Woof

In Norway, it is perfectly legal to wander on to someone else's property as you are going for a walk. Kevin and I enjoy this privilege frequently during our walks with the dogs across the neighboring fields. But something odd has been happening ever since we moved into our house--people will just wander into our yard, stop and stare at our house. We live at the end of a very long driveway, pretty far from any other houses. There is a ski trail which runs through the woods well behind our property, but other than our driveway, there is no path leading to our home. And yet, at least a couple of times a month, I will look out the window to see someone looking back in at me. Most of the time, they stay outside of our fence, but sometimes they will actually come into the fenced in yard. Several times I have gone to the door to say hello, but usually whoever is in our yard mumbles a quick "Hei" and hurries off. One day, two elderly ladies shuffled up to our house pushing walkers. They were the first curious visitors to stay and chat for a while. One of them asked me if I had seen any "spøkelser" yet. I wasn't sure what that word meant, so she made a terrible face, jumped at me and yelled "Roar!" I jumped back, we both laughed, and I told her that no, I hadn't seen any ghosts! Is our house known to be haunted? Is that why so many people wander into our yard and stare at it? It's kind of a creepy idea, but infinitely more reassuring than my other hypotheses that people are curious about the Americans living here and are trying to get a peek at us, or that because we live in such a remote location, criminals are casing the joint! Regardless of the reason, Kevin got annoyed yesterday when he looked out the window to see a man standing against our fence and staring at our house, so he decided to quickly let the dogs out of the door. (This isn't as mean and sadistic as it might sound. First, we do have a fence, so the dogs couldn't actually have gotten to the man. Second, they're ridiculously friendly dogs. They would never hurt anyone, but they are large with big, booming barks, so they definitely startled the man and he immediately left our yard.) Kevin left this morning for a 12 day trip to China, Singapore and the Philippines. He worries about me being on my own at the very edge of town for such a long time, so he advised me, in his most C. Montgomery Burns-esque voice, "If you see anyone lurking in the yard while I'm gone, release the hounds!"