The Don
Guest
We had something very strange, and pretty disturbing, happen at our house last night.
We came home about 8pm and put our daughter (about 2.5) to bed. About 8:30 I took our dog out for a walk and returned to the house. Everything was fine at that point.
This morning, about 7am, I took him out again before we left for work. As I went outside I noticed immediately that there was a pile (similar to a heaping spoonful) of white powdery/grainy substance on the thumb-press lever of our doorknob. I shut the door and foolishly blew it away (exposing myself and my dog to whatever it was). I finished taking the dog out, came back in (only touching the latch with my thumbnail) and about 10 to 15 minutes later we left for work/daycare.
I didn't let either of them touch anything in that area or linger in that area, so hopefully they weren't exposed. Got to thinking about it more as I drove to work and when I got to work I called the Jefferson County Sheriff and asked them to come out and take a sample of it. They did, but only tested for cocaine (negative) and said if it happens again to take a sample in a ziploc bag and call them again.
It happened between 8:30 last night and 7 this morning. Whoever did it was SNEAKY because our dog, a mastiff, never heard a thing - never even twitched all night. I figure they had to park at the bottom of our driveway (about 200 feet) and walk up, because he would have heard a car. We live in the country - about 30 miles from Madison, in a small pseudo-subdivision of about 6 houses, all with about 1.25 to 2 acres.
So, we're putting a motion detector (with a beeper inside the house) on our exterior lights and quite likely installing a camera to watch that door, too.
Anyway, strange things are afoot, and upon some trusted advice, I figured I'd relay the story to you guys in case any of you have anything similar happen.
BTW, the police chalked it up to a high school prank.
Could be. Seems very deliberate to me, though. Sorta like someone is saying, "I can get to you. Oh, and here's a little something to remind you of all the anthrax scares in the news over the past few years."
We came home about 8pm and put our daughter (about 2.5) to bed. About 8:30 I took our dog out for a walk and returned to the house. Everything was fine at that point.
This morning, about 7am, I took him out again before we left for work. As I went outside I noticed immediately that there was a pile (similar to a heaping spoonful) of white powdery/grainy substance on the thumb-press lever of our doorknob. I shut the door and foolishly blew it away (exposing myself and my dog to whatever it was). I finished taking the dog out, came back in (only touching the latch with my thumbnail) and about 10 to 15 minutes later we left for work/daycare.
I didn't let either of them touch anything in that area or linger in that area, so hopefully they weren't exposed. Got to thinking about it more as I drove to work and when I got to work I called the Jefferson County Sheriff and asked them to come out and take a sample of it. They did, but only tested for cocaine (negative) and said if it happens again to take a sample in a ziploc bag and call them again.
It happened between 8:30 last night and 7 this morning. Whoever did it was SNEAKY because our dog, a mastiff, never heard a thing - never even twitched all night. I figure they had to park at the bottom of our driveway (about 200 feet) and walk up, because he would have heard a car. We live in the country - about 30 miles from Madison, in a small pseudo-subdivision of about 6 houses, all with about 1.25 to 2 acres.
So, we're putting a motion detector (with a beeper inside the house) on our exterior lights and quite likely installing a camera to watch that door, too.
Anyway, strange things are afoot, and upon some trusted advice, I figured I'd relay the story to you guys in case any of you have anything similar happen.
BTW, the police chalked it up to a high school prank.
Could be. Seems very deliberate to me, though. Sorta like someone is saying, "I can get to you. Oh, and here's a little something to remind you of all the anthrax scares in the news over the past few years."