Bats in the Belfry

Weird things happen at our family reunion. I mean, it's to be expected when you have 25 grown people, all related to each other one way or another, living in close(ish) quarters.

But this has never happened before.

I'm sitting in the living room, talking with my cousin, and I lean my head back on the sofa. I'm staring at the ceiling, and all of a sudden, I realize that there was a little black thing up there that I didn't remember seeing before. I continue to stare, and slowly it occurs to me that the little black thing...is a bat. I have no idea what to do. Quietly, I mention to my cousin what I've just discovered. And one by one, we tell the other folks around us, so we're all standing (or sitting), heads back, staring at the ceiling.

Eventually someone calls the folks we've rented from, and they send out animal control. Not much later the guys showed up, and sure, they were missing a few teeth, but I've never seen anyone so gentle with, let's be serious, a rodent. A wild rodent, no less. They just kind of nudged the little guy with a really long tape measure, which caused him to fly down to a window ledge. They nudged him again, and he flew across to the steps. He was in a bit of a stupor, seeing as the middle of the day for us is the middle of the night for him, so the guys had no problems picking him up with their gloved hands. Up close, he was actually kinda cute! (The bat, that is.)

We asked what they were going to do with him (I keep assuming the bat was a him, but maybe it was a her? We didn't ask for confirmation),  and apparently the older animal control guy has bat houses on his property, similar to bird houses. He hosts several hundred bats! Said he has zero problems with mosquitoes. ;) At least we know our small friend was going to a nice new home.

All Photos © Me

Peace,