Exciting times in the neighborhood.
I just came from the bedroom. Mary is in bed reading; 3 of the dogs are asleep on two large pet pillows we have on the floor next to the bed: Frollie is between the two pillows, Dexter and Schuster are on the second pillow, side by side, head to head. Dexter's eyes were wide open and he was looking a bit put upon; he was closer to the wall, while Schuster was curled against him, safe and secure. "Tio Dexter." Schuster's head was against the side of Dexter's head. No one moved.
Earlier, about two a.m., we were watching the latest episode of Una Familia con Suerte, when I became aware that Schuster was bouncing up and down off to the side of my chair. When that happens, all activities cease and someone, usually myself, gets up, disarms the alarm, at which point Schuster runs for the back porch door to be let out. Of course the other 3 tear to the door to be let out too, for it is night in the neighborhood and sometimes there be creatures, especially in these late or early hours, and oh the racket they get to make. I suspect one could hear them on the other side of the subdivision. Tonight was a very noisy exodus, meaning the Gang of Four probably had some hapless creature trapped somewhere. Simon is the bravest and the noisiest, and when I found him I found the creature, what looked to be a fairly young possum. With my flashlight on, I finally discovered the possum at the very top of a very short tree about three feet above my head. He never moved even with the light in his face; he just peered down at me, and the very excited dogs, and watched the commotion below. Oddly, Simon was the only one who seemed actually to know where the possum was. Shuster was running up and down the path next to the fence at the back of our property which is where the tree is, and he was having a great time. Tio Dexter was standing down the path to the left doing the beagle bellow, for which I hope the neighbors will forgive us if he and Simon woke them. I never did quite figure out where Frollie was though she too contributed to the noise. The best way to deal with such a situation, we have discovered, is to grab the the chunky, noisy, black dachshund, and carry him back to the house. Mary did. She's a woman not to be trifled with. Thus, with Simon under her arm and me leading the way with the large flashlight, we worked our way back to the house. Grab Simon and the rest follow, and they did, surprisingly even Schuey. Who knew. After all he too is a dachshund