The blonde, the niggers, the ghost and the mouse

If you have read the last post you know Gregor went away and left me all by myself. But if you think I was a lone this month, you are way wrong! Yep, visitors just kept coming… But not the kind you would expect. Already when Gregor was still here we noticed something weird was going on in the house. He was working on the cmoputer and I was next to him, watching TV on the couch. And the radio turned off and on, and off and on. After a minute or so Gregor turned around with an annoyed expression and asked if it was really necessary that I play with the radio as well as the TV. I raised my hands and showed I was holding only the TV remote, while the one for the radio was on the couch, lying between us. This kept on for a day or two and then Gregor figured out that the radio turns on and off when you use the button to go down the programmes for the TV (but not if you go by the numbers). That obviously the frequences are mixed up. Ok, a totally legal explanation. But that wasn't all…

We returned to home to a playing radio, so that we accused one another that we forgot to turn it off before leaving home. Of course we couldn't agree on which one of us was the forgetful one – until one morning we heard from the bedroom that the radio in the living room suddenly turned on. And the next day again, at approximately the same time. ok, so maybe the radio has a timer about which we didn't know anything. The problem is that after a week we realized that the radio doesn't turn on every day and also not at the same time. Hm. This probably can't be explained with frequences, right? My friends tried to convince me there was something wrong with the (new) radio. Very well, I could accept that too. But then the day came when I went from the kitchen to the balcony across the living room. When I was halfway there, the TV turned on (the radio was off). Apparently this itself isn't interesting enough, so the TV turned on at one of the high budget, highly intelligent movies with Jean Calude / Dolf / Steven as the main character; this of course means that not only did the TV turn on suddenly and very unexpectedly, but it turned on during a machine gun blast, turning the bad guys into a strainer. I got so scared that I landed on the balcony in one jump and for the rest of the week I crossed the living room with a very sceptical face. Most friends were out of ideas at that point, only one still persevered that the (new) TV was busted as well :). As far as I'm concerned, there's only one explanation – we have a ghost. A ghost that runs the radio off and on, that one time (until now…) turned on the TV as well and that changed the broadcasting station on the radio a few times last week (and I have never done this myself, I only listen to one station). As you can see, even though Gregor isn't here, I'm not alone – if I don't find company myself, company finds me, even if it's a bit on the unmaterial side. Anyhow, Casper is having a blast, but is obviously a bit shy as he never turned the radio on while I was in the living room. Well, after two weeks of spending quality time together he obviously got comfortable enough and turned the radio on even when I was in the living room reading, and he even turned it off a few times.

Last weekend I went home to keep my mom company and before I left I said goodbye to Casper and ordered him to be good, watch over the house and not to turn the radio on since that would be uneconomical, with me being away for the whole weekend. I came home after three days and the house was completely silent. I took off my shoes, greeted Casper, put the coat on the chair and went into the kitchen to make myself some tea. Not even a minute passed by when the radio turned on :). Obviously Casper was really glad I was home again, I'm surprised he didn't bring me my slippers…

So there you have it, these are my adventures with my new friend, Casper. But he isn't the only visitor I had while Gregor was away. A few days after he left I went to the garage to get some chopped wood for the fireplace. I said hello to Olaf in the darkness and then heard a grating sound. It took me a moment to realize Olaf didn't get anything hard to eat so that he could be granting… I moved towards the end of the woodpile and realized the sound was coming from there. I followed the sound and found myself right next to it, but the little intruder didn't let himself be bothered, he kept nibbling at the firewood right until the moment I turned the flashlight directly into the rift between two logs where he was obviously hiding. I wasn't exactly crazy about the idea of my proprietorial rodent getting a roommate as the garage is stacked with nice, aromatic logs, Olaf's food and hay and the little cheeky fellow (probably a field mouse) unintentionally came into rodent Mecca, but I would prefer not to have a rodent colony in the garage. Anyways, the symbiosis lasted for about a week and then the granting stopped. My mom says Olaf got rid of his competition. But I know that it was Casper who helped me with the uninvited guest.