No sleep....

Mr. H is out of town again, which I have become accustomed to, even in this new house. I have a security system and two of the most paranoid dogs ever.

We have a large glassed-in sunroom in which about half of what would normally be a roof is also windows. In the last few weeks, Cyrus has become more and more disturbed by the black dog in the those upper windows that appear to taunt him. If we can't kill the lights, he will bark at that mysterious dog for an hour. Usually we can pet him, and he will come to the realization that it is not an intruder.

When Mr. H is away, the boys become particularly protective. I swear they can sense his absense. So I have also become accustomed to the increase in barking due to their viligence. Between the phantom dog, the deer that roam the backyard and who knows what other wildlife back there, we have many things to be protected from.

Around 1 am last night, Cyrus starts going nuts. I let him express his displeasure for about 15 minutes before I started to get annoyed. I walk out into the sunroom where he has his head tilted up to the sunroof again and scold him for barking at his reflection. Back to bed. Cyrus starts up with the barking again. I tried to ignore him again, but then Cisco joins in the fray. Cisco has this high pitched annoying bark that could shatter glass. Strange, coming from a 60+ pound dog. Again, I walk out to the living room, try to calm them, and go back to bed.

About five minutes later, guess what happens? Now, I'm getting pissed. It's after 2 am, I'm tired, I'm starting to get a little freaked out by the insistent barking. It's really dark, it's raining, Miss Thing is still asleep (I don't know how). I don't want to let them out.

So I stomp out into the sunroom again and almost poop myself when I see the large furry thing moving around my sunroom roof. It's a racoon. A small one, too. Only about two feet from nose to tail. Clearly, the dogs are quite upset by this intrusion. I have never heard the caliber of this bark.

This racoon is not bothered that I am standing about a foot away from it. I turn the light off and on. I wave my hands and jump. The noise thing hasn't bothered it so far. I throw a book at it (at the window, really). This thing does not move. Well, I take it back, it wanders around the roof so it can get a better view.

Because it was not afraid of me or the dogs, I couldn't decide if it was just young and naive or had distemper. Because of the latter, I didn't want to let the dogs out to chase it.

It eventually crawled beyond my sight up the roof. I hope it left. I have fears that there is a racoon den close by.

I went to bed close to 3 am last night. Miss Thing did not awaken during this mess. Mr. H called me bright and early at 7:30 this morning so I will be looking for a nap today at some point...