Smile.... You're on Candid Camera...

 

A few years back, my son thought it would be a good idea if I had a Google Nest aka “Ring” doorbell.  Technology challenged, it took me a while to have it installed and then to figure out how to link it to my phone. For quite a long time, I found it annoying, because the camera is panoramic and is so good, it goes off if a deer crosses the lawn at 150 paces or if a particularly large snow flake floats by. One particularly startling time I opened the app to see what was going on, and there was the face of an insect looking right at me – up close and too personal. After I caught my breath and realized that it was not an alien presence, I just turned off the sound on the app and went back to sleep.

Now, however, I have found that I can watch delivery of packages from my reading chair and answer in all honesty that the item was delivered with care.  I also have watched the driveway being plowed and the porch shoveled early in the morning when I am still all snuggied up in my fleece sheets. I confess that I have been tempted, from time to time, to turn on the sound and speak to people on my porch, but have not yet done so as I think that would be rather startlingly intrusive and not welcomed -- especially in the early morning quiet. A particularly interesting thing is that I can see what is going on at my house even if I am hundreds of miles away. 

Now I am thinking that I may install more cameras all around including one my barn – just so I can see what critters are doing during the night.  I know I have a bear visiting my pasture, but I haven’t caught sight of him/her yet and it is almost time for hibernation. I also have seen an 8-point and a 4-point buck eating my apples early in the morning and at dusk. I think they sleep in the tall grass on the sheltered side of the barn. What’s nice is you can easily "screen shot" and save the photos to your phone and then edit them. 

Then there is also the safety issue.  I wonder if the person who banged on my door in the middle of the night and ran, knows that the camera was there --awake and ever vigilant. Smile.... You're on Candid Camera.

Just so you know – in all fairness there is a sign in my yard and a decal on my door that tell a person that they are on camera. Nowadays there are cameras everywhere – a condition to which I have become so accustomed, I never even think about it.  Sort of scary, isn’t it? And along the scary lines, I also have decals on more than one door that indicate that my home is protected by Smith and Wesson. Fair warning. Have I mentioned lately that I have at times shot better than my Grandson in our shooting classes and he shoots on a champion trap team? (... a fact that really amuses me.) But seriously -- these are the times we live in. Times of security cameras and handguns. Sort of sad, isn’t it?