Unwanted Guest

Part 3

My husband quickly formulated a plan. He would get some rolled up newspaper and I would get a long stick with which I was to encourage the little guy to show himself. My saviour would then be ready to render him unconscious with a well aimed swipe. However things didn’t quite work out that way.

Using the stick I made him show himself, however he was quicker than my husband had anticipated and he managed to scurry past him heading in my direction. This once again set me off and prompted me to climb onto the bench. From my elevated position I then watched with amusement as my husband crawled around on the kitchen floor trying to hit the fast moving little monster. All I could think was how much we looked like the typical cartoon of the woman standing on the chair screaming, while the creature ran around underneath. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time. 

Finally the critter got the best of us and disappeared under the dishwasher where we found, under an adjacent cupboard, a hole leading under the house. He had won. My husband sat back on his heels, his fists on his thighs as he worked to get his breath back. He looked the very picture of dejection. However after licking our wounds we realised all was not lost. While he had got away, we had achieved one objective, he was out and now we needed to ensure he wouldn’t be getting back in. So while I kept watch, my husband raced off to buy some spray foam to fill the holes. Thankfully we never saw the furry little rodent again, but I no longer scoff at those women perched high above, as a mouse runs around the floor beneath them, to my disgust I found I was that woman.

Unwanted Guest

Part 2

By now I was laughing and screaming in equal measure. I did not want this thing loose in the house but I had no idea how to catch him. So not knowing what to do, I did what every hysterical woman does. I rang a man to ask for instructions. So much for me being a mature, capable, independent female, that idea went straight out the window, along with my pride. 

The unfortunate male in question was my husband, who was at work. While I was on the phone the critter would stick his little nose out every so often. But by accident I managed to find a way to keep him contained. Every time he showed his face, I would scream and he would turn tail and go back the way he came. Can’t say I blame him really. 

So my husband, god bless him, faced with a hysterical wife screaming down the phone at him said he would come home and save the day. I just had to hold the fort for the thirty minutes it would take him to get there. Needless to say by the time he got there I was hoarse. However at least now I had help.

Unwanted Guest

We had known for some time that we had a rather unwelcome guest in our panrty. He had left undeniable signs of occupation. Naturally we objected. The only trouble was, catching him in order to issue the eviction order. We had packed everything in plastic containers to ensure we weren’t feeding him and set traps to catch him, but to no avail. Then one morning I had just packed the kids off to school and was walking through the kitchen when I heard a scratching noise coming from the pantry. Now I can tell you I did not want to open that door, but as this was the closest we had come to getting rid of him and I was home alone, I decided I needed to give it a go. So gathering my courage I looked into the pantry. 

On doing so I noticed my son had forgotten to put his cereal back in the plastic container and there the box was sitting with the top open. I watched and listened for a minute and sure enough the box moved. Now I was in a quandry. We had been trying to catch this guy for weeks without even a sighting and here I was with him trapped in a box. I couldn’t just leave him there, so taking a deep breath I picked up the box folded the flaps over the top and made for the back door. However I had hardly taken a step when the little blighter moved the card board against my hand and like a true girl I screamed and dropped it. Needless to say he didn’t hang around long and with dismay I watched him scurry under the fridge.

When is a piece of rope not just a piece of rope?

This is the last part of this tale.

 

Part 3

And on coming downstairs later that morning we solved half of the mysteries when we discovered, by opening the fridge, that the safety switch that it was on, had been thrown during the night. This also meant that certain circuits throughout the house were out but others weren’t. Now the phone call about perishables and the light that still worked but the phones that didn’t, made sense. Well almost. I still don’t know why he asked about perishables but hey I can live with not knowing the answer to that one. No conspiracy there anyway. 

So that left the man with the dog. I still couldn’t understand why he didn’t leave after he wasn’t answered the first time. Later that day however, quite by chance, I got my answer. Opening the front door to admit one of my son’s friends, a door we never use unless we have visitors, I noticed a rope tied to one of the veranda posts. Now I knew straight away it wasn’t our rope. It was very distinctive and nothing like anything we’ve ever owned. So why was it there and who had tied it? As I was holding it, contemplating the matter, my daughter came past and said “that must have been the man.”
I looked at her puzzled, “what man?”
“The man with the dog” she said “I saw the dog after he’d left. He must have thought he was our dog and tied him up.”
“Did you see the dog tied up out here?” I asked lamenting about why she hadn’t thought to tell us this piece of information earlier.
“No” she said “I didn’t look. But I saw the dog through the window and thought he was loose and had just wandered onto our veranda. I guess the real owner saw him and came and untied him.”
And as she moved away, unaware of the importance of what she had just divulged, I smiled. Now I could sleep peacefully, all the puzzles were explained and not a conspiracy in sight.

When is a piece of rope not just a piece of rope?

Part 2

Early the next morning we were woken by the phone ringing downstairs. Now we have phones upstairs but they didn’t ring and I couldn’t work out why. The problem was  that they are cordless and don’t work if the power is off where as the one down stairs is plugged directly into the phone line and still works without power. But in my sleep dazed state this didn’t register. If it had I may not have spent the early hours of that morning lying awake worrying about a conspiracy occurring. But just then, having being woken so abruptly, all I could think about was the curious incident of the man and the dog the day before. 

