Today my wife and I got home about 6:00 pm from her store in Byesville. We entered the house by the western rear door into the kitchen. While my wife was throwing together our supper I went out the front door and got the paper which I carried to the kitchen. We hadn't even sat down to eat when we heard a terrific slam of a door somewhere in the house. All the doors to the outside are locked with either a deadbolt or slide bolt. The door on the upstairs porch on the westward side of the house has been known to blow open (I suppose it was windcaused) and it has happened even when we were sure it was locked.  That door was still shut and the slide bolt was in place. So what door slammed? We haven't figured that one out yet. Whether it has a logical explaination or not is not known at this time. But for any door to slam shut loud enough to be heard in the kitchen must have really been slammed hard. But no evidence of such an event is evident. Yes, the front door was bolted.

The store

We have experienced very little activity in the house so far this fall and winter. Abnormally quiet whereas this time of year is usually rather active. My wife's store which is located in a very old building in a small neighboring town, on the other hand, has taken on the strange. I think I've mentioned the murmering my wife says about drives her batty there. She plays the inhouse music to mask the murmering. I have to admit I have not heard the mermuring there although it did happen at our house a couple of times in the past. But this store has displayed human "illusions", "ghosts" or whatever to me twice. These are the first really strong impressions of people that I've encountered. My wife has had several episodes, through the years, in various places we have lived; but I only had very quick impressions before. The latest occurred today. We had the store open until 4pm for last minute Christmas shoppers. Around about 2 oclock in the afternoon I entered our backroom to get a drink from the small frige we have there (No it wasn't alcoholic). As I entered the backroom I saw, what I at first thought , was my wife; but the dress was all wrong and besides I had just left my wife at the cash register helping a customer. The woman was wearing a medium dark blouse and navy blue long skirt. She had a dark scarf on her head and was bending over and, I suppose, was looking at a basket of mixed merchandise. On  reflection she looked very much like an Amish lady. I did not see her face and she vanished before I could say anything. These things take place so suddenly that you really have no oppertunity to react to them other than think "What the heck did I just see?" Maybe my wife and I are cracking up. I'd hate to think so. But these experiences are so real, at the time, only the vanishing act distinguishes them as something other than normal. The red haired boy I saw in my fist such encounter last summer, I would recognize if I saw him again. He was that real looking and was facing toward me; whereas the dark lady, today, had her back in my dorection. I guess I'm just curious as to what the heck I'm actually seeing. I don't think she was a Christmas spirit, but it is Christmas eve.

Halloween was a bummer

I always anticipate Halloween. The strange oval and circulor transparent artifacts that have shown up on some of my Halloween pictures are sure to keep one guessing. But this year, using the same cameras, films, etc; not one strange artifact appeared. Once I got a few of these strange disks on a couple pictures that I had taken just prior to Christmas,  I will undoubedly take pictures over Thanksgiving and Christmas and I will ever be alert fot the disks but our best season has passed with no luck. Any hunters of the strange, out there, who have any helpful ideas? I'm open to suggestion.

Films are back

Halloween films are back from York. Fifty two photos in all. Not a single one shows the transparant disks that have shown up in previous Halloween shots. Not one, none, nada, nyet. I shot the typical places, at the same times as before. I used the same cameras and film. For whatever reason there were no transparent disks on any of these photos. A really big disappointment. But nothing showed up on the digital camera either. Most unusual I think. I guess the next oppertunity will be the Winter Equinox on Dec. 21st unless some should make an appearance during other times when I'm photographing the ordinary. But that really is rare. The only difference that I can think of between this Halloween and the previous five, is that it was rainy. The rain did cut down on the number of trick or treaters from about 400 to 150. But I really wouldn't think it would have any effect on whatever is causing the disks to appear.

