-Shadow_oo00

Is there a reason besides light that you're cutting slits in the plywood for?

Light would be one reason but the primary one I was thinking about is so that I can see whats coming at me, I only cut them in choice (tactical) locations, not all the windows. Hopefully the only thing they will be used for is light. But again I like to have all the bases covered.

This item immediately raised a red flag to me. If you mean you have the ability to access a medieval crossbow that drops from a hidden compartment in the ceiling when you tug the velvet rope in the corner (yeah, that would be a surprise!), that's one thing, but if you mean "booby traps," then you're setting yourself up for some serious liability. You could lose everything if some burglar is killed or seriously injured by a booby trap when you weren't home.

Welcome to the fire newguy.

My suggestion is you look out of each window in your house and see what you can see from them taking note of:
1. Possible cover (ditches, large trees, walls)
2. Possible concelement (shrubs, neighbor's windows, etc...)
3. Possible lines of attack (streets, alleys)

Then fire up Google Earth and use its measuring tool to measure the distance from each of your windows to the spots of interest you noted above. Print out several aerial photos of your house and draw lines between the windows and these spots of interest, and write the distance on the line. That way you know how to adjust your shooting to hit a particular spot. Mount these range maps near the windows and you are ready to go.

Side benefit: they make great conversation starters with your neighbors, babysitters, repairmen, social workers...

-Blast

I wondered if anyone has patented an X10 Claymore mine yet !!

Thats a lot to prepare for! My humble advice is to try and be a little more specific about what disruptions/events are more likely to happen. I know anything can happen but some events are much more likely than others. Otherwise, you might might run yourself ragged trying to prepare for everything and leave youself with a generalized perparation that doesn't adequately cover your most likely scenarios. Also, I'd say while staying in place and waiting it out is preferrable, there could be any number of situations that might require you to have to bug out (fire, chemical spill, contamination, etc, etc.) If you don't already have one, even a basic evacuation plan is a good way of covering your bases.

December 21st 2012 is just going to have to be one of those days to spend all day in bed under a nice warm duvet

That's contingency 354, for when a solitary vampire has you cornered in the study.

Contingency 355, when it's two vampires, is the second velvet cord.

Yup, I can picture it now...

Me:
[raking lawn, notices new neighbor Blast walking my way, pulling a super long tape measure]
Hi! Welcome to the neighborhood! Watchya doing there? Gonna put in some new sprinklers?

Blast:
Hi! People call me Blast. Y'know, like "Blast zone." Heh-heh.

Sprinklers? Naw. Just figuring out fields of fire. And I want to make sure all of my long guns are zeroed for the relevant distances from my front windows over there. The ones with the shooting slits, that is, not the ones I have completely sealed up with bricks.

[Then eyes narrow and a smile appears on his face] Say there...I like your rake...

Suprisingly, my neighbors take some measure of comfort when they see me walking around the neighborhood.

It's when they CAN'T see me that they get nervous...

-Blast