A Matter of Perspective

I am a big chicken—a scardy cat—a coward by any other name would still mean the same.

For the past month or so we have had a bat in our house. I know most people would prefer to not deal with a bat but for some reason, I seem to have an especially vivid fear when it comes to things like bats.

Perhaps it is because they get into the house in the first place. Then they fly around swooping at me. Perhaps if they would just fly around—out of sight—it wouldn’t be quite as bad, but they fly around where I can see them. At night. When I am trying to sleep!

For about one month I slept with the lights on—every light. I don’t sleep very well with the lights on. I think I probably slept about three hours a night for the past month.

Every morning I would get up and look for the bat, but I never saw it during the day. I looked in dark corners armed only with gutlessness and a broom.

According to several websites that I looked at, it is illegal to kill a bat in many states with Minnesota being one of them. I probably should have told my cats that!

On the night that we finally were rid of our unwelcome visitor, I not only discovered where it had been hiding but also that my cats are not just good at mousing, but good at... “batting,” too!

As my granddaughter and I were hidden under the blankets in my bedroom, the cats were busy doing whatever it is that cats do when they see things flying around the room.

I heard the cat give a war cry and the bat give a squeak of pain. I squeamishly poked my eyes out from under the blanket and, not seeing the bat flying, grabbed my trusty broom. The animals were all congregated in the bathroom, so I figured it had flown in there.

Yep. Behind some cleaning bottles under the sink.

I won’t give you all of the details of the next 15 minutes, but the cats had done a lot of damage to the bat. I put it outside the next morning because it was dead.

In the meantime, I got one of those noise-making things that are supposed to keep bats and other animals like that out of the house. It’s only been a week, so I can’t say if it is working yet. But my arthritic fingers are crossed awkwardly.

I also looked up some information on how to keep bats from coming into the house.

From IllegalGuru.com

How can you prevent bats from entering your house?

There are a few things you can do to prevent bats from entering your house:

1. Make sure all of your window and door screens are in good repair and free of holes.

2. Keep your doors and windows shut when possible, especially at night.

3. If you have a chimney, make sure it is capped with a screen that will allow smoke to escape but not (let) bats (in).

4. Bats are attracted to light, so keep your outdoor lights off or dim as much as possible.

5. If you have fruit trees, pick up any fallen fruit as soon as possible as bats are attracted to the sweetness.

6. Keep your yard free of clutter where bats could roost, such as old tires, piles of wood, or anything else that would provide shelter.

Oh, yes, I said that I had found out where the bat had been roosting during the day. You are going to love this...

It was roosting under my desk which is located in a dark corner of my bedroom. The same desk that I sat at nearly every single day doing my work!!!

Talk about being chicken...I haven’t sat at my desk since last week! My kitchen table and I have become good friends again!