Halloween

  The weather outside was frightful. Although the hour set aside by the village for Halloween trick or treat was rather pleasant the hours preceeding the event were cold, windy, and wet. Must have scared off a lot of kids and their parents because I only had about 150 trick or treaters as opposed to the 400 that usually show up. So I'm well stocked with treats for next year. No, I do not give out candy. I quit that years ago during the great poison candy hoax. I give out misc. toys, scissors, balloons, hot wheels, stuff toys, bagged Mickwey D's premiums, cameras, light sticks, and anything else I happen onto during the rest of the year. The fact that almost all the towns and villages picked the same night for trick or treat helped a lot as well. As for this old house. I took pictures with the digital camera, with a film type camera, and used ultra violet for several shots through the digital camera. Of course I have the digital shots and they are disappointing. Not a single artifact showed up on any of the photos. This is the first year I didn't get any of the transparent disks in my shots on digital. The two films I shot and sent away have not come back yet and if they do not have any duisks this will be the first year in several years that they were absent. But maybe the films will show them. We just have to wait and see. The ultraviolet shots were spooky looking but nothing abnormal showed up in them. I'll let you know if anything shows up in the film shots. I took pictures in all the usual places late at night on both Oct. 31st and Nov 1.

Strangeness at the store

Whether or not the following story is paranormal or something else, I guess, is up to the individual. The story is true but could have a more rational explaination. This occurred   to my wife at the store she owns in a small town. The story as it was told to me by my wife. She had just opened for business a few minutes ago, she heard a car pull up in the gravel outside so she awaited the customers. In came an older couple who appeared to have walked out of the 1950s, The woman wore a jacket and skirt. The jacket was definitely 50s style and the skirt was below the knees. She wore a scarf on her head but her hair style was an obvious mimic of Mamie Eisenhower. The mans dress was typical male shirt and trousers (mens styles do not change a great deal.) They were pleasant and walked about the store. Finally the man said," We're looking for linoleum, you know, the kind that looks like carpet when it is lain." My wife told him we don't handle linoleum and directed him to the only store close that might. That type of linoleum, as far as I know, hasn't been manufactured since the early 1960s.  The man finally said, "I don't know this stuff", indicating the merchandise in the store. He and his wife said they would check out the referred stored and left. Looking after them as they left, my wife saw they left in a nice newlooking 1960s Pontiac.  My wife is in her 60s and is well aquainted with styles and vehicles of the 50s and 60s. So what did we have here? Makes you wonder.

Are ghosts scarey?

Since I saw the youth, who wasn't there, I have had several people ask if I was scared. As this was the first human figure I have ever gotten a good look at; I would have to say "no". Seeing the boy and the few seconds that elasped before he faded out, I just thought he was a customer. He was gone so quick that I had no time to register anything. I was left standing there wondering just what I had encountered. I was not scared, just a bit confused. I was looking right at him so I know he didn't leave. Nonetheless he was gone. So upon reflection the only thing I could come up with was he was a "ghost". I have gotten glimpses of people ,who couldn't be there, a couple times in the past, but the effect was so quick that only a general discription could be given. I have had, on several occassions sightings of dogs in this old house that were substantial enough that I though they were my dogs or that some stray dog had entered the house. But not people, until this time. I think I could identify this young man if I ever saw him again. But he definitely did not scare me. I doubt anyone would be scared because it started so normally and passed so quickly that you are left scratching your head and saying, "What just happened?"

