I just moved into a house that’s been around long enough (about a hundred years) to acquire its own quirks. Or maybe the quirks were part of the original construction.
This place was once just a single room and small bath. Over the years, owners added on, a room at a time. We live north of San Francisco and after the quake of 1906, many people fled the city and settled into these small places that were intended to be used just for a few weeks in summer.
Someone said a house will groan and creak if, during construction, certain things happened or didn’t happen. Like not using enough nails or not adding the right kinds of support underneath old floors.
Decades later, after many people have added their personal touches, I’m wondering if maybe a few of them left some spirits behind to welcome or annoy me during my first winter in the cottage.
I settled in to sleep my first night here and, as always in new surroundings, was awakened by every sigh of the wind outside. And every sound inside. What’s that? Oh my gawd, the fridge starting up sounds like a plane taking off in the kitchen. And I’m two rooms away.
Pop! That was a loud one. And it sounds so close. Is it at the other end of the bed? Up I get with the flashlight and walk around on tiptoes listening, wondering what is making such a ruckus. Nope - nothing’s inside except me and all these sounds.
But there’s an awful commotion on the roof, and then I hear the garbage can outside turn over and then a flower pot by the front door smashes. Raccoons! They love it here. And they never give up. They scoff at my efforts to keep the garbage in the can. Oh yeah, they say, we see you’ve added a bungee cord across the top. Well let us show you how we handle that.
A neighbor reports that he watched them once working in teams. One knocks over the can. Another jumps on it until the lid pops off. Even if the bungee tries to hold down the lid, raccoons have those long claws that rip right through the bags inside.
Raccoons duly noted at 3-4 A.M. And on subsequent early mornings, they were true to their schedule.
Fridge duly noted. Must put down some rugs in the big loud kitchen.
Crackling of the old wall heater even when it’s set to stay off ’til the temperature drops below 50 degrees - duly noted. When that heater fires up, nobody will go back to sleep for a while. It’s that noisy.
Surprising, isn’t it, how no matter what new sounds crop up in an old (or new) house, we get used to them soon enough. Well, all except for the raccoons. They arrived earlier last night and there seemed to be more of them. They didn’t go near the garbage. I believe they were having their own holiday party on the roof.
© Anita Garner 2009