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Monday, June 11, 2012

Things That Go Bump, Screech, Thump

Since the raccoon scare, I don't want to let my hens out much. I caught my neighbor's cat in the raccoon trap. I had to struggle to get her out. the lock is dinged and too tight. The snake is leaving the eggs alone. I still think I have a raccoon and snake!

Finally, I let the hens out about 4 pm for a bit of grass time. I was wary because I heard something in the basement around 2:30 pm. The hens were grateful but rather cool to me. I picked up a few things in the yard and put them in the trash, righted my little red wagon after draining it of water and leaned it where it won't fill again.

As I came into the kitchen to wash dishes in the sink, I looked out and the hens were in the swing--all three of them! Why not look for worms after the rain? I put it all out of my mind and came to sit a bit.

The trees exploded with cacophony,  the warnings and flight of birds. "Do birds get upset at raccoons?" I asked myself. Okay, I went out to help the frantic birds. Usually there is a cat in the bushes, a cat that could never get to the nests so high in the trees. Nevertheless, the birds go crazy. I shoooo the cat away.

Upon stepping onto the porch, I saw two male cardinals and another bird flopping in the edge of the yard in the monkey grass. All three were dragging a wing as they vocalized along with the birds in the trees. All three flew away as I descended the steps. I walked around the yard, looking for the cause of the alarm. Finally, the birds became quiet. I can only assume a cat beyond my fence was upsetting the birds.

Tonight, Louise was adamant about NOT going into the pen, not being lured by my feeding her. She sat on an overturned container resting on two chairs. I turned the container diagonally so she would not have the flat bottom for sitting. Then, she got on the porch railing. She had the most stubborn look on her face. I held a container of dehydrated corn up to her. She ignored it, something I have never seen her do.  After tossing her off the railing and into the yard several times, I just carried her to the pen! I was all sweaty by then and had chicken feathers stuck to my damp arm.

After dark, I heard a different noise from the basement--raccoon rambling around? Snake making something slip?

My only consolation--there is no door from the basement into the house. I have to go outside the house and go down the basement steps. Otherwise, my hair would have gone white 20 years earlier than it did.

Do you ever. . .
hear things in the basement, attic? hear the trees explode with alarms from dozens of birds?

13 comments:

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  2. I once had something moving around in the bedroom wall. Actually it happened nearly every spring. I never did find out for certain just what it was. I rather suspect a pack-rat or a family of squirrels. One night I was "this close" to taking a crowbar to it. That sort of thing can sure get on your nerves!

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  3. Janet,
    I can relate oh so well. The exact same thing happened to me and in the bedroom wall. If I had owned a gun, I would have blasted away! yes, it does get on the nerves. I was beating on the walls and screaming at whatever it was I think it was a rat or two that I tried my best to catch. After a few years, it quit. Then, there was the woodpecker that pecked on the metal chimney cover for years, disturbing my children and I every morning for years. Ack! Stupid bird.

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    1. That would be "disturbing my children and me..."

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  4. we all do I suspect - esp when alone in the house. The other day I twice heard an odd noise in the kitchen I went out to look about after opening cupboards etc. I was just leaving when the noise happened again - I then realised it was a plastic bottle my wife had "crushed" and put in the recycling and it was trying to "uncrush" itself :-)

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  5. We have raccoon problems here too...and have managed to catch one or two and relocate them. I think when you live out like we do, you're always hearing things!! (And you're probably right!!)

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  6. Furtheron,
    I have had similar noises with plastic bottles. Just the other day, a plastic bag was taking its own sweet time sliding off the table, sort of creepy,crawly like. I live alone all the time, so any noise mostly panics me, especially since I have this justified fear that a raccoon might get into my living space as the three babies did! Now, I think of the places a snake might use to access me in my house. And, there is no guy here to send in to see what I hear! No dog, no gun!

    Akannie,
    That is why I miss tv so much. At least I only heard the big noises, like firetrucks. Squirrels on the roof and sticks falling against the house were masked, as were all the minor, creepy noises I hear now. LOl...yes, probably right!

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  7. There has been something crashing around but we don't know what. If we are downstairs it sounds like upstairs and vice versa. But the wind carries noises from across the street too so we dismiss it all. My old apartment sounds scared me more thn this old house....rats in the walls. In SanFrancisco, raccoons were known to live in walls and my husbands old place in Australia had giant noisy possums.

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  8. LindaM,
    Whatever it is may be between floors or in the wall. This is the first place we have lived with any critters in the house other than the occasional mouse which was quickly dispatched.

    The house next door deflects noise and it sounds like people or things or music is in the yard. The hs stadium is on the other side of the house. At first, exbf would be standing in the yard looking for the source of it all. Ever so often, I still see him looking about for the source of sounds. Aren't I lucky to have a band in my yard?

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    1. What kind of band? A marching band? You might not be so lucky.lol! No, the sound is like a dish being dropped into a pan. It's strange. We do trap mice...it's a farm so no easy way to avoid some things but the dog isn't phased by the mystery sounds so I don't worry.

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    2. The high school is to our north by about 6 blocks. The marching band, football team practice, men with megaphones, EVERYTHING hits the house directly to the south and bounces so that all seems to be right in the backyard. After six years, I still see exbf looking around, especially when several men at one time use the PA system. It's like, "Where are those men I hear so clearly?" Thankfully, we don't hear the cheerleaders.

      I aay, "If the dog does not care, all is well."

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  9. There's always strange noises in the countryside. UK is no exception.
    When I lived in the country I would regularly hear a noise like lots of breaking windows or china falling from a dresser - weird - I never ever found anything broken - ghostly perhaps ?

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  10. Wean,
    That sounds ghostly! If I lived in the country I would need a guy, a dog, and a gun. I live smack dab in the middle of the city and have rat, squirrel, raccoon, coyote, snake, possum, and some other critter in yard, house, or basement. That was why I had tv on most nights.

    The most nerve-rattling thing was when a cat and squirrel would roll, snarling and screeching down the roof and land on the flat part of the roof.

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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.