Gremlins?

Whoah there. Sorry about that eyeball. It's really pretty, but a wee bit startling, heehee. Um... there was something else... but I forget.
Well then. So Pheonix can open doors that are not latched. The screen door only sort of latches, so he just waltzes in and out as he pleases when we're trying to let the cool evening air in and keep the mosquitos out. Which, by the way, have been especially rampant this year. But Pheonix can't be bothered with jumping up to the kitty window, and he has a nice mosquito resistant coat. Little booger.

A few days ago we were leaving the main door open all night, just the screen closed. Maybe KINDA dumb, but we have very little crossbreeze, and no AC, so sometimes we gotta throw caution to the wind if we don't want to sleep in a puddle of sweat. Usually though, we close the door, and lock it. We may live in the semi boondocks, but we do have neghbors, we're very close to a (small, pop. 6,000) town, and I have watched way too many episodes of CSI.

One night, however, I woke in the pitchy black to the sounds of something rooting through our kitchen. This was a cool time of year, so we had definitly locked the door. Now, our house is something like 300 square feet: maybe 20 feet long, 12 feet wide on the front door end, 20 feet on the back end, kind of a small square and a big square. My bed is therefore not far from the front door, which was letting in a draft. And there were noises in the kitchen. And what did I do? Well, it sounded small, but our cats never make a ruckus at night, plus there were strange shuffling snorting noises. I was scared, but curious. Now that I think back on this, why the heck didn't I wake my Honey? I think I was annoyed at being woken and wanted to just fix the problem. So I stumble in the dark to the light switch and then I see it.

A raccoon. Looking at me, one paw on the garbage can. What do I do? I wave my arms in the air and say " hey". Not too loud, cuz I'm half awake and I guess I didn't want to wake CommonLaw. The critter just looked at me. So I decide I need to be a little more aggressive. Does it cross my mind that I'm in my underwear and nightshirt? It could bite me and have rabies?? No. D'oh. I grab a box and rattle it around in the air, saying, "hey! get out!" It cocked it's head sideways. I can't believe I did this. I think my heart was getting a little adrenaline pumping by this time, so I... lunged at the wild animal. And luck be with me, it turned and ambled out at a leisurly pace, clearly thinking that we were on equal footing but finding me, perhaps, a bit annoying. It would come back later, it thought to itself. Ha. I latched the door good this time, buddy. Pheonix, I'll have words with you later about when it's okay to have friends over, and when it's not.

That was the last of that problem. Until last night. I was dreaming, something about coffee and brunch with friends. CommonLaw got up to make a PB sandwich. He was very loud about it. He was crashing around, knocking things over... and then I woke up. This time I made him get up. When he turned on the light, there was some spilled garbage, a couple things knocked over. But the door was shut. Nothing moved. He searched the far reaches of our mansion. Nothing.

I guess it could have gone out the kitty window in the 4 steps it takes to reach the lightswitch... but what was it? It would have to be a baby if it was a raccoon. A 'possum? It ate all the catfood, whatever it was. I started thinking about setting a trap, in case it told it's friends about the free buffet... but what if it was a skunk?? That would be bad. Then, falling back to sleep, I started thinking about how we could lay a tray of plaster, and get it's footprint when it came back, and.. what? Make a little documentary?

I guess we shall see if the kitty window will have to be shut at night. I don't want to lock them in, cuz they will yowl and complain. And I don't want to lock them out... All I can do is wait. I'll put my camera next to the bed. And I'll remember that a raccoon might be able to whup my ass. And that's why it's important to have some one ELSE be on the front lines. Oh hooonnnneeeey....

P.S. It is important that I give CommonLaw his proper due. No, not for facing down the gremlins, I did it once too. For picture taking. He got his back all dirty and everything to take this picture. I really like it.