A Bat Story

When it's been so long since I have posted, it just feels intimidating to start again. I just need to accept it and enjoy the posts I am able to make. And last night's event was just too noteworthy not to write about. We had our first bat in the house. Not just in the house, in our bedroom. And due to the high volume of mosquito food outside this summer, this bat was big! Here's how things went down...

Sometime after 11:30 Jason woke up to the sound of something repeatedly hitting the window. He was trying to figure out what was trying to get in, when he suddenly realized that something was trying to get OUT. A bat. I was sleeping quite soundly, much thanks to my poor hearing. Jason tried to quickly right the situation by opening the window and taking out the screen, but for some reason the bat had decided it liked our room by that point. And that's when I received a very sweet bit of tapping on my shoulder, with my very sweet husband saying, "I don't want to freak you out, but there's a bat in the room." Oh, much inward groaning! Jason turned on the light to see where it went, while I pulled the covers over my face in an effort to NOT see where it went or see it flying or believe that this horrible event was actually happening in real life.

Sure enough, there was a nice-sized bat perched on top of our door, which was open just a few inches. I had already decided that I would stay under the covers until the bat was gone, but Jason had other plans. He claimed that he needed help. So, more thanks to my poor eyesight, all I could see was a dark bump on top of the door, and also determined not to put on my glasses. (Can you tell I live much of my life in denial?) Bad eyesight wasn't going to work well with Jason's plan, though, so I had to don the lenses and look at our furry intruder. The first order of business was to cover up Levi's bed. Aren't we such good parents? So, as I related to the kids at breakfast this morning, my first act of heroism was carefully and slowly pulling the blanket off our bed and draping it over Levi's bed. Then, Jason told me the plan. He would close the door to keep the bat from escaping into the rest of the house, which would probably send the bat flying again. My job was to man the window and the light, and follow his directions, and I don't think he had much of a plan for that point. Short interjection: I think Jason is more scared of bats than any other creature I've seen him encounter in our 10 year relationship.

Jason finally made his way over to the door and pushed it closed. He heard a painful squeak, then the bat was racing around the room again. Wondering where I was? I had just opened the window on Jason's orders, and was crouched down with a pillow over my head. I highly recommend pillows when dealing with these creatures - they do feel quite safe. Well, the method of hoping the bat would fly out the window wasn't working, so I was instructed to turn off the light so the bat could actually see the window. Jason apparently hadn't seen it fly out the window (not only does he have good vision, it's nocturnal), so he told me to turn the light back on. Here commences my second act of heroism. I had to reach up to where the lightswitch was placed on the top of the light stand, and it is a very good place for a bat to decide to land. After freaking myself out once thinking I had touched the bat, I shook the stand, then moved my hand all the way up the stand to the switch, hoping the scare the bat that way. Well, I had nothing to worry about, it was still silently cruising around and around the room. Your bedroom never feels smaller than when there is an unwanted creature in it.

Here comes the real act of heroism of the night. Jason crawls up on the bed with a pair of shorts in hand, watches the bat circle a couple of times, then with all his strength Jason swings at the bat with the shorts as it crosses the window. IT WORKED! The bat was knocked out the window, I closed it shut, and at last we were bat-free! I uncovered Levi, who was still sleeping quite peacefully, while Jason checked the rest of the upstairs to make sure there were no bat-relatives lying in wait. He determined it may have entered through the opening in Levi's closet which is waiting for new drywall. We crawled back in bed, hearts still racing, and tried to talk out our adrenaline. Jason asked what I would have done if he hadn't been here (since this was only night two of him being home after a week and a half of traveling). After thinking about that for a bit, I decided that if I had been home alone, I would have taken about 10 minutes to slowly get Levi and myself out of the room and shut the bat in, then I would have gone online to read about how to get rid of the nasty thing. After 20 minutes of research, I would have spent the next 40 minutes actually completing the act. That's just how I do things, I guess.

So, as we wrapped it up and tried to doze back to sleep, the clock ticked it's way to midnight, closing out Friday....the 13th.