Personal Post: MothBalls for the Mysterious Guest

We have a mysterious guest here in the garage. He's been here about a week.

That's when the dogs first starting going nuts, sniffing the outside wall of the garage - as well as inside, where cardboard boxes are stacked and there's a couple of old window screens lined up against the back.

Of course, the first thing I thought was RATS.

EWWWWW.


This made sense, because the little old man next door (we've nicknamed him Thomas Pinchon, and for all anyone knows, he IS) loves to feed the birds. He's 112 and has the skin to prove it. Long white hair and beard. A real sweetie, and from what I can tell, the only exercise he gets is roaming his front yard and back, dispensing seed and water for his little feathered friends.

Which I assume he then watches from his window for a good part of his day. At 112, this is a good life, you know.

But I've learned that rats love bird seed better than birds do, and I'm think that in the Rat World, Thomas Pinchon is busy each day replenishing the Rat Feeders with sunflower seeds and such.

So, rats made sense. Until the rug moved.

Two days ago, right before the holiday, I was standing outside watching the dogs and testing the heat (it really was hot ... we were over 102 at that point). And then, I heard a huge noise and when I investigated, things had changed in the garage.

A big cardboard box had fallen because a big, rolled up tapestry rug had been pulled right into it. A big, heavy, wrapped, tied, too-heavy-for-one-person-to-pick-up rug. Moved. A significant distance.

Either I'm hosting SuperRat or something else is out there. A Monster of some sort.

Big Hint. It's bigger than a rat.

Plus, the dogs will not jump out of the car until I walk all the way around it, and then only if I stand right by them. And, they won't go in the car without looking underneath it.

Another Big Hint. It's bigger than a rat and it's been underneath my car at some point.

Ewwwww.

Possum? Raccoon? Skunk? Cat? Snake? Elf?

I don't want to put poison out. That's too dangerous. So, here's what I've done. I've thrown mothballs all around that wall where the boxes are and the dogs were sniffing.

Why? Mothballs put off fumes. Nasty fumes that rodents and such don't like and I don't believe cats or possums or raccoons will eat. Because maybe it'll make the Mysterous Guest leave, and find someplace else to escape the noonday heat.

At least, I hope so. I'm feeling pretty hopeful right now.