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When I was a kid I can remember hearing the question, “Do you have bats in your belfry?” I had no idea what a belfry was but I was glad I didn’t have one. It sounded horribly scary. Halloween candy is starting to show up in stores and it feels like it is a tiny bit early this year. But then again, after a recent experience, maybe it’s right on time.
We were having a quiet evening at home, relaxing and watching tv, scrolling on our computers when I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. Usually when this happens, it’s one of the cats or a moth or fly. Sometimes it is just my imagination. Not this time though.
“What was that?!?” The hubby looked at me and said, “I have NO idea, but it was big!” We sat there for a hot minute, looking at each other, and trying to wrap our head around what had just passed through the room, when it returned. “Was that a BAT?!?” A BAT WAS IN OUR HOUSE. And he was flying around like he owned the place.
That signaled chaos and shananigans, “HOW are we going to get that out?”, hubby was as confused as I was. Our animal zoo is on point now, also noticing our uninvited visitor. They are more than ready to help, which of course is not really help. While we are ducking and dodging this little brown mass that is flitting from room to room, we are also dodging and trying to avoid the animals who are “helping”, I am sure this made for quite the comical dance! Chaos reigning and still confused as to how we are going to tackle this new adventure, we look at each other for ideas.
My husband decided maybe a sheet is the answer, why not? We already had a vampire in the house, we just as well add a ghost. After several more minutes of chasing the Count from room to room with the sheet, we decide we need a different plan.
Part of the new plan is to enlist in reinforcements, I call upstairs to the #2 son. “I need you to come down here, now. Like right now, there’s a bat in the house!” Laughing uncontrollably, he wanders down to check the situation out. The bat zooms by, tower buzzing him like Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
Finally the little guy seems to tire out a bit and disappears in the my husband’s office. This is good because now we can think about a plan of action, walking around with a sheet hoping he would fly into it wasn’t working. But it is also bad because now we have no idea where he is. After many years of owning her, my little love Tinkerbell (who isn’t that little) decides now is the time to shine and show her worth to the humans who are wandering through the room aimlessly and without a plan. So she tracks the little rascal, and she sits in the corner and looks at the wall, then looks at us, then looks at the wall, and back to us. We were not getting the hint, she meows. It was several minutes before #2 son picked up on her hint. That was several minutes faster than the rest of us.
After gently pulling back the curtain, up in the top right corner, my husband sees the flying demon, it’s vampire fangs are bared and dripping as it leaps to his neck and pierces his flesh….. Wait, wait,wait, that’s not right, I think that was my imagination! Move along, nothing to see here!
But he did pull back the curtain and find the bat. At least we knew where it was now, but still not how we would capture it. So #2 son and hubby talk about how they wish they had a fishing or butterfly net and maybe we should buy one for next time. NEXT time????
Trying to think of some sort of net-like thing that would work to capture the furry guy, #2 son remembers he has a mesh laundry basket, you know, one of those popup wire ones? Who needs a net when you have a hamper? He heads upstairs to grab it.
When #2 son came back downstairs, he was prepared for battle. He had not only acquired the hamper, but we also had donned a heavy a hoodie (hood up) and his motorcycle gloves. He was obviously worried about how close the flyby had been and had decided to take extreme precautions. With backup provided by his father and Tinkerbell, he entered the war zone and used the hamper and a pizza pan to catch the little troublemaker.
Apparently little beast had been making quite the racket the entire time, but neither my husband or I heard any of the screeching. Long years of living at the end of military air strips and loud concerts have obviously taken it’s toll on our hearing. After apprehending and inspecting our captive, we all parade outdoors and free our new friend so he can continue to keep our yard mosquito free.
Our quiet evening back in place, we settle back into our evening routine, proud of ourselves for saving the fuzzy little soul, when a single thought crosses my mind and my head jerks up and I look at my husband…
“HOW did he get in??!!”
