noises.

noises.

So these past few days, I've been hearing odd noises at night. Noises like walking and scraping on the 1st floor ceiling, only to not find anything going on upstairs. Creepy, yeah?

At first, Eric dismissed it ("cool!"), but then one night while watching The Twilight Zone, the scratching started. So, being the gumshoes we are, we started investigating. Checking upstairs, comparing sounds, finding locations, nothing seemed to be clear.

The next day, the scraping was louder, moving further... AND DIGGING.

We knew it had claws, that's for sure, and it sounded about as heavy as a cat. No tell-tale squeaking of mice or rats (phew!). So... we figured based on our location, it's probably a raccoon.

Well yesterday, we went over to Eric's friend's place for some cookies and brownies (yum!), and when we came back, THERE WAS A HOLE IN OUR CEILING!!! Granted, it's a relatively small hole... but still... A HOLE!

And it's pretty funny, too. I mean, it's in the EXACT spot we heard it digging on Tuesday, too. So... Google came into play, and I skillfully searched: "How to scare a raccoon." Oooh, Google. :) So we learned to turn lights on and leave a radio on a talk station. Radio? Psh. So Eric went upstairs, brought back his laptop, and looped a rather long Leo Laporte tech podcast. That's right... we're educating raccoons.

Outside, Eric spotted one of our neighbors, who assured us that it's probably raccoons since that's been a recent problem in the area. Huzzah! Way to go, gumshoe! Eric then left to buy some duct tape (to temporarily patch the hole), and I was left to educate myself on technology as well...

So today, the leasing office said that they'll send a wild life person over to patch the hole and figure something out. As the hours creep by, I'm getting more and more worried that they won't make it today and tomorrow, we'll be eating next to the raccoons.