Revisited
Donna W. said, "I would think he'd get in the house again however he entered originally."
Crawling from the depth of some dream, I realized that the electric guitar rift from the intro to "Smoke On the Water" was playing loudly and really close to my head. What the heck? Why was somebody calling my cellphone at, I glance at the alarm clock, 2:30 in the morning? Then I noticed the caller ID said the person calling was my oldest daughter who should be in her room just around the corner. More confusion but I answer.
It was my oldest daughter who wasn't in her room but in her younger sister's room along with my wife. I pat the bed behind me and ascertain that my wife was indeed not there. They have locked themselves in that room because apparently there was a bat in my oldest daughter's room. Two bats in the space of two weeks seemed like a bit much, especially since I can only recall one other bat in the preceding decade. I suspect Donna W. may have been onto something.
I got out of bed and of course, immediately used the bathroom before entering into battle. One must never enter into battle with a full bladder or it might lead to embarrassment. I exited the bedroom, ignoring the open door leading into my oldest daughter's bedroom for the moment, closing my bedroom door behind me and proceeded to walk through the house turning on lights and grabbing a broom. No bat was to be seen. I walked back towards the end of the hallway where all the bedrooms are located and as I approached my oldest daughter's room, vacated of humans, I could hear the unmistakable squealing of a bat and the rustling of wings. I knew due to the odd door configuration which was tucked into an alcove in a corner, that the bat was not going to be easy to get out. By radar, it would just look like it was approaching a wall until it turned at the last moment and there wasn't one. It was probably why it was still in there instead of somewhere else. It was also 2:35 in the morning and I didn't want to spend all night trying to hunt for it in a million different places. Unfortunate but if indeed this was a return visitor, perhaps it was for the best.
I walked into the room, closed the door behind me, and hoped the bat was prepared to meet it's maker.
Yikes! I'm sending this to my sister, she and her husband faced the same battle a couple times last summer. Do you know how they're getting in, Ed?
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming this was the same bat and got in through the same convoluted way as before by using its memories. I dispatched it and I have yet to see another one so I'm hoping the memory of that route died with that bat.
DeleteEd, I am traveling up to my parents this week and have a mouse problem overhead that will need to be dealt with. I will keep this story in mind, as I do not like dispatching creatures a great deal.
ReplyDeleteI don't either but sometimes I have too.
DeleteI loved your humor about not going into battle with a full bladder, but I would have been huddled with your wife and daughters. I like bats--but not inside the house!
ReplyDeleteThe bats don't like being trapped inside our house either and just want to get back outside with their friends. I keep telling my girls that we don't have blood sucking bats in this part of the world. I don't think it has ever worked to calm their fears.
DeleteWe don't have bats but we do have huge cockroaches. And centipedes but it has been a long long while since we had any in the house - centipedes, that is. Cockroaches never seem to go away.
ReplyDeleteNow there is something I dislike immensely, centipedes.
DeleteI hope the problem has been solved so you don't have to go through this again.
ReplyDeleteI would like to say yes but unfortunately no. I just killed another bat this morning.
DeleteWell, that's a bummer. You didn't give us the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteThere wasn't much too it other than the bat is deceased. Perhaps next time I can get a GoPro camera strapped to my chest.
DeleteIt could be that's the same bat. Also, it could be his mate. Bats usually have a sex life, like other living creatures. I doubt any of them are celibate.
ReplyDeleteI was assuming it was the same bat at the time and when I wrote this post. But just this morning, we had our third bat in about two weeks... after going nearly a decade without a single one. I'm not sure what it happening at this problem but I hope there aren't too many more.
DeleteThat is an action packed five minutes. You had me laughing out loud.
ReplyDeleteI try to find humor in most situations. It's better laughing than frowning and being angry.
DeleteI felt like at the end of it, we should have heard a deep voice saying, "To find out what happens next, tune in next week, same bat time, same bat channel..."
DeleteWould an open window not have worked?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, all the windows have hard to remove screens that involve two people, one inside and one outside to get them off and then they are not easily put back on. Our windows were made long before convenience was thought about. I wish that had been an option.
DeleteWell written! Critter intruders usually make for at least some excitement.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I've only ever had bats. I've heard of others with raccoons intruding and I'm glad I don't have that problem.
DeleteImagine my shock when Tim shot a woodchuck in the attic. True story.
DeleteYou are the real Batman Ed! Your ruthlessness in the face of adversity is astounding. Did you use a baseball bat to dispatch the confused little bat?
ReplyDeleteMy weapon of choice is a small plastic kid's broom. It works well in tight corners. I used to have a tennis racket but after a decade of no bats, I finally sold it since I don't play tennis anyway. In situations where I have more time and don't wish to kill a bat, I use a Filipino broom called a walis, which is much wider and softer. With it I can gently knock them down and pin them until I can scoop them up and get it outside. But it takes a lot of time when bats have a tendency to hide in tight spaces it can't reach and at 2:30 in the morning, I didn't want to spend that much time.
DeleteI hope you don't have multiple bats!
ReplyDeleteWith one released and two deceased, I'm pretty sure I had multiple bats. Perhaps they were all from the same family and the one released is not plotting my demise.
DeleteI've had to deal with that too. Usually starts with my wife running in, hands on her neck for protection (a result of having read too many bat-themed horror stories), screaming. A broom is my weapon of choice too, but I usually have to tire them out before they no longer able to evade me.
ReplyDeleteI usually can either get them stunned so I can get them out of the house or killed so I can get them out of the house. But occasionally, one will fly into another room and evade me by scrambling behind something like a television hanging on the wall or a picture, etc.
DeleteLike Margaret, I loved your not going into battle with a full bladder. I can relate. Definitely. I've never seen a bat in the wild or house when we lived in Illinois. If it was a cane spider, I'd be locked up in a room too. You're a good man to have around.
ReplyDelete