Anyway to get back to the phone call, it turns out it was the company that monitors our alarm, they had rung  to say that their equipment indicated the power was off and did we have any perishables. Well as I looked up at the light that I had just turned on, beaming down on me, to say I was confused is an understatement. I had no idea what the man was talking about, the power was clearly on and why on earth would he ask about perishables anyway. He monitored the alarm not the fridge. I could think of no logical explanation for any of it and added to the man with the dog I couldn’t help but think there was something weird going on. Maybe he wasn’t from the alarm company at all. Maybe there was some conspiracy and someone was out to get us. Only the worst case scenario, you’ll notice. But in my defence, I should say again here, I was half asleep.

When is a piece of rope not just a piece of rope?

When it helps explain a series of random events that when added together serve to make you paranoid. 

Firstly I need to explain that ever since my first child was old enough to be left at home for brief periods, like a run to the shops, I’ve  drummed it into them, not to answer the door or the phone, unless it’s myself or their father calling. They are to wait for the answering machine to kick in and then if it’s one of us they pick up. And for this one particular thing they are very good at following instructions. So when a strange man with a dog knocked at our door when I was out one day my second eldest daughter, who was home at the time, did what she was supposed to and ignored it. However this man proved very persistent. I’m not sure if he could hear the television on inside of if he happened to see movement through the front windows but he must have realised someone was home as he refused to take no for an answer and continued to knock. Well after his third or fourth attempt my daughter was starting to freak out. She rang both me and her father to ask what she should do.  We both told her the same thing, stay inside and don’t answer the door. Meanwhile I headed back home.  Thankfully though, when I was half way back, I received another call to say that the man had finally given up and left. There was no sign of him when I got back so we put it down to one of those things you can’t explain until the next unexplicable event.


More on this later.

Technology

Technology. While it is an amazing time saver and can do things we never thought possible, when it doesn't do what it is supposed to, is there anything more frustrating? The day before yesterday, for some reason known only to it, my laptop decided it didn't like me anymore and without warning, stopped working. In the midst of typing a document, it kindly told me it was not going to respond anymore and it wasn't kidding. It wouldn't do anything.

Now if there a more frightening sentence to see at the top of a computer screen then I haven't seen it.  As I looked at the half a dozen or so documents I had open at the time, it filled me with dread. I am the first to admit I don't know much about the working of computers in general but even I know that you shouldn't shut down a computer with things still open because you can lose any unsaved work. So what was I to do? I couldn't close anything because it wasn't responding and the only way I knew to attempt to remedy that was to shut it down and reboot. Disaster.

So to say I was worried would be an understatement. But with no other course of action open to me, I crossed my fingers, closed my eyes and prayed that all would be well as I pushed the button to restart. I don't think I even breathed for the few second it took for it to boot up, then I felt like crying as it seemed my worst fears had been confirmed. Instead of the usual messages indicating it was starting in the normal manner I got a window saying the computer had problems starting and was attempting to repair any problems. AHHHH. This looked worse than losing anything I'd just been working on and hadn't saved. It might mean losing anything I'd done since I last backed up. I hadn't done a back up for five days. AHHHH.

As panic set in and I was struggling to work out what to do, in walked my saviour. He'd know what to do. He could always fix my computer problems. In handing it over to him, I felt better already. However it turned out this problem was even beyond him, and as I began to hyperventilate, I madly tried to retype all I could remember on another computer.

But after a sleepless night, luckily with the light of a new day, came hope, in the guise of an expert. With his advanced knowledge and skill, not to mention a bag of magic discs, he had things back on track within minutes. My computer started up as normal and all my documents were still there, safe and sound. I let out a breath I had been holding since the night before, on a sigh. All was right with the world again. Or so I thought. As the expert went off to rescue someone else, fighting the good fight against the trials of a fickle technology, I was ready to start work again. I settled myself down, laptop on my knee and clicked on a document, itching to pick up where I'd left off, ready to let my imagination have free reign so that my fingers could follow. But what do I get, an error message, AHHHH. I hate computers.

What a day!

Thanks to Westfields Doncaster website

Shopping with two teenage daughters, hmm, why does the word torture come to mind. Throw in a boyfriend, a brother, a girlfriend, and a husband and you’d be justified in questioning my sanity.

We had tried this sort of venture many times before, but it had always ended up in a screaming match, generally with me being the one doing the screaming. But on this occasion things were different. I’m not sure if it was because the planets were aligned or whether we were being rewarded for some combined accruement of good works, but whatever
the cause for a change it was a pleasant experience.

On arrival at the modern and stylish shopping centre daughter number two headed off with her girlfriend to roam the many rows of shops. Daughter number one, headed off with the boyfriend to build a bear.......don’t ask. So this left my husband and I to amuse our youngest child, a preteen boy who hates even the word shopping. Well after feeding him, even he happily strolled along with us. If he did happen to mention how long something was taking, this complaint was kept at bay by saying we were heading in the direction of EB games, his favourite store, which we did get to, eventually.

And if all this wasn’t enough reason to celebrate, when it was time to leave, both daughters, had their phone on and actually answered them. That is unheard of. So while we waited for them to arrive at our meeting point my husband and I even managed to grab a coffee before we set off home with everybody happy.

A truly remarkable day.