I wish I could remember to take my camera when I leave the house. Copied these from the internet.
I'm beginning to be annoyed.
Last Saturday I went out on the deck to stand in the sunshine, and the neighborhood dogs were barking like crazy. There was a guy on my west-side neighbor's patio, in the shadows under their deck, so I couldn't see him well. Three dogs ran up to him barking, and he disappeared. I haven't seen a human around that house in several years, so I was afraid it was the neighbor himself, so I didn't call the police. That's about to change. If I must be harassed, they can be, too.
My neighbor down the street, a Mrs. Reese, phoned this morning and commiserated with me about the attempted break-in and police visit, the refugee situation, and other knotty problems. She said a neighbor up the street had called and told her about it; that was probably Dine (I forget her last name). So you see, I do know some of my neighbors' names. I had met Mrs. R. before, some five or ten years ago, when the postal person delivered some of my mail to her address, and she brought it to me.
She called me Joan, but that's all right. I answer to anything that starts with a Jo, except Johnson.
I don't have much ambition to write or blog any more, but I want to remember some details. The police posted a video on Facebook, supposedly in my neighborhood, supposedly showing a guy rather similar to the face/form that was on my porch, trying to break into a house and carrying something away. The police and I speculated that he might be someone who lives over on King's Forest or in that direction, because I didn't hear or see a car.
I didn't want to call Jed, because I knew he would cancel his vacation trip and rush over here. Which is what he did. He got a man to come and measure for the new windows, who called me back yesterday and said he'd install the new panes on Monday. Then Jed went back to Atlanta yesterday.
For so long I've had this half-scared, half-excited feeling that something was going to happen. So I got a burglar, and the world got the Paris disaster. I'm going to try to reverse the trend of waking at night and sleeping in the daytime. But I don't know if I can sleep in my bed by that window again.
I wish I felt as strong and normal as I felt this time last year. I would switch my bedroom and office furniture. Maybe Dave and Jennifer can do it over a period of time. All those books.
***
Oh, a cheerful note: I found this adorable dog on FCDF, his name is "Fluffy Puppy." He's a mix of bulldog and Rottweiler. I emailed the person who advertised him but haven't heard back.
Well, at least it wasn't a ghost. I'm shaking so that my fingers are typing by themselves, more accurately than I usually type.
I went to sleep on the sofa, then woke up later and thought my back door was open. It wasn't. I just looked around, made sure all the doors were locked and the front and back porch lights on, and lay back down on the sofa. About 4:15 a.m., something went CRASH! and shook the east side of the house. I woke up and thought, now, did I dream that, or--KER-BLAM!
Something definitely hit the house again. I jumped up and grabbed the phone, but couldn't see it well enough to dial. I ran to look out the kitchen window, and a guy was on the deck. He shone a flashlight through the window, and the back porch light went out. I finally got 911 on the phone and told them someone was breaking in.
Well, that's all the excitement except for my little shaky legs trying to hold me up. The police car arrived about five minutes later, and two policemen rang the doorbell. They asked me to describe the man. About all I saw was his face and the flashlight, but I told them he was medium height, 20's or 30's of age, and African American. I wish he had been white, but he wasn't.
They looked all around the house. I told them I thought the banging had been on the garage door. They said the door into the side of the garage was muddy, as if someone had been kicking it. The back porch light wasn't broken, but the bulb was unscrewed.
I'm almost grateful to the guy for being real. All the strange noises I've heard around this house have made me wonder if I was losing my mind.
The policemen left, saying they would cruise around the neighborhood until daylight, and that if I heard anything else to call 911 again. And that I had a very clean house. I said thanks.
I guess it doesn't happen when Jed's here, because his car would be parked in the driveway.
Jed came over yesterday. He's going to NYC Thursday to visit friends, so he went home early this afternoon.
My sweet baby sister brought me chicken and vegetables for my dinner, and a brownie for dessert. I went to bed early, about 10:15 p.m., so I could get up and be at the dentist's office at 9:00.