My wife's store

My wife talked me into watching her store again today while she went into Columbus for new merchandise. I arrived at the store at approximately 10:30am. The stores does not officially open until 11, but I wanted everything in place. I had walked to the front of the store to turn on an "open" sign and had turned to return to the checkout area which is midway and near the main entrance. I looked up and saw a young boy, about 15 or 16 years old stasnding at a table my wife had arranged merchandise on. He was a bit scruffy looking with uncombed brown curly hair. He appeared to be bucktoothed and was wearing a lightblue shirt with dark blue stripes running both horizontally and verticall on it. His shirttail was out in back and he was wearing jeans. Just as I started to ask him if I could help him find anything he just faded away. That perplexed me about right. Phantom dogs I have definitely seen on several occassions but people are rare. To have seen him long enough to take in that much detail is a first for me. I have had glimpses of people before; but no mistake on this one, he looked real enough until he faded out. Then I had two other bits of strange; at around 11 oclock, a bit after, I distinctly heard footsteps going back through the rear salesroom. No mistaking that, the floors are barewood and sound out very nicely. Thinking someone had gotten in and I missed them, I hurried to the rear salesroom and there was noone there. There is no place to hide and the rear salesroom deadends in a bathroom. No one there either. Then around noon, with no customers in or around the store (I had had several but they had made their purchases and left) leaving the store empty except for me; I heard several hard, sharp, raps like someone really striking a wooden door quire hard. Both doors leading into the store are wood but with large glass windows. There was no sign of anyone anywhere. The rest of the day was uneventful. My wife says she experiences the weird there frequently and so she was nor surprised. I was putting out Halloween merchandise today and I thought how appropriate.

This is scarey

Today, I worked on a hall mirror and clothes rack (not sure what to call it) until about 2 pm, then I went to our Byesville store as my wife thought I'd be needed to move some furniture she had sold. I did go on line this am for less than half an hour to check my mail. So no one was home, except the dogs, from 2 until almost 7pm. The house is locked before either of us leave. This evening, about 7:30 give or take 15 minutes, I went to the computer to again check my mail. Lying on the computer keyboard was a scringe. A rather large scringe, which neither I nor my wife recognised. Back when I was still teaching school, I kept a small scringe which I loaded with rubbing alcohol and squirted into magic markers to rejuvenate them. I've been retired for quite a long time an am not certain that scringe is even still around. But this scringe is three times as big as that one was. Where did it come from and how did it get on my computer keyboard. Can't blame this one on the dogs and neither me nor my wife was home from 2 to 7. This is really eerie. Suggestions?

An apology

I just recently learned that I actually have comments on some of my postings. Unfortunately this blog was sending those comments to Spam and I never knew they were there. I apologize to those who commented and I didn't respond. I have gone back and responded to comments that are now 2 and 3 years old. I will respond to comments and questions from this point forward. I wondered for some time why I got no comments on this blog as I did have comments on a previous blog. I simply did not know the comments were there. Again sorry.

My turn at the store

The first time I tried to post this something went wrong and it did not publish. I'll try again. The store survived my running it for a day. I arrived at about 10am and began setting up for the day. I did remember to bring my tape recorder but I had no need for it as there was no murmering noted. After getting everything ready for customers I decided to straighten up a tall showcase that is located roughly 20 feet from the door to the shop. I had a direct view of the door. The door to our shop has a large delicately balanced brass bell attached to it. It rings loudly if anyone enters or exists. The loud bell is necessary in order to be heard in the back of the store where the sound has to pass through two walls. Anyway, I was placing some bric a brac in the showcase when I distinctly heard the door open and close in short order. OK, you say, someone decided against coming in. I would have thought that too, but the bell did not sound on the coming or the going. I tried several times to open and shut that door without activating that bell; I couldn't do it no matter how softly I attempted it and yet what I heard was a direct opening and closing, nothing soft about it. The sound was normal for someone opening that door and then closing it. But the bell did not ring. I looked up immediately at the sound of the door opening and saw nothing. The Open sign on the door was perfectly still; it rocks a little when the door is used. Maybe I'm nuts; but I know I heard that door open and close and I know the bell did not ring. Other than that the day was pretty much uneventful except for the chatter of customers and me. When my wife returned I mentioned there was no murmering and she reminded me that it doesn't occur every day.

My turn at the store

Tomorrow I run the store

Tomorrow my wife needs to go after supplies for her store so she is leaving me in charge. Probably not a wise move on her part. However, it gives me a chance to see if I can hear the murmering she frequently complains about. I've got to remember to take a recorder so I can see whether the murmering (should it occur) can be recorded.

