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Have you ever had one of those nights? No, not those nights...


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This is long. But I was scared sorta....Like this: last night before bed I thought I heard a distant owl hooting. Went outside to listen, yeah, that's cool, go back in. Then it sounded like it was hooting down the chimney! Dh goes out the back door, I go out the front, we see big owl on top of chimney. Cool. One answers in the distance. He flies away after a few minutes. (Yes, I got the dc out of bed to see this, of course).:001_smile:

 

In bed a little while later, lights out, smoke detector goes off in son's room, then our room, kids' rooms, rest of the house. Smells funny outside, like burnt rubber, or smokin' the brakes, IYKWIM. Other ds thinks it looks smokey hazey in one direction. Nothing. (By the way, the 11yo and 10yo dc sleep through the smoke detectors bleeping). We wondered about meth labs possibly being in the next neighborhood...:glare: Other strange smells....

 

All is settled back down....I was laying there...I heard a slight rustling like what you hear when there is a MOUSE carrying things around or whatever it is they do. I woke dh quietly and we listened. I got up and we turned on lights. I moved an empty plastic bag and a HUGE SPIDER RUNS OUT FROM UNDER IT and stops. Dh gets a shoe and begins hitting.

 

I have to advise against this practice.

 

SHE had baby spiders all over her, which weren't obvious until he started hitting her and they all scrambled in ALL directions.

This shows that you can hear spiders walking, my second experience with this!

 

All was settled down, I was just about to drift off, and coyotes started howling.

So tonight I'm thinking there won't be anything...ds comes in and says there's a snake on the front porch! Okay, it's 4-5 inches long and skinnier than electric cord.

LOOK I've had enough of this! Okay, I just needed to share. If you have any scary stories to share about how wonderful nature is...feel free:lol:.

Edited by gingerh
typos, grammar, the usual
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Yikes...am I reading correctly that this was all in one night? I would be too wound up to sleep I think.

 

We've had nothing more exciting than mice here but our neighbors recently had a skunk get in the crawl space and spray. Since then anytime I can smell skunk inside our home I feel a little panicked.

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:scared: Your story was really cool until you got to the spider part. :willy_nilly:

 

I do. not. want. to know how big a spider has to be for you one to be able to hear it walking. :svengo:

 

I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight now. :glare: Please, tell me where you live so I can rest assured that it's very, very far from me. ;)

 

Good heavens! I hope you have a peaceful night of sleep tonight and for the next year- you've had more than your share last night alone!

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One night I was starting to drift off to sleep and heard a very high pitched, shrieking scream, "mommmieeeeeee!" It was a total panic cry from my then 15yog. She had smashed a mommy spider and LOTS of baby spiders starting crawling out EVERYWHERE!!! We had to vacuum up baby spiders for a while and put the vacuum outside... oooh, shudder!!!!

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:scared: Your story was really cool until you got to the spider part. :willy_nilly:

 

I do. not. want. to know how big a spider has to be for you one to be able to hear it walking. :svengo:

 

I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight now. :glare: Please, tell me where you live so I can rest assured that it's very, very far from me. ;)

 

Good heavens! I hope you have a peaceful night of sleep tonight and for the next year- you've had more than your share last night alone!

I'm sort of forgetful sloppy, so the bag on the carpet floor, well...and the other time I heard a spider walking, he was actually RUNNING. There were two newspapers on the hard floor and he/she was running around. I kept hearing it! I was on WTM for crying out loud!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

 

Um...they were both about the size of ... well...a large grape. They sure squish nasty.

Everything is bigger in Texas, including spiders.

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I'm sort of forgetful sloppy, so the bag on the carpet floor, well...and the other time I heard a spider walking, he was actually RUNNING. There were two newspapers on the hard floor and he/she was running around. I kept hearing it! I was on WTM for crying out loud!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

 

Um...they were both about the size of ... well...a large grape. They sure squish nasty.

Everything is bigger in Texas, including spiders.

 

Isn't that the truth! :ack2:

 

Nothing scary, but within the space of a week or two, we had a visiting raccoon, stray cat, and then a skunk. The raccoon moved on when we stopped leaving our cat's food outside (we fed the cat, then brought the bowl back in). We had to call the landlord to take the stray to the shelter because she wasn't moving on even though we weren't feeding her. The skunk seems to have moved on too (dh blocked the hole we thought it was using to get under the house). Last year we had one take up residence under the house and the landlord had to come set up a trap for it. Hoping we don't have anymore visitors anytime soon . . .

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We have had the windows open all day, we apparently have a skunk in the back yard. The kids room smelled horrid at bedtime!

 

We have been out to look at possums a few time this summer.

 

We had an owl in the tree outside the back door a.few night ago.

 

Nothing to exciting.

