Back in 2009, our town had a terrible storm in the middle of the night. This was back when we lived in town in the adorable house the David built for me.
Oh! Have I not mentioned that my husband ripped apart a house built in 1910, rebuilt it according to my specifications for seven years, and then promptly made me move to Ruralville as soon as the cute house was complete?
Yes? No? Yes?
It doesn’t matter. Just know that in a town about 45 minutes away from me, there sits a cute house that I both love and hate.
I love it because it is mine.
I hate it because it is STILL mine and we have to deal with renters.
Renters. Not for the faint of heart.
But, I digress. Let us get back to the story at hand, shall we?
So. There was this storm. David and I would sleep with our window open in the summertime and the thunder woke me up. It was wretched, terrible thunder. The kind where you begin to wonder if the end is near. I was surprised the kids slept through it all. I was not surprised that the Lumberjack slept through it.
Wait a sec . . . hmmm?
Now, dear readers. My neighbor had always droned on and on to me of her terrible time with bats. I would complain about my mice infestation (don’t judge me), and she would complain about bats in her laundry room. I thought she was nuts. Bats? Downtown? Near my house? Right . . .
I was beginning to think my neighbor was not so crazy after all.
I decided that I must take pictures of this epic event because no one will believe this.
My kind Facebook friends all informed that this creature was more than likely alive,
which made me want to scream and run and place . . . . seeing as how I had gotten pretty close to the “dead, harmless” bat so I could capture this memory in time.
It is moments like these when I am so glad that God has blessed me with my husband. My man will come home and get me out of this mess. What does he care? Once, while on a “romantic walk” together, my manly-man hunter husband successfully hunted a grouse, gutted it right then and there, slapped the breasts on the bbq and ate it for dinner.
Hands off, ladies. He’s all mine.
So, the Lumberjack came home. He seemed unimpressed with the fact that there was a bat on our window, nor with the fact that I had turned it into Facebook Bat Drama 2009. He said not a word as he grabbed the broom. I grabbed the camera, feeling fearless. He smacked the “dead” bat, who floated back up into the trees, very much alive. I snapped the picture just in the nick of time.
I was a little jumpy. Sorry.
Love it! That’s totally something I would do and my last picture would be similar. I don’t even like spiders or insects. I think a bat would do me in!
I am not a fan of bats. A friend sent me a picture she took in Nepal where she is standing beside a bat and its about 3 feet tall. I kid you not! Ewwwwwwww.
So glad you’re doing the A-Z….I’ll know where to find something entertaining : )
Wait! Let me get this straight. There are places in the country where you can sleep with the windows OPEN? Down here in southeast Texas, you would melt in the humidity, and risk being carried off by a mosquito nearly the size of that bat if you happened to have a hole in the screen. Great story and great attitude. Really enjoyed it.
Tate’s Other Side
LOL I laughed all the way through this post. From a distance, you know, like in pictures…bats are kind of cute to me. In a squinty eye kind of way. However, I’ll never forget the time we had one in our house. I saw it in the bathroom on my way through though, “big, black butterfly” and continued on like that was completely normal. Until I reached the living room and it flew over my head. From there I turned into a screeching, shriveling mess until I was able to flail my arms over my head long enough that it deigned to fly back out the window.
I have no pictures to prove such a thing every happened. At least you had the foresight to document evidence! (And for the record, Big Headline News such as this is *exactly* why Facebook was made in my opinion).
This is a wonderful post, both in content and voice. Thanks for visiting my blog. Figured I’d return the favor, and I’m glad I did, because I really enjoyed your post. Happy A-Zing. As ol’ Arnie said, “I’ll be back.” (Actually, it sounded more like bock…)
That.
Was.
Hilarious.
But only because it happened at your house and not mine. If it had happened at my house I would have to move.
Love your blogging voice: I laughed all the way through this post. Seriously thought you were gonna be blogging about…you know, Batman LOL. This was much cuter 🙂
At one of the houses I lived at, we had bats that lived underneath our shutters. The only way we knew they were there, was because there would be little bat-poops on the deck! But hey, they ate our mosquito infestation (the only thing creepier than a mosquito is a spider! Too bad they don’t have spider-eating bats…I’d buy a couple as pets!) so we left them alone.
I am just glad that it didn’t come back to life while you were very near. Although, that would make for good blogging, too. 😉
Your stories are the best!
I soooooo do not enjoy bats. I’m not really sure that I know anyone who does. Sometimes, by the lakes in Vermont they swoop down on us. Good times. Good times!
Your post has such a great voice. And I have had encounters with bats— freaky, definitely.
Look forward to your challenge posts…
–Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
I am actually very happy to hear that the bat was alright, after all!
I love bats – all life, really – I hate for any to have been lost.
I have never seen any bats outside of the zoos… not sure where I would even find any in Canada.
When we lived in the Mohave desert, we would see bats almost all year. They would come out at night and fly haphazardly around the light posts eating bugs. We had one perch himself for several days right outside our front door. I thought if I left him alone he would go away, but he did not. So I did some research on the internets and asked a question on a bat friendly web site. The bat friendly people were VERY concerned about this bat. They thought he might be sick. They wanted me to help them rescue this bat, as some bats in California are endangered. The hubs put some thick gloves on, grabbed him, put him in a shoebox, and then I drove him an hour and a half south to meet the bat rescue folks. They got him someplace safe and let him out of the box. By this time he was all warmed up and very angry. They let him go after checking to make sure he was healthy. You better believe I am going to be checking to make sure that my crown in heaven has a little bat shaped jewel on it before I place it at Jesus feet. In Virginia many farms have bat boxes to encourage bats to come and live there, mosquito/fly patrol that is organic and free. Bonus!
Hello,
What a wonderful post! I found you on the A to Z Challenge, and I will definitely be back to read more of your lovely writing!! Keep up the great work.
Stop over at my site too if you get a chance. 🙂 I write humor stuff (or sometimes serious stuff that people laugh at? Does that make it humor then?).
Best,
MOV
Great story, Taylor. Bats are much more scary than mice.
eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww
That is so funny. Did you know bats eat around 1200 mosquitoes per hour? I almost bought a bat house this year to prepare for the potential summer onslaught of bugs, but my husband talked me out of it. 🙂