With all of the work to be done around here, and way too much serious business to attend to, I’ve found one of the best stress relievers is scaring people.
I don’t know, there’s something calming about hiding silently in a dark closet, breathing slowly, waiting, listening, picking the right tactic and making a slight rustling sound. Then another. Then a bit louder as you peek through the crack of the door and watch them cautiously glance over at the closet, that look of trepidation on their face hoping the sound goes away so they don’t have to check it out. You wait a few more minutes, then rustle again, quieter. Their head shoots rights up out of their phone, eyes wide, and they slowly crawl across the floor as you poise yourself for your next move.
The closet door s flung open, and you manage to fall out on top of them, uttering the most horrific of sounds. They release a flood of sounds just as horrible, and then screams of anger when they finally come to their senses and realize the trick you had played.
It just gets the endorphins going!
And so, I’ve been banned from hiding and scaring people.
My argument is that it’s educational. You don’t want someone worse sneaking-up and grabbing you, or beating you over the head. You need to constantly be aware of your surroundings and plan accordingly.
When we first moved onto the property, there was a lot of discussion about bears, and wolves, and coyotes and cougars. And Big Foot.
One day I had a thought. We had game cams all over the property and the kids always get excited to see what’s on them. Why not dress up in a Big Foot costume, and slowly creep across the camera area? Maybe dragging a deer carcass or some other unfortunate object.
As the kids watch the video, and get freaked out, you then place “Big Foot tracks” all around the house the next day. . .
Another idea was the garden patrol creature. This nifty invention is a motion-activated fan-dancer waving guy. Used in gardens to scare away animals, it inflates instantly when the laser line of sight is crossed. We had thought about putting it out by the bus stop in the early morning hours. As soon as the kids hit the line of sight and go running to get on the bus, the waving guy inflates instantly to tower 20 feet above them.
More realistically, I’ll probably just settle for the coyote call. I got a pretty nifty remote controlled coyote call for Christmas and the sounds are amazing. I could easily set it up by the road, place a few questionable foot prints around there, and sit behind a tree and control the sounds. Single coyote nearby? Check. Sounds of animal being tortured? check! Sounds of unknown origin? You bet!
The only reason I haven’t is I want to video it. It will be worth the wait.