Me thinks I have a ghost o_o or is it a mouse? Egads, please Lord, don't let it be a cockroach!!!!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

So much for "Luxury Apartments". I'm not feeling the luxury right now.

Last night, all was calm, finally. I was in the middle of reading Laurie's most recent blog post, Sophie was puttering around the kitchen, Winston quietly chewing on a toy, Puddles, the dog I'm sitting, just hanging out, tuckered out from wrestling with Sophie.

All of a sudden, out of the blue, Winston jumps up, lets out a loud howel and starts running around in circles in an absolute frantic state. I was chasing after him trying to get him to stop, Sophie and Puddles start barking and running around too. We were all freaked out at this point. Even Kitty was making noise.  Winston ran into my room and dove into the bed with the kind of agility I've only seen in Sophie until now. He was crying a blue moon and it took me what felt like forever to get him to settle (more like 5 minutes I guess). Finally he stopped wimpering and I went into the living room to see if I could figure it out. No sign of what spooked him but he had peed all over the floor (thank goodness he barely missed the new-new area rug (the old new one had seen it an early death thanks to Sophie's IBS).

So the first thing I did was hop on DK to see if I could get some suggestions, and a couple of ladies on chat last night came to my aid. We checked everything I could think of but nothing came of it. As we were chatting Sophie and Puddles run to the front door barking up a storm. It felt like mayhem. Someone was outside, but by the time I got there they were gone. There was not on the floor "ENOUGH WITH YOUR DOGS MAKING ALL THAT NOISE OVER MY HEAD". So I chalked up Winston's spook to the cranky lady who lives below me. I figured she had tried banging on her ceiling again, her way of telling me to keep it down, and did so right under Winston. That was my best guess.

As I'm in the process of baking cookies, some to go along with the apology note for my neighbour, Sophie was in the kitchen, digging into some kibble. When, all of a sudden, she barks a high squeaky frightened bark, and frantically pulls away from the bowl, pulling the whole bowl stand with her, knocking everything over - kibble, water and broken ceramic bowl pieces all over the floor. Now I'm really freaked out!

I cleaned up the mess and then realized I forgot about the cookies in the oven :(

So here I am consoling myself with burned cookies, Sophie too frightened to go near the food dishes, and Winston hasn't set foot in the living room all day.

 

I just really hope it's not a mouse or a cockroach. I would just die. But if it is, there is no point in sitting around waiting for it to rear its ugly head. I think I need to get some mouse traps, and/or a roach trap (does this exist??). Ugh. The thought of finding a dead mouse or roach is almost as frightening as a live one. This is exactly why I need to start dating again!

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I don't think the dogs would freak out about a mouse or a cockroach either. They would more likely be very interested, give chase, try to eat it or something. So it must be a ghost. I get mice in the basement every fall and I am something of an expert at setting traps and disposing of them. I keep thinking that I've caused their extinction since by now there don't seem to be any to be trapped. But as sure as fall will come so will a new batch of mice. I don't think your neighbor deserved the cookies anyway so enjoy them.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

PS Maybe you can call Terminix and try and start dating the guy who shows up....LOL!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sherri, I think it might be a mouse. We had one last year that was moving the dog food to a drawer. I was totally grossed out, but we live in the country, so it comes with the territory. There are traps you can get that you don't even see the mouse once it gets caught and killed. I still can't make myself touch the trap, but at least you don't see it. I hope your neighbor forgives you and your dogs. Also, make sure your dog food is in an airtight container. Good luck!