Never a Dull Moment

Patches 

Cats...

The cats still claim my hill, my front porch, and the porch swing. I feed the skinny things but are they interested? No! They follow me down the sidewalk as I go for the paper. They wind in and out around my feet. They meow, telling me their troubles but don’t like the answers I give. Patches got too close and got her tail trounced on and I don’t know who moved the fastest, the cat, or me but she definitely yowled the loudest.                                     Patches >

Noises at midnight...

All is quiet and peaceful…until there is a crash near the back door! The house is secure the doors are locked, the alarm is set…so-o once the goose bumps       subside, a tentative search begins. The cause is found: nothing more than a canister finally giving in to gravity and falling from its unbalanced perch and knocking over several other containers on its path to the floor.

Another peaceful night and Facebook is holding my attention until stealthy rustlings come from the back porch. More goose bumps!  Do I dare turn on the porch light? Well of course I do. I’m no scardy-cat!  What do I see? All seems normal until I see a ‘possum ambling across the patio leaving the obstacle course that my porch has become.

…And then there are the bugs attracted to the lighted windows. Tap, tap, tap! Surely that is a bug. 

....Ice cubes drop, the freezer starts with a loud click, the dishwasher has its series of clicks and gurgles.

What happened to peace and quiet?

Whistles and gurgles and sirens

the latest installation

There have been times, when groggier than normal, I have opened a door without first turning off the alarm: in fact, the answering folks are becoming amused at my varied excuses.  How ever nice they may be; I have become very sensitized to any noise that sounds, even remotely, like an alarm siren. The first ding of the microwave or dryer as their job is completed; the hiss or whistle of the hot water heater, the song of a happy cicada…all bring me to an alert. Imagine, then, my reaction the evening I was returning home and dutifully turning off the alarm before reaching the front door AND immediately heard the blast of a siren!  What could possibly have happened? I had not even reached the door. The remote should not have caused all the commotion but it must have, so the off button is punched again, and again.  Then the puzzle was solved as the emergency vehicle screamed it’s way down the street.

An eerie feeling...

Numerous tales have been told about the silent appearance of departed loved ones, so you can imagine the direction my thoughts took upon experiencing this:  I was resting with my eyes closed when there was a sudden strong whoosh of air immediately above me. My eyes flew open: there was no sound, no other movement anywhere, but I knew it had been a real and strong air movement.  Almost afraid of what would happen next, I began a reluctant look around the room.  A sound from the dining room drew me there and the mystery was solved. A large chimney swift was fluttering against the blinds. I grabbed a cup towel, gathered the bird into its folds and released it outside. Problem taken care of very efficiently, or so I thought.

Then another bird flew by, back and forth, from window to window as it frantically hunted a way outside.  The back door was only a foot from the path of the swooping bird, so I opened it to help it along its way.  All that accomplished was to send the poor bird into another room…a room with breakables that I feared would be knocked to the floor. Again I grabbed my cup towel, hoping to catch this second bird before there was a disaster.  The bird had disappeared but then I spotted it, exhaustedly resting by the drapes. Another outside trip to deliver the poor thing into it natural habitat and settled myself for a bit of meditation about the events of the last hour.

 That was not to be: another bird appeared. Three birds in one hour called for son-in-law help!  He also caught his bird and then began a hunt for the point of entry.  A fireplace damper had not been closed properly and the chimney swifts, that had appeared so small as they swooped around in the sky, had entered through the opening and appeared in the house with their 12  inch wing spread making them a very large bird to be careening through-out the rooms.

Again, the problem was solved: the bird was outside, the damper was closed, and all is peaceful once more: until I hear a scratching sound from the window behind my chair. I recognized that sound. It could be nothing other than another bird so with cup towel in hand, I find it huddled on the window sill and assist this fourth bird on its way outside.

The damper is closed securely; the birds are free in the outdoors. But the eerie  experience of feeling that strong, silent air  movement remains.