Things that go bump in the night

Last night John and I were awoken to what we thought was the cats getting too rambunctious in their playing. We heard over and over Abbey making a VERY loud noise along the lines of 'rrrrRRREEEEERRRRRRRRR rrrrRRREEEEERRRRRRRRR rrrrRRREEEEERRRRRRRRR.' I called out for them to knock it off, and it didn't stop. Seeing as I always have to get up in the night to use the loo anyway (especially with a growing baby sharing space with my bladder), I got up to go and sort the cats out.

Unfortunately, I neglected to put on my glasses, which is a regret I have been carrying with me all day. As I got down the stairs I kept hearing the same noise over and over (rrrrRRREEEEERRRRRRRRR), but I passed the office and saw Jude sitting in the doorway so I knew it wasn't them playing together. My next guess was that Abbey was stuck somewhere, so I was calling for her but needn't have bothered because the noise wasn't stopping and I could tell I was getting closer. When I got into the kitchen I saw Abbey sitting at the sliding glass doors out to the back porch, making that same noise over and over to something outside. It was (obviously) dark, and that in combination with me not wearing my glasses meant I could hardly see a thing out there. But, I thought I saw something dark and shadowy a few feet away by the hot tub. I was saying to Abbey, 'Is there something there, what is it?' and I think I knocked on the glass, and sure enough something fairly big and hairy moved and scurried off the porch. And darn it if I know what it was!!!

It is possible it was a big housecat, but it would have had to have been one heck of a large housecat, and very hairy. I would never admit that my Jude is anywhere above average size-wise (but I will admit whether you want me to or not that he is the above average sweet-wise and lovely-wise), but this cat would have been bigger than him with much puffier hair. My best guess is it was a raccoon. I have not seen any raccoons around our house, even though there are obvious signs of some small wildlife since there are two squirrels who live in our backyard (boy does Lucy get a kick out of them!), but it's my best guess because I distinctly remember that the first movement I made out was something looking like it was moving from being on its hind legs to being on all fours so it could walk. I ran up to our room to get my glasses, but it was gone by the time I had the magic of sight again. When I got back downstairs Abbey was still worked up. Her tail was all bushed out and she even hissed at me (misplaced aggression) when I asked her if it was still out there.

So what could it have been? Again, my money is on a raccoon, but as I laid there afterwards trying to fall back asleep I wondered what else it could have been. A joey kangaroo? A dingo? Wait a minute, was that me who moved to Australia? Oh crap, that was Jib (who is doing really well for those of you who know him -- we were IMing last week). Well, maybe it was an alien. Although I'm sure there was no beaming up. Or it could be one of my favorite things -- a ghost. But it did walk away, there was no vanishing and it seemed pretty solid for me to be able to see it to some extent without glasses. It could have been a bear cub. They can stand on their back legs for quite a while but walk on all fours for the most part. Yes, that's it. A bear cub. And I chased it off with my bare hands.