Mystery Intruder

Do you want to hear a story? Well, pull up a chair...

Last Friday, I went down to the basement and discovered that it was freezing down there. I looked up and found that there was a pane broken in the window.We've had issues with this particular window before because when we had it open, our cat Monty would jump seven feet up, sit on the sill and chew the corner of the screen so he could escape to the great outdoors. Look through the broken glass and you can see the torn screen.

Drew had replaced the screen a few times and Monty always managed to bust through. He was like a teenager sneaking out without parents knowing. We put an end to his disappearance act and closed the hinged window for good. After our beloved Mango went missing, security was heightened. Or so we thought.

One morning I was in bed and noticed that Monty was outside, not inside! We called him in with his treats and he came down to the basement with us to inspect the window. He showed us how he jumps seven feet up, hangs like a rock climber, pushes his paws under the window and flings it open so he can drag his body into the window sill. After that, we made sure that the window was closed tightly and there would be no way he could escape. So, when I noticed the broken window, I formulated different stories in my head about how he tried the same maneuver and either the window broke when it slammed down behind him or since we were not home to let him in and it was cold, he had to break in himself.

Drew repaired the middle pane with some heavy cardboard and duct tape. We figured this quick fix would work for now.

Please don't pay attention to our unfinished basement, the rest of the house is coming along quite nicely.

And so the story continues... in bed this morning, we heard some kind of crash and just figured it was the pizza pan I didn't put away last night. About 30 minutes went by and there was cat screeching and growling with the sound of broken glass! Drew was in the bathroom getting ready for work and I was half in the bedroom, half in the hallway. I have quite an imagination and it gets the better of me sometimes. I grabbed my cell phone to call 911 in case it was a human breaking in or maybe another bear!

I opened the basement door and saw Monty on the stairs. Rather than being brave and going downstairs myself, I put on my slippers and ran outside to see if I could find the intruder. There were no foot prints up to the window because the snow had melted next to the house.

I noticed some kind of darkish thin animal race across our lawn past the house next door and into the field. This was definitely not a raccoon. I'm thinking cat, fox, bobcat? Could it have been Mango wanting to come home finally? Probably not, because this animal was darker and longer in my head. The footprints in the snow looked larger than a domestic house cats and I was also surprised to see that there was about 3 feet between prints.

These are not great pictures, but it's all I have to go by.

While I was outside investigating, Drew was inside patching up the broken window again. This time with nails and luan plywood!

The only person that really knows what happened is Monty and he's not saying anything.

In fact, he just sits on the stairs waiting for the intruder to come so he can scare it away with his fierce cry! Who are you mysterious creature and what do you want?