Are you kidding me?

Since before the Hurricane, we've had this "thing" in our attic. We truly had no idea what it was, but it sounded like it was just scratching in the ceiling in our bedroom. We didn't hear it only at night. We heard it at all times of the day. Granted we should have had this looked at a long time ago, but for whatever reason, it kept getting put off.

Let me insert a story, that will then get us to today...

So, last Thursday, I had an incident where I had to call 911 myself. Remember back in July my own child called 911? Sad, I know. And here they are visiting us again. What are the odds? We have an alarm system that when a door opens it makes the "beep, beep" noise. Ya'll know what I'm talking about? We have been here FOUR years, and the ONLY time that "beep, beep" happens is when someone is COMING IN! I was back in my bedroom (where the keypad is), and there are flashing lights for the different zones. Zone 1 was flashing, which would indicate a door is open. Abby, thank God, is back in the room with me. It's 8:45am, it's just Abby and I home by ourselves. Sandy starts barking. I FREAK! I shut the bedroom door and lock it. I call Josh (thinking possibly he came home super early?!?!) Nope. He answers his desk phone. But he hears the beep the second time. I'm practically in tears and shaking like crazy. He says in his most stern voice, "HANG UP and dial 911!"

I feel so stupid because I haven't actually seen anything! But I'm scared to death and my dog is still barking. So....I do it. I call 911. I always imagined they'd say, "911 what's your emergency?" But they actually say "911, do you need fire, police, or ambulence." (Just a little side note for you there!) I tell them everything, then they ask me if I have a weapon with me. Um, no! They keep me on the phone until the cop arrives. But before he comes in, the beep to the door happens again. I ask the dispatcher if the cop is in the house, and she says he isn't...he's checking the perimeter. I see the cop in my backyard, and he sees me peering out the window. He tells me to come unlock the back door. He comes in, gun drawn and out in front of him. Crazy! Abby and I stand back in the corner of the kitchen while he checks every nook and cranny of my house. He opens a door, points the gun. Draws back the shower curtain, gun out. It all feels like an out of body experience. Sorry to totally build this story up, but bottom line...nothing. No doors were even unlocked. Mr. Policeman walks outside, and my neighbors at this point all must be out there because I see him wave and say, "Everythings OK folks, we're just having a security alarm system problem." ha! My neighbors probably think we're insane! I apologized to the policeman who was so incredibly nice to me. I'm sure he could clearly see I was shaken up. He told me I did the right thing, and that's what they're here for, and he was glad to come out to make sure we were safe. Yet again, a fabulous encounter with law enforcement :-)

Somebody out there please tell me you would've called 911, too? It seemed SO real...I could've sworn somebody was in this house. I didn't know what else to do!

OK, back to our critter problem. The other day, all the scratching I've heard above our room, I heard in the kitchen. It sounded like possibly it was at the back door. Sandy, yet again, starts barking. I open the blinds, and what do I see?
This little guy is sitting right outside the door like he was ready to come in. I'm not 100% for certain that this is what's in my attic, but I feel more certain about it today because Terminix came out. Considering we didn't know what was up there, Terminix will handle mouse and rat problems. At the beginning of October, my dad and Josh went up in the attic and laid mouse traps with some peanut butter on them. So my lovely Terminix man crawls up in the attic today, and comes down and tells me he knows what the problem is. He thinks it's definitely a squirrel, too. Guess what he brought down? An OPEN peanut butter jar that my dad and Josh FORGOT to bring down when they put it on the mouse traps. You can clearly see there little hand marks in the peanut butter after digging in the jar.

That's right folks. WE have been their food source for the last month. My other thought (that has to do with the 911 call) is that this little critter has somehow chewed through some wires making my alarm do the weird things it has. For instance, the door no longer makes a "beep, beep" noise, and Zone 1 is always blinking now (showing a door is open). Can you believe something that small can cause me this much trouble?