1999 - Year o' Weirdness - Part 1
Dave and I were sitting at dinner the other night, and got talking about all the weird things that happened in 1999. That's not to say they were all bad things. Some were funny, some scary. But they were all memorable!
Let's start with January 29, 1999, the day we closed on our house here in Shelburne. We had been anxiously awaiting this day. Our offer had been accepted in November, but the sellers wanted to postpone the closing until the end of January (they were divorced and had all kinds of issues). No problem.
The big day finally arrives. We were to meet our realtor here to do the walk-through at 8:00. We get here, and waited a few minutes, but it was cold, so we decided to go inside. The seller's had left a key under the front mat. Now, you need to know that it snowed the night before the closing. Not a lot, but enough to cover the ground with an inch or so of fluffy snow. So I lift up the mat to get the key, but don't see it. So I lift it off the ground. Still no key, but we do hear a clink, and realize the key, which had been stuck to the bottom of the mat, has fallen into the snow. So here we are in 10 degree weather poking around in the snow and rocks looking for the key. We're hoping the whole time that none of the neighbors call the cops. That would be embarassing!
While we're looking around, a car drives up and a guy asks if we're Dave and Allison. He had a message from our realtor. She couldn't get her car out of the garage, so she would meet us at the closing. Okay. Meantime, we realize we're not going to find this key. There are big landscaping rocks next to the door, and we figure the key is hidden in them somewhere. So we peek in the windows as best we can, and hope the sellers haven't trashed the place, because we're going through with the closing.
So we leave the house and drive by our realtor's place to see if we can help. She lives in a townhouse complex, and we couldn't remember which one, so we looked around to see if she was outside anywhere. We didn't see her, so we went to the closing. When we got to the bank, we had a message to call her. She still couldn't get her car out, and wouldn't be able to make it. Oh well. She didn't really need to be there, but it would have been nice to bring closure to the house-hunting process with her.
A few days later I met a locksmith at the house to have all the locks changed. He was a nice guy. He gave me 3 new keys, and put tags on them so I wouldn't confuse them with the old key. I leave to go back to work and realize he's mismarked the keys, and I brought the old key with me. All the new keys sat on the counter! Fortunately, his office was on the way to work, so I stopped and told him what happened (well, I didn't tell him he mismarked them), and he cut me a new key. What a way to start the day!
Jump to February 3rd. Moving Day!
The movers showed up at the townhouse where we had been living, took one look at all our stuff and left to go get a bigger truck!
There are some things in life worth paying for, and movers is one of them. These guys were hulks, carrying stuff by themselves that Dave and I couldn't carry together (not to mention our townhouse was on the second and third floors )! They got all our stuff packed. We picked up lunch and met them at the house. It was a pretty nice day for February. The temperature had gone up to the lower 40s, and it was bright and sunny. We sat on the front steps to eat lunch, and we were telling the movers about losing the key. The one guy looks down and says, "Here it is," and pulled it out of the rocks. Now why couldn't we find it when we needed it??
Fast forward to April. I don't remember the date. Dave was away at a conference somewhere. I was home alone, and I tend to be rather a weenie-butt about staying home alone. I decided I was going to be really brave -- I wasn't going to let things like normal house noises scare me.
I remember it was a Wednesday. I got home from work and was making dinner (which I would no doubt eat out of the pan in front of the TV). The phone rang, and when I answered it, a male voice said "hi!" I said "hi" (rather tentatively, and at first thinking it was Jaimison, my stepson). He said, "Allison?" I said, "yes". He said, "hi." I said, "who is this?", but part way through my question, he hung up. Okay. I'm scared. Someone has just called me and knows my name, but has hung up on me. Whoever it is MUST know I'm home alone (never mind that the caller didn' t necessarily know this!). So I decide to barricade the house. I put a chair at the top of the stairs on the back deck, and ran string from it to another chair on the other side of the deck, creating this elaborate web to trip up anyone who tried to get in that way. I then put a chair under the doorknob leading to the deck. At the door to the garage, I took the broiler pan from the oven (it wasn't in the oven, it was in the basement) and propped it up against the door so it would tip over if the door was opened and clang against the other part of the pan on the floor. At the front door, I rigged several glass canning jars to tip over and make a racket if that door was opened. I then closed all the blinds and drapes so no one could see in.
Okay, so I'm feeling, if not safe, at least secure in the knowledge that if anyone enters through a door, I'll at least hear them.
So I go about my business. I had some bananas rotting on the counter so I decided to make banana bread. It was a warm evening, and I had the kitchen window open for some fresh air (well, I couldn't open the doors!). I was waiting for Dave to call, and had the portable phone with me. I sat down to watch South Park, and was trying not to jump at every creak, when I heard a scratching noise at the kitchen window. OH MY GOD! SOMEONE'S TRYING TO GET IN!!!
It's amazing how fast you can dial 911! And they answer quickly, too! I told the dispatcher my name and that I thought someone was trying to get into my house. He asked me where I lived, so I told him. All the while, I'm listening to this noise, and, like an idiot, walking toward the window. Now, mind you, it's dark out, and I had the kitchen light on, so I can't see outside. I walked over to the window, and there was this little raccoon face looking in at me! He must have smelled the banana bread baking, and thought he'd see if he could get some. What I heard was him (or her) climbing up the back railing and the side of the house.
So now I feel like a total fool (a badly shaken one, but a fool nonetheless!). I apologized profusely to the dispatcher and told him it was a raccoon at the window. He told me it wasn't a problem, and to call again if I needed assistance.
I went back into the living room, after closing the window, to try and get my heart rate back down to something like normal. I resumed watching South Park, and was just calming down, when the doorbell rang. It was 10:15! Who the heck was at the door (the raccoon maybe, since he couldn't get in the window?)? Another adrenaline rush, and my mind is racing, wondering what I'm going to do if I don't know the person at the door. If I open the door, the screen door is unlocked, so whoever it is could get that door open. This all went through my head in about 2 seconds as I was going down the stairs to answer the door. While going down the stairs, I see a police officer standing outside. Whew! It wasn't the raccoon (I didn't really think it would be) or someone wanting to cause me bodily harm. After moving my booby-trap, I opened the door, and said, rather sheepishly, "I guess you got my call." He said he had, so I explained to him about Dave being gone and the phone call, and how I was a little on edge. While I'm talking to him, another cop car shows up with all it's lights off, and the officer gets out and makes a beeline for the back of the house. The officer at the door told me not to worry, they would check things out and stop by when they were done.
They were there for about 10 minutes, walking all around the house, shining their flashlights at every door and window (and, I'm sure, having a good laugh at my back deck handy work!). Anyway, the first officer stopped back and said everything looked fine, and not to hesitate to call if I needed anything else. Nice to know that the police will still show up even if you tell them it's a false alarm.
So that was my raccoon adventure, known at "The Raccoon Incident". The funny thing is, we had never seen a raccoon before then, and haven't seen one since! Fortunately, there were scratch marks on the back of the house to back up my story -- and Dave did check when he got home!
Dave thinks I should call this page "Allison's Paranoid Ramblings" instead of "Allison's Take on Things". I'll think about it.
Stay tuned for more weirdness.
Allison