Sighs

     One of those rare but strange summertime occurrences. I was setting at the computer in our library. The dog was in his chair in the den. Noone else was in the house. From the dinning room came a long drawn out sigh; then another one. Quite loud and sounding discusted. I thought my wife had just come in and something perturbed her. The dog must have heard it too as he jumped off his chair and trotted toward the diningroom, but didn't go in. Thinking I'd better see what was wrong, I got up and went to the dinningroom. Noneone there, noone else in the house. My wifes car was not in the driveway. Two long discusted sighs. Are we going to get active earlier this year?

Finding all of this journal

      I add this statement from time to time. This journal is much longer than it appears. The earliest entries cannot be found by hitting the older entries set. For whatever reason it doesn't work. At the last entry you scroll down to, you will see a "Link to this entry" site. Hit that; and the same last entry that you just read will reappear, however, if you scroll down on it you will see a referral back to an earlier entry and each entry after that will have a referral back to an even earlier entry until you reach the last one (actually it is the earliest entry) "Strange house in a strange little village."

Alls quiet

I have added no new entries as the house has been very peaceful since my May 4th entry. These quiet periods are most often in the summer. The peace and quiet only makes the active periods all the more strange when the more active period begins; usually around election day (early November) and through the winter. This year it continued through spring. I intend to post only when the abnormal occurs. Or if I happen to remember a past event not yet mentioned.

Footsteps

     As I add to this journal anytime the strange occurs; I will add tonight. Actually, I've been working on the computerr since about 6 pm. My wife is at work, my dog has been antsy all evening. Its about 10:30. Footsteps, seemingly coming from the kitchen area  into the dining have occured on at lest three seperate occassions tonight, Sounding like a light womans step in hard soled shoes on hardword floors. The dog has growled and barked on each occassion but has made no move to leave the library where he and I are at the present. These footsteps are common enough here; I rarly check them out anymore. They sound like they come from the kitchen, across the diningroom and end about where the diningroom table sits. The diningroom is carpeted, by the way, even if the steps sound like they're on hardwood floors. When you reach the bottom of these entries, hit link to these entries and the last entry will come up again but if you scroll to the bottom of it you will see other older entries that you can get into.. This journal is much longer and you can scroll back to some of our more interesting mysteries.

Haunted bookshelves`

     Sometime ago I related an incident whereas the bookcase coughed several times, No explaination was evident then or now. Last night I was working with the computer in the library. It was rather late, a bit past midnight. My wife had retired for the night as she had to get up at 5 am and go to work. She has a very erratic schedule. The dog was sound asleep on the rug directly behind me. All of a sudden a noise, exactly like an empty tin can crashing down a brick road, jarred me suddenly from my work. The dog awakened  lay growling and looking directly at the fourth section of our built-in bookshelves. As I was sitting parellel with the bookcase and not more than six feet from it I was in an excellent position to hear the direction of the sound. The bookcase was built into the library when the house was built in 1857. It extends from ceiling to floor (about 12 feet). After the coughing episode, I had drilled several test holes into the back of the bookcase looking for an opening, like a passageway. I found none. The bookcase is on a wall that is away from the street, and is on a wing of the house. I immediately checked the rear of the house where the library juts out. There was no sign of anything that could have made such a loud tinny sound.

Pistol shot

   I was working the computer in the library yesterday when what sounded very much like a pistol shot, very loud and very close. The pup who was sleeping in his favorite chair in the den came running to me in an agitated state. I went immediately to the front den window and looked out on a perfectly peaceful street with no cars or people in sight. My neighbor across the main street from me doesn't own a gun; I doubt he knows how to fire one. My next door neighbor who is really a good 100 ft. from me does not believe in firearms. The house on my other side belongs to me, it is my shop and storage shed . There are no houses behind me for a quarter mile. I heard the "shot"; my dog, obviously heard it, but no one else in town that I spoke to heard any kind of loud noise. Most people in this tiny village go to the local post office for their mail, a  cup of coffee, and a lot of gossip. Thats where I asked about the "shot". This is not that unusual for this house, just another unexplained noise. But as I have said before, these crashes, shot sounds, etc. are so loud, so real, you never hesitate to investigate. Just another strange day, in a strange old house, in a strange, historical, little village.

Friday 13th Jinx

       This past Friday the thirteenth was something else. My nephew asked me for a copy of the family coat-of-arms as he wants to build a violin with the coat in the front. I took the coat picture off the wall and realized it was too big for my scanner. So I took it into the den and used my digital camera to copy it. When I tried to get the computer to take the picture off the camera it wouldn't work. We recently got a new computer and although the program had transfered ok; it apparently is not compatible with this computer. So I took the copy and drove into town (about 8 miles away) and had a copy made at the local print shop. I had it reduced to 8 by 10 so it would fit the scanner. I got in the car and drove home. When I got out of the car...no print nor original. Holy Cow I must of placed the pictures on top of the car while I was unlocking the door and drove off scattering the pictures along the countryside. I immediately got back in the car and drove back to the print shop; I didn't see the pictures in the parking lot nor along the road going in. I went into the shop and asked if anyone had brought them in, perhaps. No luck. I went back out to the car and took it apart inside....no pictures. I drove home, Emailed my nephew the dumb stunt I'd pulled. Then I remembered the digital pictures I had taken, so I made another trip into town to see if anyone could pull them up for me. No luck... all the shops had some sort of different set up. Totally frustrated I came home, by this time my wife was home from work and I lamented my woes to her. She assured me that I was simply a computeridiot and she would save the day by bringing up the pictures off the digital camera. I guess she just proved that we are both computeridiots. In the meantime my nephew tried to find the family coat on line. He found several, but not unfortunately the one in direct line for our family. I told him that as long as I had it on the digital camera there was always the possibility of it being saved.Saturday morning I went out to the car to drive to the post office and there laid the original coat of arms and copy, in plain sight for anyone to see. No further comment.