So... I just started reading a new book over lunch. I finished lunch a little early and decided I wanted to read a bit more. It's a pretty day out, so I thought I'd go read on my back deck. After pulling and pulling on the door (it was recently painted and now it sticks) I stepped out and caught myself just before I stepped on some droppings. I know. Yuck, right? But they were unusual droppings. I wasn't sure what kind of critter they were from. Since they were in an unusual spot, I thought there must be something hanging out on the eaves, maybe around the gutters. So I turned, looking over my shoulder and stepping back at the same time, not wanting to look up and get a face full of poop. And that's when I saw the overhang, the two feet of the second story that jut out over the deck. One of the bathroom vents has its exit there. And there... ugh... living on the outside flap of the vent, tucked in there between the flap and the vent cover... ugh... a bat!
It was all brownish and flattened and folded up on itself looking... suctiony. (Okay, so, I'm pretty sure it was a bat. It was partially in the shadows and I didn't really get close enough to verify. But what other critters could fit in a tiny spot like that, hanging vertically?)
Anyway. A bat. And I had been standing right under it. And guess what book I had just started reading? Guess what book I had in my (trembling) hand?
Dracula by Bram Stoker.
A bat! And Dracula! Ugh.
8 comments:
This seems like a good time for our friend M to visit. She can take the bat home.
Yes! I too thought that she would just love this.
It could have been so much worse.
I thought you were going to say that there was a leak in your plumbing and that it was human poop that had spilled on to your deck?
What's wrong with bats anyway?
Apart from the squeaking? And the flying at night?
Apart from that, they're kind of cute, aren't they?
Well, they don't induce the disgusted/creeped-out reflex in me, anyway.
Spiders make my skin crawl, and the sight of a snake will put me in the next county in seconds.... but bats??
Froog, now you've really creeped me out. I woke up this morning to find a leak in my plumbing. No human poop anywhere, but I have to wonder how you predicted this.
Agreed that bats are not as awful as snakes, but there is something about looking up and finding one all wrapped up, hanging upside down in the dark over your head. I do not find them cute. The concept that they are sort of furry and slick-looking at the same time is not pleasant to me. I don't like their eyes. And they hide away in the dark, like they are up to nefarious things.
That being said, they've probably got a bad rap.
I love this! Its true. You can revisit an email thread from 2005 that details the summer of the bats on Elm Road. AND, i know of a bat cave in colorado, near where people levitate. OMG, we could road trip him there. he might prefer it!
p.s. take another look at him. i know he is cute and fluffy looking.
Alas, I cannot take another look at him because hubby shooed him off with the water hose. But I doubt he was cute and fluffy.
It's the weirdest thing... since my bat sighting, I kept seeing and hearing random mentions of bats. Perhaps the cosmos are trying to convince me that they are cute and fluffy. But one of these things I've heard is about rabid VAMPIRE bats biting like 500 people in Peru recently. So that pretty much trumps any cute/fluffy arguments.
P.S. I just went back and read that exchanged and it is awesome. Except that I see that you think your bat entered through the bathroom fan as well, and that is just not cool. I hated sitting on the toilet (let's admit it, we all do it) and hearing commotion above my head.
It amazes me that I could have forgotten about that. I mean, it was five years ago, but still.
I wonder how many other fun email memories I've forgotten...
And I'll stop now because you'll probably never read this...
Yes, I miss you and our work days. Email threads are ridiculously amusing! Each and every time.
Just wanted to point out that bats are good luck! therefore you should change the title of this posting.
a symbol of peace and happiness. I forgot how much I like bats. http://www.nps.gov/archive/wica/bats.htm
Also, carrying the right eye of a bat makes one invisible.
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