Muted voices again

     I haven't had time to update this journal for a while. I've been doing major work in the kitchen, reestablishing a textured ceiling. A few days ago I again experienced the muted voices throughout the house. Probably lasting no longer than half an hour the voices were too muted to understand but the main voice sounded male while lower background sounds seemed to be both male and female. A hubbub not unlike a sizeable gathering of people. I went outside the house looking for the origin of the sound, but there were no people talking sounds outside but they were clearly there inside. I looked for a TV or radio that might be on but found none. My dogs did not seem to notice the sounds or they didn't react to them. My wife was in town. Like before, they simply faded away slowly. Election time draws near and in the past that is when this house is most likely to become active. Halloween has always been a very quiet, as far as the house is concerned, time. Many people seem to think the house should be really spooky at Halloween; but so far, in all the years we've lived here, that is not the case. I have a huge number of trick or treaters (around 400) because this tiny village is the only settlement for miles around and all the country kids come here for trick or treat and the local firestations Halloween party. But as far as the unexplained is concerned, it just doesn't seem to happen on Halloween or a few days prior or after. Still you can never be certain when the strange will occur, but past experience would indicate that it usually begins sometime after election day.

A third schnauzer.

     Today, as I was putting down dog food in the kitchen, I called the dogs whom I suspect were in the diningroom. Rowdy, my older male came around the corner first, followed by Shadow, my new pup, and then I distinctly saw a third schnauzer round the corner. I did a double-take and no dog was there. I was startled,  but there was no question, in my mind, that I saw a third schnauzer. Rowdy is a salt and pepper color, must people would say grey and white, he was first on the scene to eat. Shadow is a very black schnauzer, she was close behind but she was followed by another salt and pepper schnauzer. I don't have another salt and pepper schnauzer. The sighting was short, I was concentrating on Shadow when the third dog appeared and I did do a double-take which on second look no dog was  there. This would not be the first time that I have seen a schnauzer where it could not have been. Is this the beginning of this years strangeness?

Notice

  When you reach the bottom of these entrys, hit the "Link to these entries" and the last entry will reappear; but at the bottom of it will be links to older entries. This journal goes back several years.

Strange sounds

    This isn't a big deal; but it did happen and it was a definite sound.  Today, in the early afternoon; I decided to go to the master bedroom and read a new book that I had purchased yesterday. The dogs were left downstairs, both taking their afternoon naps, but I implaced the gate on the stairs, as I went up, anyway. My wife was watching TV in the Den. I hadn't much more than settled in and read about one page when I heard what sounded exactly like my dog shaking himself and rattling the tags on his collar. So I said," Get up here" and thumped the bed as I do when I invite the dogs upon the bed. There was no response (normally I'd get a very rambunkious reponse). I immediately got up and looked for my older male (thats who it sounded like). There was no dog to be seen. So this is the first strange effect for some time. As it may not seem significant, it is  a mystery. Later when I returned downstairs, I saw the gate was still securely in place. Both dogs greeted me in typical bouncey fashion when I returned from upstairs. I have no idea what the sound was. I cannot think of anything that would make such a characteristic sound, other than a dog shaking itself.

Bathroom Mirror

       Some time ago I reported that the downstairs bathroom was very hard on mirrors. Its true that every time we placed a mirror over the sink in that bath it would be down a few days later (never broken) and usually lying at a right angle from the wall (usually at the foot of the rear staircase). Last fall we removed the old bathrooms (both upstairs and down) because they were hideous "grapes of wrath" style (glorified outhouses) and not especially heat conserving in winter. The new baths are much more pleasant and far more heat efficient. And besides that, we have had a mirror over the sink for close to a year now and no signs of it falling.  Hopefully the problem left with the old bathrooms.

Recorder is back

     The missing tape recorder, lost since early March, reappeared today beside the kitchen telephone. The kitchen telephone is the most used phone in the house. I now have two recorders to use this fall when the house, once again, becomes active. June and July and the first half of August have been very quiet. Except for the reapparence of the recorder, this has been a quieter summer than usual. Activity usually picks up in early November. I played the newly found recorder to determine if anything new had been added to the tape. Nothing had. These disapparences and reapparences  are not that uncommon here.

Shoved by something

      This episode occurred several years ago; but it was only yesterday that I got the rest of the story. My wife's cousin ,who generally lives a a good ways away, generally visits us once or twice a year. On his last stay, here in this house, he came downstairs one morning saying that he had fallen and hit his wrist on the edge of the bed. "No damage done," he reported, "just a bit sprained." After he got home it turned out his wrist was broken. This cousin is a country parson (now retired) and though he continued to visit us; he insisted upon staying at a motel instead of here. Insisted it was because we didn't have air conditioning. This trip, this past week, he admitted he didn't fall, he was pushed and there was nobody anywhere close. He said everyone was downstairs when it happened. Interesting, don't you think? Being a preacher, the episode must have provoked some pretty serious thought.