I had lived in apartments for about 15 years when I moved into the duplex I'm living in now. One of the things I noticed about myself (and Aero, the 3 pound watch dog) is that we had grown immune to noises that are heard in the middle of the night.
Apartments are noisy places, especially if there are kids living in the surrounding units. After the first few months of living in my last aprtment, Aero pretty much settled in for the evening and slept most of the night without having a barking attack when the kid next door would run up and down the hall at 2:30 a.m. or the bed in the apartment above us would start squeaking at 0-dark-thirty....
So, this immunity to noise followed both of us to the duplex. And, in all honesty, other than the occasional noise from cars whizzing up and down the street, the place is pretty quiet at night. There are the occasional creaks and groans and cracks when all is quiet, but we pretty much sleep through them. Until last Thursday morning at around 3:00 a.m.
That's when I first heard it. The bump in the night coming from the back yard. I was in the bathroom (of course, getting older, I make lots of trips to that room during the night) when I heard some rustling that I thought might be Aero getting comfortable on his pillow. After washing my hands, I headed back to the bedroom and heard the dog in the house behind ours start barking and growling wildly as he was jumping against the wooden fence. Of course this woke up and excited the tiny watch dog, who felt the need to join in the chorus of scary dog noises.
I picked him up and shuffled to the kitchen door to flip on the back yard light and see what the heck was going on. As I flipped the switch, my first thought was "what the hell am I going to do if there's a person out there?" I was so relieved when my yard was empty.
But Aero and the other dog (I think his name is Apollo and he's a real dog who weighs in at about 50 pounds) thought differently, and kept barking at the invisible creature. I could still hear some shuffling about, and every once in a while, the sound of a can or two being moved around. Aha! Must be a raccoon on my duplex-mate's back porch - that's where they keep their recycling and the little (or probably big!) guy was looking for a tasty snack.
So, I trudged off to bed with my little friend, assuring him that the critter wasn't going to bother us. Of course, for the rest of the night, he was on sentry duty, marching up and down the length of our queen-sized bed, letting out the occasional growl and moan to show his imaginary size and strength.
I didn't get much sleep that night, so I was crabby at work all day, but the little dog slept all day to make up for his guard dog duty the night before.
Friday night rolls around, and I'm in a dead sleep, not hearing anything. I was startled when the 3-pound guard landed on my side in a thud and barking his head off, looking in the direction of the bedroom door. Umm, yeah, Aero, thanks for being a watch dog but did you have stand on top of me to guard me?
I listen and hear rustling in the yard again, then the sounds of clinking cans and Apollo's nightly symphony of barking and jumping at the fence. We get up, turn on the light, don't see the critter, and go back to bed, where the little dog walks his line again.
This has gone on for 4 days now.
And the thing that I can't figure out is how my duplex-mates/neighbors haven't heard any of the commotion! I spoke with them over the weekend and asked about it, but they've slept through it all. They were surprised at my description and when they checked their recycling bin, sure enough, there are several cans on the ground near the bin.
I guess they must have lived in noisier apartments than I ever had! I think I'm going out to buy some ear plugs for myself and Aero....
Kel
