As some of you know, I often write about non-cozy/mystery topics. Today I am doing just that:
I truly thought that I had seen everything… well, almost everything! But, something uniquely different happened about twenty years ago, or at least it’s been unique enough that I have never met anyone with the same experience.
This was back when our children were still very young… They were probably two and four years old. We lived in a split-level house in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. As you entered the front door, you had to make a decision to either go up or down the stairs. The family room was downstairs, which was the children’s play room. I was lucky enough not to have to work outside of the home, so our children and I spent many hours playing downstairs in our family room. (I divided their toys into plastic clothes hampers that we kept in a closet so that I could rotate them every three or four days. We would have puzzles, building toys, board games, etc. in those hampers, and by rotating them, the children never got tired of any of their toys.)
One morning, the three of us were downstairs playing and I kept thinking that I could hear something very faint. I could not figure out what it was, and since it wasn’t a continuous noise, I couldn’t pinpoint where it was originating. We would play, I would hear the noise, we would stop playing, I would try to find the source, the noise would stop, ETC. This went on for a little while, and I was becoming increasingly frustrated by that doggone noise.
Finally, I was able to find where the noise was coming from… but it didn’t make any sense! We had a fireplace in the room on which we had put a glass door, since we had very young children. (“You can never be too careful!” was our motto.) And, thank goodness for that!!! You cannot imagine how scared and shocked I was to find that we had a little visitor sitting in that fireplace. Looking at me from behind that glass partition, in a corner of the fireplace sat a squirrel that had apparently come down from the rooftop. YIKES!!! That was an unexpected source of fun for both of our children, but not for their mom!
PS>>> I hired someone to get our little visitor so that he could be freed back outside where he belonged!
Angela says
But squirrels are so cute! : ) But I do hear you—it would have been quite an ordeal having it loose in your house. Your story reminds me of a recent experience. One day last summer our cat spent the entire day sitting in front of our cold, empty woodstove, staring up at the stovepipe in rapt attention. I didn’t see or hear anything unusual, so I didn’t think much of it until early evening, when the cat was still there. That’s when I heard it. “Scritch…scritch…scritch…” And then silence. Something was inching its way down the stovepipe! The sound was so soft that all I could picture was a mouse clinging to the inside of the stovepipe wall. My husband, who knew exactly what it was, said, “No, I don’t think it’s a mouse.” “A bird?” I said. “Um, no…” The short of it is that we soon had a bat swooping around inside of our house! Luckily it landed on a curtain in which my husband quickly trapped it and then threw the whole bundle outside. I eventually got my curtain back, and fortunately the bat hasn’t been back.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Yikes, Angela!
As you said, squirrels are cute… bats, on the other hand, are not!
Your cat must have thought there was something wrong with you… I’m am guessing that you kept trying to coax your cat away from the woodstove all day long, while he/she wondered why you weren’t doing something about the bat.
I bet you never look at that curtain without thinking of that flying mammal! Good thing your husband was there to quickly get the bat outside… That would have been quite an ordeal for you AND your cat!
Betsy says
I had a similar experience 19 or 20 years ago. It was just before Christmas, and I was sitting in the living room of my future husband’s house. At that time, he had a very old house, 1800’s I believe. All of a sudden a squirrel ran across the living room floor and up the Christmas tree! I started screeching, and future husband came running in and chased the squirrel back outside the way he had come in. Fortunately it was very clear where the squirrel entrance was, and was easy to fix so no uninvited guests could come in again.
I certainly enjoy your website.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Good grief, Betsy! That poor little squirrel must have wondered what those Christmas lights were doing on his tree!