Murmering

My wife continues to report the murmering that can be heard in her store. She cannot track it down. She says that when she is not busy, she has gone outside, walked all around her store and nothing is heard except traffic on the street and quite often there isn't that much traffic. The sounds are noticeable only in the store, not all the time, but frequently. I go to the store in late afternoon to help her close. So far I have not heard the murmering there. She says the murmering cannot be pinpointed, it seems the same all over, whether she is in the main showroom, the back showroom, the work and stock area or the bathroom. I understand her problem as I have experienced the same sort of phenonema here at our house; just not nearly as often. I may have her take a recorder and see if we can record the sounds.

Murmering

The dern house is murmering again. Last night, while I was upstairs the murmering started again. I hate it when that happens. It drives me nuts. Luckily, this time, it was short-lived but long enough to bug me. The voices were just low enough that nothing could be made out. The pitch of the murmerings, this time, was high, like women having a get together. Whats especially nerve wrecking is the fact there is no source or distinct area the murmering is coming from. The murmering is heard equally in all the rooms and on all floors. There was nothing playing such as a radio, TV, or phonograph. The day was especially hot, over 90 degrees and humid, very, very humid. Nothing was stirring outside. There weren't even any kids at the village playground. Everybody was indoors out of the heat. As I have said before, it takes something as loud as a backfire outside to penetrate our 17 inch brick walls. No, the windows were not open. The house is warm but not as hot as outside. The windows and doors are kept shut on these hot days to keep the heat and humidity outside. When the house becomes as hot as the outside, we open a couple windows and turn on the big window fan during the cooler night-time. What causes this place to murmer on occassion is my question. People outside is out; they'd have to be shouting beneath one of our windows to be heard and only then if we were standing next to the window. Even neighbors barking dogs are not heard here unless a window is open. Sometimes something can just be so hard to explain that it can really get on your nerves. Luckily the murming is rare.

Red light

Last night, about 9 pm give or take a few minutes, while I was working at the kitchen sink; I clearly saw, out of the corner of my eye, a distinct red light. The light was bright, very well defined, not unlike a caution light on an electrical appliance. Only problem is there is no electrical appliance in that area of the kitchen. There is a victorian, ceramic, butter churn and a hassoc type fan. The fan was not plugged in at the time and as it is rather old, it has no lights on it of any kind. I saw that light for a few seconds before I reacted to it and turned toward it. There was nothing there. Seeing as how there could not be a light, red or otherwise, in that corner of the kitchen; I resumed what I was doing at the kitchen sink. Lo and behold that bright red light reappeared but as soon As I turned it was not there. The brightness of the light and the pinpoint conciseness of it would seem to put it beyond a hallucination. Yet there was nothing there. Strange doings in this house are rather common; but placing a cause for them can be frustrating. One dog was asleep under the kitchen table and the other was not even in the kitchen. I saw the light for several seconds on both occassions; it was not a sudden flash. Old jouses can really entertain you if you don't take them too seriously. Otherwise they can drive you batty.

Disappearing dog medicine.

Today, as we finished breakfast, I was preparing a pill for our older dog who seems to have digestive problems. In order to get him to take the pill prescribed by the vet; we have to hide it in a cracker generously piled with peanut butter. Of course our younger dog has to be included to avoid problems but hers is minus the pill. I had just prepared his "treat" and laid it on the table until I could make the younger dog's treat. When I had the second treat ready, I reached for the first "treat" and it was not there. I looked all over the table, I checked the floor. No treat was visible. My wife said," look under your plate. I picked up my plate, that treat with the pill was no place on the table. My wife also looked it all over, gave me a sly look and suggested I ate it. Then she said,"You'll just have to fix him another." As I reached for the cracker bag for a new cracker to slather with peanut butter; I saw, in plain view, right beside my plate that both my wife and I had looked under, and around with no luck, laid the cracker with the pill. It was not hidden, it was in plain view, yet both of us couldn't see it? How plausible is that? Usually its tools that disappear from a work area and are found days later in some obscure place. This time it was a cracker with peanut butter and a pill, but it reappeared minutes later. A spooky practicle joker, I suppose. Seems kinda mundane.....until it happens to you.

