Woncha Be My Neighbor???

Hey guys! I plan to do a massive picture-catch-up session on all the wonderful things that have happened in our lives recently. Christa's birthday, 4th of July, updated pictures of the new house, and our beach trip. But we had some excitement last night, that I just couldn't wait to share. Let me set the stage for you:

Cline is at work on his first shift and is expected home before 9. Christa and I go get some pizza for dinner, since I STILL haven't seemed to make it to the grocery store. After our dinner, we decide to take a short walk up and down our street (not for exercise or entertainment, but rather a sneaky attempt to meet some new neighbors :) It's about 7:30 p.m.

I put Christa in her stroller, and briefly think about locking the door. But locating my house keys seems like a chore, and all of the other doors are locked, so I think the one garage door we plan to go in and out of should be safe while I walk just a few feet from the house. We begin our stroll, not giving the door another thought. Christa actually seems to be enjoying her stroller for a change, so the quick ride up and down the street turns into 1 lap around the block. Blast, no neighbors outside. After pausing in our driveway, I decide that Christa's doing fine, so maybe we should just do another lap. So, off we go. As we approach our house the second time, our across the street neighbors, a nice middle-aged couple with grown children whom we have spoken with several times already, wave us down, and we proceed to have a very pleasant conversation in the middle of the road. They tell me we have coyotes, deer, and turkeys in the neighborhood, so be on the lookout for wildlife among other various tidbits. Before we know it, it's dark, after 9pm, and Cline calls to say he's running late and hoping to leave by 10.
Christa starts squirming, since it's past her bedtime, so we say, "Goodnight," and walk across the street to our house. As soon as I walk in, I notice that all of the downstairs lights are off, which I don't remember taking the time to do before I left. But it was daylight then, so maybe I never had them on to begin with, I reason. Then I notice light creeping out from under the basement door. I know for a fact that light's not supposed to be on. Oh, but mom went down there today to carry some junk to the basement for me. I'll just call her and see if she thinks she might have left the light on. Besides, nothing looks out of place, and if someone is in the house, they can have anything they want from the basement! Our phone happens to be right next to me, so as I continue to watch the basement door, I call mom. I take a breath, ready to ask the all-important, fate-determining question. And right there before my very eyes, the light goes off. "Uhh, I gotta go," I say, slamming the phone down and heading for the door.
I promptly walk back over to the neighbor's house, and explain the situation to them. Mrs. R immediately begins calling all of the people in the area who own a dog, in an attempt to get a strong team to escort her husband over to the house to investigate the situation. Unfortunately, all of the dog-owners are away from their phones. She finally tracks down Mr. F, and although they don't have a fierce canine to protect them, Mr. R and Mr. F locate a tall bamboo stick. They proceed enter my embarrassing disaster of a house, fully prepared to take down anyone they might find... with their bamboo stick. The sissy, scared sensible, safe women (myself, Christa, and Mrs. R) wait at the end of the Rs driveway, phone in hand, ready to call the police, should a violent encounter break out. By this time, Christa is really getting fussy and tired. I tell her to hush and that she can go to bed as soon as we are finished introducing ourselves to the neighborhood :)
Mr. R and Mr. F complete their search without locating the culprit and report that the basement light was on again when they opened the door. My mom calls just as I am packing Christa's things to go to the neighbor's until Cline gets home, and reminds me that they live around the corner, and will happily pick me up. Duh - I am clearly not thinking - it didn't even occur to me to call my own parents!
At any rate, the mystery of the self-switching basement light remains. We either have a very clever intruder who is not interested in money, china, or useless junk, a short in our electrical system, or a timer that the previous owners forgot to tell us about. Or possibly a ghost.

The security system is being installed on Monday. And if anyone tries to pull anything in the meantime, we have coyotes in the neighborhood and very protective neighbors who watch this house like a hawk for us. (I was told the Cook's pest control man almost got a beating while we were away last week).