by Carlotta Cooper

Created on: January 29, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

I'm in the process of moving, something I swore I would never do again. Unfortunately, my landlord left me no choice. He sold the house and three acres I've been living on for the last three years to developers. He and his wife broke this cheerful news to me at Thanksgiving, so it's effectively ruined Turkey Day, Christmas, and New Year's for me and my family.

I should explain that my "family" is mostly canine. I have five big, longhaired dogs. That's part of the problem. Unless you have tried to find someone willing to rent a house to you when you tell them you have five dogs, you don't know the meaning of words like "futility" or "desperation." Yes, they have to come in the house. Yes, they do shed. Yes, of course, they are house-trained. And, no, I cannot give them up.

The remainder of my family consists of my boyfriend-fiance-significant other-person. His name is Desterie. He happened to choose December to leave for Iraq, so he has been next to useless in helping with the move. I've decided to overlook this deficiency under the circumstances.

After weeks of searching the papers and a lot of very rude rejections from potential landlords, I found a beautiful little house about an hour south of my old house. The house is paneled in old pine from floor to ceiling in the living room, dining room, hall and kitchen. All of the other woodwork - door frames, baseboards, moldings - are a beautiful golden oak. It has hardwood floors throughout. It's much nicer than I need, to be honest. Best of all, it has a great backyard for the dogs.

I was naturally thrilled about the house and, during one of my countless trips taking my belongings from the old house to the new one, I took along my digital camera so I could take some pictures to send to Desterie in Iraq.

Now, I have to explain that my digital camera only cost about $100 at Walmart to begin with. It's not exactly professional quality. It was a little further compromised when my puppy, Billie, got it one day and used it for a chew toy. The glass over the lens is broken. Other things may be broken. Amazingly, it still takes pictures. I want to say right here that Samsung makes a wonderful product. I fully intend to buy another Samsung camera to replace this one.

So, I took my semi-working camera and started taking photos inside the empty house. I took pictures of every room from every angle. I was practically dancing around the house, twirling and pirouetting with my camera.

I didn't notice anything strange. Not then. Well,

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