Mumbling

Recently my wife and I purchased a business in a small town just south of our residence. My wifes curtain and candle business had outgrown the rental stalls she had been using in the craft mall. In fact her back stock was about to drive us out of our residence. Anyway, she has been busy learning the ins and outs of her new business. Several days ago, she opened the store and was busy getting it ready for business when she said she was annoyed by what seemed to be voices mumbling. She said it appeared to be several voices but they were never loud enough to make out what was being said. My wife walked the store trying to locate the source of the mumbling. She reported the "mumbling" was the same, no matter what part of the store she was in. The store has a radio sound system but it was definitely off. She walked outside to see if maybe there were a group of people talking outside. There is an office building on the east side of her store but it appeared to be closed. The day was downright hot and she said no one was in sight anywhere around. While she was outside she could not hear the mumbling. As soon as she walked back inside the mumbling was there. It was time to open and the mumbling was getting on her nerves so she tuned on the sound system to drown out the mumbling. She said that worked. At closing, when she turned off the sound system, the mumbling was gone. The store is located in an old brick building that was built in the late 1800s The building had served the community for decades as a hardware store. It was empty for periods of time before a motorcycle shop rented it. They were there only a short time and the motorcycle shop was turned into a antique, used, and new furniture store. Again, a short period passed and the owner, in poor health, decided it was too much for her to run and she sold the name and contents to my wife who has added Candles and Curtains and other decor items to the merchandise. It will be interesting to see what other, if any, strange events occur here.

Strange Gray Dog

Perhaps I'm Hal lucinating; however, yesterday while watering plants in the eastern window of our upstairs bathroom I turned around to water the plants in the western window I spied a gray, shorthaired, terrier type dog pawing the rails on my exercise machine. The machine sits in front of the western window where there are plants growing. Using his right paw the dog pawed the closest rail to him, about three times before he vanished. Slightly larger than the playful brown and white, Jack Russell we have seen upon occassion, this dog was solid gray, had short hair and a relatively long slender tail, and short pointed ears, he seemed friendly. Looking nothing like the two shaggy schnauzers I presently own, this dog is a new one to me. My wife says she never saw a dog fitting that discription either. What ever he was, I saw him long enough to get a fairly good look. Ghost or hallucination? Who knows? But this old house seems to still be harbouring some surprises.

On April 23, I reported the alarm on our front stairs going off. I found nothing at the time that could have set it off. I rearmed the alarm at that time (April 23rd) It has been on since and nothing has set it off. Its May 29th so over a month has passed and the alarm remains quiet. So it makes me wonder, more than ever, just what set it off. We rarely use the front stairs except during holidays when I'm carring decorations of one form or another. Normally we use the rear stairs. Otherwise the house has been quiet. Outside, this past week, my wife and I heard loud explosions on two different days; both in the early afternoon. As usual we were the only people in town to hear them. I'm not surprised; it has been so ever since we moved here over 30 years ago. No, I have no idea where the explosions originated; but they were quite loud. These explosions were well outside of the house. One sounded like it waas only a block or so away; the other sounded further off. No they were not firecrackers. I have a pretty well grounded knowledge of firecrackers.

