I love this group! Lots of great ideas and input.
This is a rental, and to our advantage, it looks closer to a trailer
trash type home than the surrounding mansions built by folks moving up
from the big cities. Would love to move but it's hard to find rentals
with 650 sq/ft of shop space and a landlord that approves of a machine
shop in the garage at a price about 1/2 the going rate....

Regarding autodialers and 911, I have a leg up there. Wife works for the
county jail and our home phone triggers a special alert at the 911
center. It will get a much better response than an average 911 call. (or
so we've been told) Still, I have found some monitoring services that
are very reasonable and the added weight that carries will probably lead
me to signing up with one.

I am going to install a wireless driveway sensor well up the road and it
will trigger a VCR to capture anyone driving in or out. I want to start
collecting license numbers of unknown cars.

I like the smoke idea. Would love to build a honkin' huge gate on the
driveway, but that's not perfect. House is two story, for the upstairs
all but the front door and kitchen window are inaccessible without a
ladder. Unfortunately 2nd story is level with the road and the deck has
a walkway right up to the road. A lot of stuff could still be carted off
pretty quickly.

Of course, my best defense is just being here, and most of the time I
am.

Appreciate all the great input!

Jon