Growls

     This is a first and one I do not like. I was in the library working on the computer, my dog was lying on a rug between the library and the den. My wife was working in town. The house has been very quiet of late, but I'm not surprised as the house is often most quiet in the spring and summer. This all ended yesterday. As I sat reading at the computer a growl, really more than a growl, its hard for me to discribe, it was loud and menacing. My dog went erect and issued a growl of his own but he immediately moved over to beside me in the chair. Then a series of thumps and bumps occurred, very loud and sounding like ,whatever ,was in the next room which is the dining room. Frankly I did not know what to do. I couldn't imagine that a large animal had gotten into the house, but whatever it was, it sounded big enough that I didn't want to tangle with it. Apparently my dog had no desire to tangle with it either. I sat there, not doing anything. The noises stopped, I waited, then quietly got up and backed up to the fireplace where a sword that my father bought me many years ago was displayed. I unsheathed the sword and quietly as possible entered the dining room with it. There was no sign of anything, nothing out of place, no place anything bigger than a mouse could hide. Still unnerved, I passed into the kitchen, all doors were locked or tightly closed. I checked out the whole house. Nothing indicated an intruder of any kind. My dog was at my heels all the way. Whatever caused this racket had his attention as well as mine. That growl or snarl or whatever it was was the first menacing thing I have enountered here. I didn't like it and hope never to encounter it again.