Burglar Alarm a Bust

A week or so ago, I placed a burglar alarm in the alcove at the turn in our front stairs. I did it as an experiment. The front stairs is one of the main points where the weird in this house occurs. This is also the area where we most often pick up those photographic, transparent, disks that occur on photos shot during certain times of the year (Halloween, shortest day, Christmas, and on one occassion in mid-december). One day this week (Wednesday) I was working in the upstairs bedroom. We have a lot of extra furniture there that needed to go to the attic. I was in the process of transporting it the attic. The bedroom door to the hall stairs was closed but the door to the mainhall was open to the attic stairs. As I was working I heard a squeeking or grinding like noise, like something electrical that wasn't running quite right. I couldn't figure what it could be because we have very few things in the upstairs that run on an axis. I checked the bedroom and found nothing, I then opened the door from the bedroom to the hall to the top of the stairs and was blasted by that alarm. Ears ringing I made my way over to the alarm and hit the shut-off code. I then went downstairs through the open parlour door, through the parlour and opened the door into the diningroom where both my dogs greeted me. I went through the diningroom and into the kitchen where my wife was working on a project. I ask her if she heard the alarm; she said "No, and obviously neither had the dogs." She felt the alarm was no good because it was not heard all over the house. Thats a good point, but I'm not certain where I can find an Air Raid Siren to replace it with. And that still doesn't answer the question as to what set the alarm off in the first place. I suppose it could have malfunctioned or ..............?

A third dog wants to play

As I have mentioned before, this house is almost soundproof to noises outside unless they are very loud. The interior walls are also brick and the walls are thick 3 to 4 bricks thick and then they are plastered over by a near cement plaster used by builders in the mid-eighteen hundreds. So sounds do not carry well between rooms. Last night, before turning in the the evening, my wife and I spent half an hour or so playing with our two dogs. Its a nightly ritual they have come to expect. We had just finished playing with them and were preparing to turn off the lights when we heard a loud, very distinctive play growl come from somewhere in the house. It got all of our attention. The Dogs sat bolt upright and peered down the upstairs hall that runs from the master bedroom to the bathroom on the opposite side of the house. My wife exclaimed "What was that?" and our older dog jumped off the bed and ran down the hall to investigate. He came back fairly fast looking puzzled. The younger dog continued to look down the hall. Nothing more occurred and the elder dog went to his bed next to the heat register and laid down. The younger dog continued to peer down the darkened hallway and was doing so when I finally turned off the light. The sound was loud. We ALL heard it. It was a playful growl like both dogs do when we wrestle. We do not have a third dog. I have no logical explaination for it.

All is quiet

Nothing to report. The house is unusually quiet; even though we have had several strong wind storms, some with rain. This seems a bit early in the season for the house to go quiet. But no strange noises, explosions, footsteps or murmerings. Whatever causes our occassional bouts of strange seem to be hibernating. Its so quiet of an evening that its hard to read without going to sleep. Thats one habit I do not care to get into unless I'm in bed.

Another Explosive event

My wife was working with the computer in the library, I was reading in the den which is next to the library. Our dogs were sacked out, one at the foot of my wife's chair and the other in front of the TV in the den. A crash sounded, it shook the house. It sounded like something had come through the roof. It got our attention quick enough and both dogs ran barking to the kitchen. It was misty, icy, and wet outside. I didn't check outside. Frankly it sounded like something had fell through the roof. I checked all rooms on the first and second floor and in the attic. Everything was fine. Today, I checked outside and there was no sign of anything on the roof or near the house. No ice was built up on the roof. I'm happy I can't find damage; but what on earth are we hearing that leaves no trace.

All films back...Artifacts evident on six

All of the films I shot over Christmas are back. Three different cameras were used. Two of the Cameras were point and shoot (Ansco and Kodak) and my digitile Canon. Four shots , two and two, recorded the strange transparent disks; plus 2 on the digitile. This time all the disks were located on the front hall and stairs and in the parlour. Christmas and Halloween appear to be the prime times to get these artifacts in the photos. As to what they are? I have no idea. One day, it was flurrieing very lightly outside so I took the digitile camera out and shot some pictures. I got white spots that were round; but they were white not transparent. They looked nothing like the clear transparent disks I seem to pick up in the house. A local ghost hunter called them "spirit disks", but, really, why would a spirit appear as a transparent disk? Anyone with a logical explaination is welcome to tell us. Heck even an illogical explaination would be worth a look. I just happenerd to remember I may have a few shots on my Zenit. Couldn't be very many. If anything would show up on the Zenit. I'll report it, but that may be a while.

