time but haven’t felt the need to do so.
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My Schlage keypad locks also have a normal key you can use. They are battery powered so no electricity needed, and they still work if internet is out, you just can’t change codes, lock/unlock remotely, or monitor remotely when the internet is down.
I keep a spare key in a well-hidden lockbox just in case someone cannot get in and I can’t unlock it remotely for them. I have never needed to use it.
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I purchased one with a key as well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001COBTBC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Just in case the battery dies or someone breaks the buttons.
She was a ladylike badass!
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And it logs every use of a key code. You can check to see each time the code was used and who the code belongs to. All of my staff have their own unique codes and guest codes are all unique.
Some squirrels have two legs😁
Just be careful when you unscrew the lock from the door to change the battery! I had a wonky screwdriver and was trapped inside the unit for some how-stupid-am-I moments when the lock was in between being attached and being unattached and I was having difficulties. Was contemplating climbing out the window. Not recommended to be attended to with guests coming in a half hour! “We can’t get in.” “Well, I can’t get out.”
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Mine isn’t wireless. It’s just a regular old keypad with a knob for the key should the battery fail. I haven’t gotten that fancy yet.
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Mine is low tech, too. We don’t have internet. The codes get manually programmed by our cleaner at every setup, as shortly before the guest is due to check in as practicable given their schedule that day.
I had a friend who was housesitting a place in my town. She went out on the little balcony (this was 3 floors up) and the door slammed shut behind her in the wind, automatically locking. Her phone was, of course, inside. I just happened to come over to visit her, unannounced, she yelled down that she was locked out (and had been for about half an hour), but very luckily she had left the back door unlocked, so I was able to rescue her. If I hadn’t come by when I did, she would have had to start screaming for help.
I called her Rapunzel for a few weeks after that.
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Mine doesn’t automatically lock, so I have to remind guests to lock the door behind them. Whew!!!
The most common type of door lock here does lock automatically when you close the door, but you can pull the bar back so the tongue is retracted and use a little screw on it to hold it in the open position. Since that incident, I’m always careful to make sure the tongue is retracted when I am just going out on the porch or in the yard. I also have a set of emergency keys hidden outside.
Is that sage? I heard it’s suppose to clean out the negative energy in a home. I’ll need to try it some day.
Our digital locks recommend this for locks that have a deadbolt:
Don’t set the lock software to automatically lock the door after it’s opened from the inside. If someone leaves the door open for a few seconds (however long it takes the lock to cycle), the deadbolt will lock. Then when someone tries to close the door, the deadbolt will hit the strike plate and could damage it.
Our guests have been excellent at locking from the outside after closing the door. It’s a simple button push.
The locks I’m talking about aren’t digital and there is a deadbolt, but that’s not the part I’m talking about that essentially locks the door when you close it. The lock doesn’t attach to a doorknob, neither the outside of the door has a handle or knob. Imagine an indoor door, like into your bathroom- you close it and the lock tongue goes into the strike plate. But there is no knob to turn to open it again.
Yes, this is a white sage smudge stick. I feel better after smudging… and ultimately that’s all that matters about a ritual.
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