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This is long. But I was scared sorta....Like this: last night before bed I thought I heard a distant owl hooting. Went outside to listen, yeah, that's cool, go back in. Then it sounded like it was hooting down the chimney! Dh goes out the back door, I go out the front, we see big owl on top of chimney. Cool. One answers in the distance. He flies away after a few minutes. (Yes, I got the dc out of bed to see this, of course).

 

In bed a little while later, lights out, smoke detector goes off in son's room, then our room, kids' rooms, rest of the house. Smells funny outside, like burnt rubber, or smokin' the brakes, IYKWIM. Other ds thinks it looks smokey hazey in one direction. Nothing. (By the way, the 11yo and 10yo dc sleep through the smoke detectors bleeping). We wondered about meth labs possibly being in the next neighborhood...:glare: Other strange smells....

 

All is settled back down....I was laying there...I heard a slight rustling like what you hear when there is a MOUSE carrying things around or whatever it is they do. I woke dh quietly and we listened. I got up and we turned on lights. I moved an empty plastic bag and a HUGE SPIDER RUNS OUT FROM UNDER IT and stops. Dh gets a shoe and begins hitting.

 

I have to advise against this practice.

 

SHE had baby spiders all over her, which weren't obvious until he started hitting her and they all scrambled in ALL directions.

This shows that you can hear spiders walking, my second experience with this!

 

All was settled down, I was just about to drift off, and coyotes started howling.

So tonight I'm thinking there won't be anything...ds comes in and says there's a snake on the front porch! Okay, it's 4-5 inches long and skinnier than electric cord.

LOOK I've had enough of this! Okay, I just needed to share. If you have any scary stories to share about how wonderful nature is...feel free:lol:.

 

Goodness! My nerves would have been standing on end till morning. :tongue_smilie:

 

:scared: Your story was really cool until you got to the spider part. :willy_nilly:

 

I do. not. want. to know how big a spider has to be for you one to be able to hear it walking.

 

I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight now. :glare: Please, tell me where you live so I can rest assured that it's very, very far from me. ;)

 

Good heavens! I hope you have a peaceful night of sleep tonight and for the next year- you've had more than your share last night alone!

 

:001_huh: THAT is truly frightening. A friend of mine once had a similar experience with spider babies while killing a large wolf spider, and now she won't kill spiders at all. She puts a bowl over them until her husband gets home. LOL!

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I'd be a mess! You're amazing!

 

Our funny story from recently: I was sitting here on TWTM and heard squealing; LOUD squealing. We don't own pigs. I went outside to see what was up and literally, the squealing was UP. Standing in my driveway, the squealing, YES, like a pig, FLEW OVERHEAD. BIG wings and LOUD squeal! I said to myself, "#$%^ Did pigs just fly???!!!" I could hear the squealing moving from tree to tree but eventually it went away. Next night, we're all sitting at the dinner table with the window open. Squealing starts up again. We ran to the noise and saw our cat with a baby bunny in his mouth. SO, yeah, pigs haven't flown yet...just most likely an owl with a fresh bunny rabbit. :lol:

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I'd be a mess! You're amazing!

 

Our funny story from recently: I was sitting here on TWTM and heard squealing; LOUD squealing. We don't own pigs. I went outside to see what was up and literally, the squealing was UP. Standing in my driveway, the squealing, YES, like a pig, FLEW OVERHEAD. BIG wings and LOUD squeal! I said to myself, "#$%^ Did pigs just fly???!!!" I could hear the squealing moving from tree to tree but eventually it went away. Next night, we're all sitting at the dinner table with the window open. Squealing starts up again. We ran to the noise and saw our cat with a baby bunny in his mouth. SO, yeah, pigs haven't flown yet...just most likely an owl with a fresh bunny rabbit. :lol:

 

Yes, I have heard this squealing noise many times and it still freaks me out each time I hear it. There is a tree right outside my window where my computer sits that must be an owls favorite spot. One week he "ate his dinner" there 3 nights in a row. (need a shuddering smiley here)

 

Sunday night my ds and I were coming back from my parents next door. Our dirt drive is very dark with several trees all around. Half way down the drive we here this AWFUL blood curdling, screeching noise followed by hooting. :eek: I have heard owls screech before, but never like that. Even the hoot sounded creepy. Needless to say, we quickened our pace quite a bit. :lol:

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Oh, yes. We live a bit out of the city and so far we have:

 

1. Woken up at 2am to a BAT flying around our heads!

2. Found two large snakes in the basement

3. Had a mouse infestation in the basement and they got into the kitchen

4. Found a dead copperhead right outside of our side door.

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I was at my parent's house last summer and the dogs kept trying to get in the closet in the mudroom/porch. I'm shooing the dogs and trying to show them there's nothing there. I open the door and come face to face with a HUGE porcupine! Luckily he didn't shoot me and I got the dogs inside. Dad opened the door and ran and when we went back later he was gone.