Footsteps and door slamming back with a vengeance

There had been very little of the ghostly footsteps and the door slamming hadn't occurred in a long time. A couple days ago this all changed. I was working in the attic putting away left over christmas decorations and such that I couldn't fit into our Christmas room (a room over the front door that was used as a chest or storage room in the 1800s). I had just finished that chore and returned downstairs. I should note here that when you are in our attic you are totally cut-off soundwise from the first floor. Upon arrival in our kitchen which is on the first floor, I was greeted with, "Who was at the door?" by an angry wife. "How would I know, I responded, I was in the attic." No you weren't , she replied, fire in her eyes, You came stomping down the stairs, stomped your way through the diningroom and slammed the dinningroong door on your way there" (front door). " Just finished taking that stuff up to the attic and putting it away," I replied. "I wasn't aware there was anybody at the front door." "Well the dogs were making a**es of themselves and you didn't hear it?" she said. "No I didn't". I then went through the dining room opened the door then proceeded through the Parlour to the front door. Nothing was amiss; the front door was locked and barred from the inside. Anyone going out the front door would have left the door unlocked and unbarred. But everything was as it should be. I have no idea what my wife heard stomping down our rear stairs and slamming through the house. We're the only ones here except our two two miniature schnauzers and I'm sure they can't stomp very loud nor open and slam doors. There are two other doors, one leading out of the diningroom to the lower section of a double porch; but that door hasn't been used in years, is locked and barred and my wife has furniture in front of it. The only other door leads off the end of the downstairs hallway and onto the same porch. But hereagain, the door is locked and barred, has plastic sheeting over it (It tended to let in a good bit of cold air) plus there is a rocking chair and ladder in front if it. So whatever went stomping to the front door must still be in there because there is no way for it to exit except by sliding a bolt and unlocking a door which, obviously, never happened. So what did my wife hear? I caught the blame; but I was in the attic. We've had footsteps frequently over the years. We have even heard stomping on a couple of occassions usually in regard to the attic. Doors opening by themselves is fairly common even locked doors have been found open. This is the first time the steps were stomping from the rear stairs through the house along with a door slam. It apparently had the dogs upset as well. And here I had just posted, a few days ago, how quiet the house has been this winter.

Not so quiet.

I think I mentioned in my last post that the house was strangely quiet for this time of year. We had two events just days apart the ended the quiet. One occurred around 4 pm , still in the old year. A house shakingly loud crash that had the wife and I both thinking a ceiling had caved in. A thorough search of the house disclosed nothing amiss. A thorough search outside and around the house also disclosed nothing amiss. Our neigbors heard nothing though they were at home at the time. This isn't really surprising, I guess, as noone in this town ever hears anything but gossip. When we moved here in 1979, we hadn't been in town but a few weeks when the local fireworks factory exploded killing at least one worker. The explosion shook the house and rattled the windows. When I tried to find out what happened, no one heard a thing. Headlines in the local newspaper the next day had them all wondering why they hadn't heard it. We were just turning in one night, between midnight and 1 am when a second thunderous crash occurred. It shook the house, the dogs were going nuts. Again I checked the house from stem to stern and found nothing amiss. The next day I checked outside and found everything ok. A neighbor suggested that a piece of ice must have fallen off the roof. I don't think so. In the first place we had had very little precipation. A thin snowfall gave us a more or less white Christmas and then it turned unseasonably warm. I had a new steel roof put on the house this past summer and ice off the upper roof landing on the lower roof would make a lot a racket, however nothing sticks to this new roof, its slicker than ice even in dry weather. Theres no place for ice to build up. There was no sign of ice on any roof nor on the ground. As you can see, asking my neighbors if they heard anything is a waste of time. They are all deaf to loud noises. There is no obvious explaination and will probably remain so. Old houses in old towns are such a mystery.