Where oh Where Did the Doggie Bowls Go

Here's a real head-scratcher for you.....someone or something stole the dogs' dishes. From the deck.

I got home from work yesterday and Paul asked, "Do you know where the dogs' bowls are?" I remember picking them up, nesting Lucy's little bowl into Rosey's bigger bowl and moving them. Maybe that was this morning, maybe yesterday. I probably opened the kitchen slider and set them on the deck. Well, they aren't there.

We looked everywhere. Everywhere they might be (garage, mudroom, lawn) and a few places they shouldn't be (refrigerator, stove, broom closet, basement) and they are nowhere to be found. Why would someone come up onto my deck at the rear of the house and take dog dishes? One is turquoise plastic and the other is aluminum (in case you see them and need a description to identify them) certainly nothing special.

As of October 1 we have lived in this house for 23 years. Nothing like dog-bowl theft has ever happened. Our house is on a couple acres and is set about 150' off the road and backs up to woods beyond our property line. We do have neighbors on each side. The people on the south side were there when we moved in, the neighbors on the north are new last year. We're not thrilled with the new people; they're noisy and messy and a little weird but can't imagine them coming onto the property, up onto the deck to steal two old dog bowls.

A little weird, no?

Postscript: The dogs' dishes have not shown up. Several people have suggested that another dog or coyote might have made off with them. If it was just Lucy's litle plastic dish I might agree but Rosie's was aluminum and animals don't like to pick up metal so I'm going with the new neighbors as the likely culprits. I think they're just messing with us. Creepy.