 

Of course a few weeks later, Dad had to take his dog to the vet to have 245 quills removed from his face, neck, mouth, chest, ears.....the porcupine didn't go quite far enough.

 

Then there's the rattlesnake encounters at their house. And they wonder why I am perfectly content for my brother to get their house in the will....

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Reminds me of the day I went to put away one of the girl's hairy spider toys that was lying on my bathroom counter...and it starting crawling! Honest! :eek: I had no idea that there were tarantulas living in our neighborhood. Thankfully, we did not use the 'hit it with dad's shoe' method!

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I also saw a dead frog on the driveway, his head had been ripped off. I think raccoons do that sort of gross stuff, don't they?

So Chelle, what did you encounter?

 

Oh. my. gosh, Ginger! Remind me to never visit you! :D

 

We saw the biggest spider EVER on the concrete pad where the picnic table sits. Dh and ds followed it around watching it for awhile. There was also a spider that had spun a web and had a little home in a hole in the crook of that table. The kids would catch insects and feed them to him. Nasty, but cool. In a shivery sort of way.

 

Ds 16 saw a rattlesnake on that trip, too. I'm glad I missed that one.

 

WHY DID I OPEN THIS THREAD? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: (And yes, I'm yelling)

 

That's exactly what I was thinking!! I couldn't stop the cold chills last night when I was reading it!!

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I'm sort of forgetful sloppy, so the bag on the carpet floor, well...and the other time I heard a spider walking, he was actually RUNNING. There were two newspapers on the hard floor and he/she was running around. I kept hearing it! I was on WTM for crying out loud!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

 

Um...they were both about the size of ... well...a large grape. They sure squish nasty.

Everything is bigger in Texas, including spiders.

 

In my first apartment I heard a spider walking across the hardwood floors at night. It was about 3 inches across if you include the legs -- a wolf spider. I sprayed it with something aerosol (like hairspray, but I forget exactly what I grabbed) to suffocate it. And then was afraid to go to sleep because I kept dreaming all of its spider relatives were coming to get revenge.

 

Over the course of the next couple of days I realized the backyard of that place was LOADED with the spiders' relatives. Ick. So many negative memories about that first apartment ....

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In my first apartment I heard a spider walking across the hardwood floors at night. It was about 3 inches across if you include the legs -- a wolf spider. I sprayed it with something aerosol (like hairspray, but I forget exactly what I grabbed) to suffocate it. And then was afraid to go to sleep because I kept dreaming all of its spider relatives were coming to get revenge.

 

Over the course of the next couple of days I realized the backyard of that place was LOADED with the spiders' relatives. Ick. So many negative memories about that first apartment ....

 

Yikes! I think I prefer the mice in my apartment to your spiders! ;)

 

After ds16 tired of watching the spider at our campsite, he delighted in telling me about the PLATE-SIZE spiders that exist elsewhere in the world! (Elsewhere being the operative word, here!)

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Thanks for the reminder why it can be a good thing to live in the city! The only things that wake us up at night (ok, really just me:glare:) are fire truck sirens and neighbors coming in late.

 

But just for fun, here's my scary animal in the house story. When I was in 7th grade my dad started an new job about 2 hours away and my mom, brother and I stayed til we found a new place in the new town. We lived in a trailer with the air vents in the floors. We kept the covers off to let more air in. So one night I wake up to a scratchy sound like my hamsters making noise in their cages. Then i woke up the rest of the way and remembered - I don't have any hamsters any more!:confused1: I called my mom, but she couldn't hear anything and we decided to go back to bed. She decided to close the vents just in case on the way back to her room. She got to her room and screamed! Turns out there was a sizable rat in the vents! We stayed with neighbors until my dad got home on the weekend and got the awful thing out.

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dh was gone for the weekend once and this was back when I used to leave the sliding glass door in the back open for the cats to come in and out. One of my cats came running in with a large musk rat in his mouth (100% alive) and dropped it at my feet. The rat ran into the family room which has a door. Dd and I closed the door and stuffed towels in it. I went and opened the back door from the family room but the rat would not go outside. So I then put 2 of my female cats in that room and pretty quick I could see from the back door that one of them was running around with it dead in her mouth. When I went in she had dropped it into the inside of the recliner. I had to open it up and get it out which I attempted to do with a large stick and bucket. I was successful. When I told my neighbor about it, she said I should have called her husband to come over. Never thought of that lol.

