A Strange Trill

     It has been snowing and sleeting for three days. The snow really came down yesterday and today. We have about 4 inches of snow on the ground. Activity in this miniberg has come almost to a stop. When I've had the dogs out our tracks are plainly visible in the snow. This morning I saw one set of tracks (not ours) in the front sidewalk. I knew who it was because the lady who made those tracks was on her way to the post office accompanied by her dog "Lucky". There were no other tracks in the snow anyplace around my house. My dogs and I cut through fresh, undesturbed, snow all around the house. Last night, about 8 pm, I was taking care of some plants in our upstairs bathroom which is located in the rear of the house. I could distinctly hear a trilling whistle. I have only known two people in my lifetime that could whistle a trill. Both belonged to a time in the past and many miles away. I could not determine the direction of the sound which lasted less than 30 seconds. My wife was downstairs completing an oil painting for a client and both dogs, she told me, were in the kitchen with her. The TV was not on; but even if it had been, it would have had to be full blast to be heard upstairs. The sound was so characteristic, a trill is the only way I can discribe it. It raised and lowered a couple of times, kind of like it was part of some sort of melody, but was neither loud enough or long enough for me to get a fix on it. Seems strange to me. But the explaination escapes me.

Dogs Panic

     Our two dogs rarely react to the goings on that sometimes accur in the house. We had the growling fit of the younster a few weeks ago; but last night was quite different. The younger dog sleeps on the foot of the bed, whereas the older dog has a pillowed nest next to the heat register. I'm aware of the fact that both dogs will usually, some time during the night, go downstairs and get a drink. They rarely disturb us as they come and go. Last night the younster apparently got thirsty and went downstairs. My wife, a light sleeper, thought she could hear a dog barking but half asleep consigned it to our neighbors dog across the street. Keep in mind, this house is almost sound proof and a dog barking in the kitchen is only slightly noticeable in our bedroom. If the bedroom door would happen to be shut they would not be heard at all. Finally, my wife decided it was our younger dog and awakened me. "Somethings got Shadow upset", she said. I could vaguely hear barking coming from someplace. The barking got hysterical and our older dog went growling down the hall at a lope. Figuring something must be amiss, I got up, intending on going to see what the commotion was about. Before I got beyond the bed our older dog came dashing back and ran under the bed. Figuring that was not a good sign, I moved quickly down he hall to the rear stairs that lead down to the kitchen. As I went the barks sounded louder and hysterical, almost a scream. I hit the lights at the top of the stairs and started down, I didn't make it to the bottom of the stairs before my younger dog came careening around the corner out of the kitchen and up the stairs, past me and on, I assume back to the bedroom. Having no idea what was going on I continued on down and into the kitchen where I turned the overhead light on. The first thing I noticed was the wall clock showing a few minutes after 3 am. I checked the whole downstairs. I checked the doors, nothing was out of place. I went back upstairs where, of course, my wife wanted to know what was going on. Needless to say, I had absolutely no idea. What would scare a dog, well actually both dogs, that much? I can't see how it could have been anything bigger than a mouse. The dogs chase mice when they see them. But I haven't seen any recently since I put out mouse bait. The older dog might have gotten downstairs before he hightailed it back, but he certainly didn't stay down long. Did the younger one panic the older one? Whaton earth did she see or think she saw? Unfortunately dogs cannot tell you. A good episode to get the blood running and wreck a night sleep. But as to what caused it; I haven't the slightest idea.

Something changed the timers

     We have two lamps that sit in the two front windows. They are set to come on about dark and go off about dawn. The same timer operates both lamps. The timer has tiny pin like projections, each representing about 30 minutes of time. Fot the lamps to come on all of the pins between  7:00pm until 7:00am are pushed in. These pins are small and require some force to push them in. The lights have worked the way they are supposed to for several years now. Yesterday, my wife noticed the lights in the windows were on in the middle of the afternoon. Thinking an electrical blackout may have occurred in the night; she just figured she'd have to reset the timer; but as she was busy at the time she put it off until later. Later while doing something in the Diningroom she noticed the Parlour window light go off.  So she figured she'd better reset the timer. Upon inspection she first noticed that the timer was at the correct time. Further inspection indicated that two of the pins in the afternoon section of the timer were pushed in. She certainly hadn't pushed them in, I didn't push them in' The dogs hadn't even been in the parlour for days (how would they push in two tiny pins anyway)? The timers are well off the floor. There probably is a mundane answer for this; but I haven't discovered it yet.

Dogs spooky reaction

     Last night, our youngest dog, who sleeps at the foot of our bed; she's a good foot warmer, really spooked us. What she heard or thought she heard, I have no idea. My wife and I had turned in about midnight. I was awakened by the low gutteral growls of this youngster. My wife was already awake and motioned me to keep silent. The growls continued for a while and as the dog is coal black I had a hard time seeing her even though she was only a few feet from my nose. The elder dog is grey and sleeps next to the heat register. His bed is light colored and I could see that he was not awake, but curled up in a ball. Our black dog stood up and leaned out away from the bed as far as she could without falling out of the bed. She was trying to see down the dark upstairs hall. I looked at our clock which read 4:15. The growling continued, low, like a warning growl. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me and I got up and walked down that hall to the bathroom which is on the opposite end. I saw nothing, I heard nothing. Just to be sure, I walked downstairs and checked the rear door which was solidly locked. I still heard nothing but the ticking of a clock. So I went back upstairs and back to bed. Our little black schnauzer was still sitting up at the foot of the bed. When I got back in bed, she settled back down and I suppose she then went to sleep. Did she sense something? Did she hear a mouse? I have no idea, but until you experience something like that, you have no idea how creepy it can be.