What To Do When Your Garage Door Mysteriously Opens at 6:45am

Our two dogs usually try to get up about 6:30 in the morning, but sometimes I can snuggle them back to sleep or at least rub their bellies so I don't really have to get up, much less open my eyes.  This morning, I heard them start to move around and I tried to ignore them.  I realized it wasn't just the dogs and me in the bed; lo and behold, Andy had snuck in during the wee hours of the morning.  Eh.

I heard a growl from one dog and then both dogs shot off my bed barking at the top of their little dog lungs (and if you've met our dogs, they have good lungs).  I figured a bird had tapped good morning on a window, or the neighbor was slamming his car door, something simple like that.

Then I realized they weren't at the front door or at any windows.  They were at the door leading to the garage.  Which was not normal.  And the barking continued on high, frantic volume.  And my inner panic button detonated.

What was in my garage?  Did I just hear the garage door open or close?  What the heck?  Had the garage door been open all night?  Did I lock the house door leading into the garage?  Could the dogs protect us?  Where the blankety-blank was my husband when I needed him (oh, yeah, in Rhode Island where he's ready and waiting to take care of the bad guys...in Rhode Island)?  What should I do?

I hauled myself out of bed and tiptoed down the hall.  Not that I needed to tiptoe.  The dogs were so loud, I could have clomped down the hall in fireman boots and no one would have heard me coming.  To my relief, the door to the garage was locked.  Whew.  Score one for my security!

But I could see the light coming through the door crack and it signified that the garage door was indeed open. For whatever reason, I felt bolstered by the fact that one door had been locked and I had an attack poodle at my feet (two, if you count the attack bichon-poodle mix, but I'm not banking on him protecting the house just yet).  So I unlocked the door and opened it up to the wide open garage.

Good thing there wasn't anyone trying to bludgeon me because I had nothing but a poodle at my feet.  'Cause I'm smart and quick thinking that way...I'll run away from spiders at top speed, but apparently I'll walk right toward a serial killer with nothing but a confused look on my face.

Nothing was in the garage.  It was pouring rain outside.  My guard dog stayed in frantic mode, as her nose detected something evil or at least something not right.  I just stood there, dumbfounded, wondering why my garage door was open.  I remembered leaning against it last night to watch the fireworks, so yes, it was closed, at least at 10pm.

Rachel's car wasn't there because she was at Kathryn's for the night.  My van looked normal and locked up.  I looked out at my neighborhood and nothing.  Every house was still shut up, no one was out even for work, no animals making noises.  Except the attack poodle, who was grunting and sniffing like a rabid animal. 

So?  Animals led me to think of the neighborhood alley cat, Snow.  Wait a minute, was Snow trapped in my garage all night?  That would sure explain why the poodle was having a nasal heyday.  Okay, maybe the cat was stuck in the garage.  And maybe, just maybe, the cat was ready to leave and jumped up to push the big button by the door.  Yeah, that's a possibility.

Stop laughing, now.  It was 6:45 in the morning, I had been abruptly awoken and things were still fuzzy.  I didn't quite fully believe the cat story, but I believed it enough to reassure myself.  So I turned around to go back inside and I hit the button by the door.

"Nooooooooooooo!"  a voice screamed from somewhere outside of my garage. 

I smacked the button again to stop the garage door from going down (again, my smarts are on!) and suddenly, Rachel dashes into the garage out of the rain.

What the blankety-blank?  Kathryn lives on a farm about 7 miles away.  And where was her car?  And why? And really, I could not think this quickly before a cup of coffee.

It turns out my daughter woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep.  So about 6:15, she decided to leave and drive home.  Only she had left her parking lights on all night and the battery was dead.  Kathryn's mom was up so Rachel made up some BS story about needing to get home and Kathryn's mom drove her home with the promise that we'd all get her car later today.

Then my daughter proceeded to try and break into the house.  Which she couldn't do because I'm the Security Queen (at least for last night).  She had gotten into the garage and when she found that door locked, she then attempted (according to her) to talk to the dogs for a moment (while I was still in bed trying to figure out why the dogs had just dashed off) and when the dogs didn't unlock the door for her, she went around back to see if I had opened up the back door for them and she could just crawl through the dog door. 

Which she couldn't do because the back door was still closed.  So back around the house she went and heard the garage door start down.  Then she screamed because she didn't want to be left out in the rain.

Yep, it's been a great weekend!