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When I was first married and living in the city, I went to do my business and heard splashing in the toilet. I looked (I'm sooo glad I looked first!) and there was a rat in there! I slammed that lid shut and went to get my new husband. My dear dh said, "Go get it out!" No coddling females from him. When he realized that the rat was preferable to my wrath, he helped me to trap it in a tupperware container. Neither one of us could get up the courage to kill it. So we took it down to the park and let it go in the storm drain. A man stopped us and started to yell at us about toxic dumping but he shut up when we told him that it was an environmentally correct rat! So cities can have their share of exciting wild life.

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Oh gosh, I've had a few of those nights!

 

When we lived in a FEMA camper the lot next door was totally overgrown and the first animals to come back were mice. We had horrible mouse problems, especially that winter. Once after eradicating the infestation inside the camper, DH put four traps outside at the corners to try to catch any new ones before they made it inside. That night we heard SNAP! ... a few minutes later, SNAP! ... about half an hour later a third SNAP! ... and the last one woke me up after I had finally stopped shuddering and fallen asleep.

 

So in the morning DH went out to throw them away, but the first one was empty. He walked around the corner and the second one was also empty. So were the third and fourth. Four baits taken and NO mice? But when I moved the garbage can later, there was a huge RAT behind it! DH looked at him and said his skull was cracked. :001_huh: We can only imagine that he got whacked in the head four times before finally dying.

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:scared: Your story was really cool until you got to the spider part. :willy_nilly:

 

I do. not. want. to know how big a spider has to be for you one to be able to hear it walking.

 

:iagree:

 

One night I was starting to drift off to sleep and heard a very high pitched, shrieking scream, "mommmieeeeeee!" It was a total panic cry from my then 15yog. She had smashed a mommy spider and LOTS of baby spiders starting crawling out EVERYWHERE!!! We had to vacuum up baby spiders for a while and put the vacuum outside... oooh, shudder!!!!

 

:svengo:

 

WHY DID I OPEN THIS THREAD? :eek::eek::eek::eek:(And yes, I'm yelling)

 

That's what I'm thinking, too!!

 

Everything is bigger in Texas, including spiders.

 

You are in Texas? I'm NEVER going to Texas. Ever.

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When I was first married and living in the city, I went to do my business and heard splashing in the toilet. I looked (I'm sooo glad I looked first!) and there was a rat in there! I slammed that lid shut and went to get my new husband. My dear dh said, "Go get it out!" No coddling females from him. When he realized that the rat was preferable to my wrath, he helped me to trap it in a tupperware container. Neither one of us could get up the courage to kill it. So we took it down to the park and let it go in the storm drain. A man stopped us and started to yell at us about toxic dumping but he shut up when we told him that it was an environmentally correct rat! So cities can have their share of exciting wild life.

 

:lol:

 

What sort of toxic chemicals did he think was in the tupperware?

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Yikes. This is one reason I have a cat; not so she'll catch the intruders (which she does only sporadically, at her whims) but so when I hear scritching or a crash, I can assume it's the pet making noise and not rampaging spiders or megamice.

 

I did have the dubious pleasure of watching a squirrel rip apart a bird on my deck. He just killed it then held it in his paws and ate it like so much barbecue. I knew, rationally, that squirrels eat more than nuts and seeds, but it was still kind of shocking.

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I had a feeling you were going to say TX. :tongue_smilie: Was it a wolf spider? Those icky brown spider's w/ 2 dark stripes down their backs. Ick! Freaked me out every time dh would kill one and then the babies would scatter. shudder! They are the big reason I love fire ants. Fire ants moved in, and ate most of them! :D

 

The owl thing was really cool though!

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:scared: Your story was really cool until you got to the spider part. :willy_nilly:

 

I do. not. want. to know how big a spider has to be for you one to be able to hear it walking. :svengo:

 

I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight now. :glare: Please, tell me where you live so I can rest assured that it's very, very far from me. ;)

 

Good heavens! I hope you have a peaceful night of sleep tonight and for the next year- you've had more than your share last night alone!

 

:lol::iagree::lol:

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I had a feeling you were going to say TX. :tongue_smilie: Was it a wolf spider? Those icky brown spider's w/ 2 dark stripes down their backs. Ick! Freaked me out every time dh would kill one and then the babies would scatter. shudder! They are the big reason I love fire ants. Fire ants moved in, and ate most of them! :D

 

The owl thing was really cool though!

Ya know, wolf spiders aren't really dangerous, I don't think.:001_huh:

But we've seen them the size of...DESSERT PLATES...you know, including the legs.:lol::lol:I'm serious. Running across the floor. They can get in the house easily too.

Fire ants moved in? No, thanks. I'll take spiders. Brown recluse and trapdoor spiders are the bad ones. (shudder).:ack2:

Squirrels having a barbecue? Creepy.

OOOOHHHH!!!!

TOday we saw dozens of red-tail hawks circling around our property, steadily soaring south. Off in the distance I could see more, winging south. It really looked symmetrical.

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