Things that go Bump in the night: Part II

(Why do I have the feeling this is going to become a multi-part series??)

You may remember the time my razor fell off the wall in the shower and caused mass panic.

So when I called Joey frantically, he first asked me if I needed a new suction cup for my razor.

Let me back up.  It's yesterday at  5:30am-ish, still completely dark out.  Joey had already left for work (yeah, he's crazy). I know this because the garage is directly under our bedroom, and every time the garage door opens/closes it is SO LOUD.  So I knew he was gone. 

Me and the pins were snuggled up under the covers trying to stay warm because SOMEONE likes to sleep with two fans on even though it's freezing in the house already. 

Then, POW!/CRASH!  The best way I can describe the noise I heard was either some kind of explosion orrr that someone had driven full speed up my driveway and into our 3 trashcans like they were bowling pins.  My initial thought was that a power box had exploded outside our house, but we still had electricity.  The dogs were barking and I peeked out the window but I could barely see anything without my contacts in.  My next thought was whether I should call 911 or Joey.  I decided to call Joey because I figured one of the neighbors would call 911.

(Yeah! It was that loud!)

I told him what happened and after the initial quip, he realized how scared I was.  Unfortunately, he was already in Arlington by this point and it was officially time for me to put on my man panties and go find out what the noise was.  Up until now I was locked in the bedroom and the hounds were at the door, waiting to be released.

The first thing he did was told me to get my gun.  I'm not usually the gun-person.  I like my pink .22 but it likes to live in it's safe place, on Safety, with no bullets in it.  This was the first time since owning it that I was actually glad to have it and know how to use it.  That is such a weird thing to hear myself say (read?), but for all I knew, somebody had blown a hole in the side of my house a la "Oceans Eleven" and was robbing me. 

The next thing Joey did was tell me to let the dogs go downstairs.  NO!!! I protested.  If someone is down there, they might get hurt, or escape!  Joey audibly rolled his eyes and reminded me that if someone WAS down there, they'd notify me of that and it might save my life.  Majorly uncool moment? Realizing your dogs are your front line of defense :(

I relented, but opened the door a crack and off they went.  The barking ceased, sniffing ensued, and nothing could be heard except the pitter patter of little nails that need to be trimmed.

Then he told me to put in my contacts, which is fun to do while holding a phone and gun, and then I went downstairs.  Once again, like before, I was all James Bond around the corners.  I turned on every. single. light. in the house.  Sorry, electric bill.  Of course, I found nothing. 

I decided it was time to saddle up and go outside.  I mentioned to Joey (who was obviously still on the phone with me) that this is the part in the horror movies where the girl hears the noise, goes outside to investigate, and gets murdered.  He brought up the point that the girl doesn't usually have a gun in the movies.  Good point.

I opened the door and stepped outside.  It was still dark out, cold, and the neighborhood was completely silent.  After I heard the crash, I was expecting to hear sirens.  It was horrible to realize that everyone else was still sleeping soundly.  Thank GOD the dogs had barked or else I would have been questioning my own sanity at that point.

I peeked in the garage, the car was still there and not ablaze.  I didn't dare open the basement, but I locked the door.  I looked around back to see if a tree had fallen... nothing.  Meanwhile the dogs were so over it and like, 'Mom where's my treat??'

I finally gave in, went back upstairs, and said goodbye to Joey.
After a while, I calmed down enough to turn off a few lights and lay down to try to get a little more rest before I had to go to work.  The dogs knew I was upset about something and did not do what they usually do, which is crawl under the covers and snuggle with me.  They stayed on guard, watching the door for any funny business. I love them.

(Just ignore the hamper full of clean clothes in the background.  It has been sitting in that exact spot for 3 4 days.)

Because of my awesome dogs, I was able to actually go back to sleep for about 20 minutes, because I knew they would alert me if anything was wrong.  When I woke up, the sun was shining.  I got ready for work and did another look around the yard for anything obvious, like a tree, crashed plane, etc. 

Of course I found nothing.  I put the pins in their palace and opened the garage door before grabbing my purse, keys, etc. On the way around to get in my car, I noticed some wires/stuff hanging from the ceiling.

Hmm. That's not usually hanging there like that......

And then I looked up.

Besides the spider webs and other disgustingness, you can clearly see that this entire side of the garage door has detached and is currently hanging on by one screw.

That noise I heard?  There is a HUUUUUGE spring that connects the garage door to the pulley system that operates it.  Basically the spring came un-sprung, and my garage door detached itself from the ceiling, and was 1 screw away from coming crashing down completely....on my car.

Remember in the beginning of this post when I told you the garage door is REALLY LOUD from our room?  Yeah, explains why it sounded like armageddon.

Next thing I did was get in my car, turn it on, and back out as fast as I could!  I made it out unscathed and held my breath as I hit the button to close the garage door.  It closed, and didn't come crashing down (yet).  But you could definitely tell it was broken...

It's sitting at a bit of an odd angle, no?

I called Joey, let him know the news, and headed into work.  Later I found out that the same thing happened to his Dad at their machine shop, and he'd rushed to the front of the store thinking someone had crashed their car through the window.  Garage doors are NO JOKE people!!  He got home from work and secured it/locked it in place.  So I had to park outside/get in a cold car this morning. #sadface #spoiled

(yeah, I hashtagged my blog.)

So, what are my weekend plans? What's next on the house agenda?? That's right!! Fixing the garage door(s). 

~SG