Almost As If Something In The Mansion Had Been MISSING Us

More shenanigans around the Mansion this month. We've had a respite this summer. Only a few late-night/early-morning THUMPS upstairs in the area of the boys' bedrooms, and their bathroom. I'm so used to those, they're not even worth reporting.

You may recall that we took a three-day trip to Oklahoma casinos. Left on Tuesday, August 31, stayed two nights, and returned the evening of Thursday, September 2. After being trapped in A-Cad and a hotel room with each other for three days, the Hillbilly family went their separate ways. The Pony soaked in the big triangle tub in the master bathroom, Farmer H mowed the yard/field, and Mrs. HM descended to her dark basement lair, where she leaves the light on now.

I stay up late. That's no secret. I have my routine. I usually write Genius's weekly letter on Wednesday nights, and mail it on Thursdays. Since we had been gone, I wrote it Thursday night. I get started, then sidetracked by the innernets, then go back to it. It's usually done by 2:00 a.m. I hit PRINT for the color printer in the basement workshop. It's the only printer that has worked for almost two years now. My HP LaserJet at my right elbow in the lair has been cantankerous. It started when I put in a new ink cartridge that was not manufactured by HP. I don't know if that has anything do to with my problem, but that's when it started. I get a message that says SPOOLING ERROR or something like it.

Anyhoo... I've adapted to using the color printer, although I print the letters in black and white. It's not as easy as having the printer at my right elbow, where I can reach out and grab the letter. I have to walk into the workshop and see if it did, indeed, print. This old printer that Genius brought home after getting a deal on it from a college office has a mind of its own. Sometimes, I have to turn it off, then on, and wait for it to run through its set-up. And it prints. Sometimes it just takes a long time. So around 2:00 a.m., I print the letter, and around 3:00 or 4:00, before going to my OPC (Old People Chair), I go to the workshop for the letter.

So... on this Thursday night, September 2, I had printed Genius's letter around 2:00 a.m. It was shortly after 3:00 a.m., perhaps 3:20, when the HP LaserJet at my right elbow whirred to life! I was shocked! What in the NOT-HEAVEN??? Slowly, I turned my head to look at it. And out came a printed piece of paper! I picked it up to see. I haven't tried to print anything on that LaserJet in over a year.

It was a Duty Status Report that The Pony had given me to make a few copies on AUGUST 18, the day before his second podiatrist appointment. He emailed it to me, I printed a few on the workshop color printer, and they came out too dark, because he had taken a scan of it with his phone. So I took one of the pages I printed, and put it on the LaserJet, lightening the exposure thingy, to make copies. The LaserJet works fine for copies. 

Anyhoo... THAT WAS BACK ON AUGUST 18. And now, on September 2, that LaserJet randomly came to life and spit out ONE copy of that Duty Status Report!

Let the record show that I was playing Candy Crush at the time. Not working in my email. I wasn't even logged in to my email. I had not tried to print anything except my WORD document at 2:00 a.m. that was Genius's letter. It was as if the LaserJet had a mind of its own! Just randomly decided to spit out a page that I had copied two weeks prior! I hadn't been missing any copies at the time, either. All that I copied came out. The original was NOT left on the glass. NOTHING was on the glass.

It was quite creepy.

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And another thing... last Thursday, September 9, The Pony had a podiatrist appointment at 1:30. I was in no hurry to get to town for my magical elixir. Farmer H was working over at Pony House, and I had time to myself to play Candy Crush at the kitchen table on HIPPIE. I was having a great time. 

 

Around 2:20, I heard a noise in the living room. Not so much the living room as the passageway (according to Farmer H) that is the hall to the boys' bedrooms. The area that is not hall, not living room. Just before the piano that came out of my mom's house. The area by the stair rail overlook where my scarf threw itself over the side. I'd heard that sound before. I associated it with The Pony. I stopped playing Candy Crush for a moment, and looked that way. It was the area I couldn't see, on the other side of the wall behind FRIG II.

I know what it sounded like! THE VELCRO OPENING ON THE PONY'S ANKLE BOOT!

So creepy. But I knew for a fact The Pony wasn't in the Mansion with me. I was alone. The Pony was at his appointment over in Bill-Paying Town. Or maybe eating a late lunch at Steak N Shake. So creepy.

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As The Pony is my witness, there was ANOTHER incident on Monday afternoon, September 13. The Pony had been sent home from work because they didn't have an LLV (Long Life Vehicle) for him to drive. He was doing whatever he does in his room. I was again Candy Crushing at the kitchen table. I don't recall the time, but I'm pretty sure it was between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.

I heard a loud crash. More than a thump, but not like anything broke. Just a loud crash of an unsolid object hitting a hard floor. I muttered, "What did you DO?" Thinking it was something The Pony had initiated, but not worth the breath of hollering through the wall to get his attention.

The Pony's bedroom door opened, and he walked to the kitchen opening.

"What was THAT?"

"I don't know. I thought it was you."

"It was NOT me!"

"It sounded like your room area."

"Not in my room. Maybe in Genius's room. I'll go look... no, nothing out of place in here. I'll check the bathroom. OH! Found it! You know how I keep my stuff in that bag on the back of the sink? Well. It threw itself off on the floor. After sitting here for months, no problem. Just threw itself off. I was nowhere near it. I was laying on my bed with my computer, playing computer games."

Yeah. The Pony's bathroom just has a pedestal sink, not a vanity. He keeps some of his beauty products sitting there, things from when he moved back here, that he doesn't use regularly.

At least that was a real object that fell and made a real noise. I'm not concerned about what spurred it to fall at that moment. The other noise, and the sudden copy printout, worry me more.

It's almost as if something missed us while we were away on our trip, and is letting us know. Either a welcome, or a warning...