Tuesday, August 17, 2010

AN UNWELCOMED INTRUDER

I am a fan of the blog Millie's Mats. Kim the proprietor, offers wonderful funny posts about everyday life, Millie her sweet little pup, and her beautiful hooked art work. This morning when I perused her blog, it gave me an idea for my post. I'll keep this short and sweet. While I was on the Island, my youngest son came to the house to claim his camping gear. The camping gear which is stored in the attic. He and his girlfriend are climbing Mt. Katahdin this coming weekend. Katahdin is located in Baxter State Park and is the highest peak in Maine. Monday evening I return home from the Island. Later that evening when I retired for the night (mind you it is hot and humid) I turned the fan on in our bedroom and kicked off the bed sheets. In the early morning hours, I woke to an unfamiliar noise. I turned the fan off and listened.... thinking if must be Sweet Emma Lou, our kitty. A few minutes later I once again heard the strange noise.... this time I turned the light on and for a brief moment I could not recall where I was (Island or home) I looked around the room expecting to see Emma.... but no, no Emma. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something on the pillow beside me. Lord have mercy, there staring back at me with dark "beady" eyes was a little brown bat. Oh, I neglected to mention I am terrified of bats and anything else that goes bump in the night. (Yes, I know bats are very beneficial and eat their weight in bugs daily, but I prefer not to share my room, let alone my bed with them) Let me just say it was not easy to "fly" out of bed when one's feet are tangled in the bed sheets. My DH who was downstairs hearing all the commotion came to my rescue....he proceeded to take the screen out of the window (while I was cowering in the corner) and "thinks" the bat must have flown out. ( he was down stairs looking for the broom.) Key word "THINKS". The following night, I slept on the couch, the next two nights I did sleep in our bed, but with the light on. Last night I remained in bed with the light off.... a huge accomplishment. (I neglected to mention that DH travels quite frequently so I am left to my own devices.) Thank goodness I have a wonderful friend and neighbor who told me to put her phone number on speed dial. So Deb, if by chance you receive a call in the early morning hours it will be me waiting for you to come to my rescue! Keep your finger's crossed the bat is gone....but now what to do about the attic.... where there is one....okay, I'm not going to think about it.... cause I'll never sleep....Tristan!

18 comments:

Kim said...

First thank you for the sweet mention of my blog. I'm glad you enjoy my often crazy ramblings. And second, thanks for the great laugh. He "thinks" it flew out?? I might have whacked him with the broom for that comment. If it is a critter loose in my house, I need proof it's gone! And yes, I would have slept on the sofa with the lights on too.
Kim

Pondside said...

Yikes! We get the occasional bat in the house too and I just vamoose and let The Great Dane handle it. They'll never be more than mice with wings to me!

Rural Rambler said...

Oh Julie this is funny! I know not funny at all to you but I love your description of the whole thing. It just cost us a little over 400 bucks to get rid of bats that decided to make our attic home. OY. I think you were pretty dang brave. I woulda went running out of there screamin' like a little school girl and hopped in a vehicle and locked myself in with a good book or a hookin' project.

Rural Rambler said...

Oh Julie this is funny! I know not funny at all to you but I love your description of the whole thing. It just cost us a little over 400 bucks to get rid of bats that decided to make our attic home. OY. I think you were pretty dang brave. I woulda went running out of there screamin' like a little school girl and hopped in a vehicle and locked myself in with a good book or a hookin' project.

Farm Girl said...

Now that is a totally new one, a brown bat??? Oh my gosh, I would have lost it big time, it being on the pillow. Geez, do you think it had been in the attic?
That is ten times worse than finding a mouse.
glad it hasn't returned.

Dog Trot Farm said...

Who ever said a bat is a "mouse with wings" is right on! My son Tristan denies ever seeing a bat, let alone one escaping from the attic. "hello" where else could it have come from?

Tiff said...

I would have freaked out. No kidding. I have a horrible fear of bats and raccoons. And to find one on your pillow! They would have had to give me a traquillizer,LOL!

BTW, it was so nice to run into you again the other day. Do you ever go to the Lion's Club yard sale in Standish on RT35? It is usually the 3rd weekend in August, but the truck isn't even there. I wonder what happened to it.

Take care.

PS. Don't feed the cat so well, maybe next time she will go after the bat if she is hungrier ;)

Tiff

Jenny said...

You made me laugh this evening Julie, thanks! (-: I actually like bats, but am trying to put myself in your shoes.........now if it had been a massive big black long legged spider.........I'd have completely freaked!

Anonymous said...

AHHH, we just had one in our pop up camper last month. No idea how the little bugger got in there, but we trapped him in a mason jar and turned him loose. Not my favorite either, but they really are very beneficial.

We also had 26 of them that used to roost in the louvers of the attic. How do I know it was 26? Because when I sprayed them with the hose, I counted each and every one of them! They couldn't get in as it had screen inside, but they would hang there and poop ALL OVER our stairs! Yuk! Finally my hubby put screen on the outside too and that made them leave, nothing to hang on to. Funny story, my mind's eye is giggling away thinking about how your face must have looked upon seeing a little brown friend on the pillow next to you! Wowser, I'd have the light on too! ~Vonnie, NH

DayPhoto said...

I would have been just like you! I like bats, but I want them outside!!!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

Genny said...

Julie, I had to stop reading, I was laughing so hard. I'm glad that you're okay and the bat is okay (wherever it may be now). I'm like that with some bugs. My ex-hubby used to swat at some bug and tell me he killed it, but it never failed that later on, that said bug would be crawling somewhere on me. After that I made him show me the bug corpse before I believed him.

Anonymous said...

sweet Emma must have been sleeping on duty. What an awful sight to behold that was. Bats in belfrys but not on pillows.

Sherrie said...

I would have had a complete heart failure. It was bad enough when one flew into the bedroom one night. Luckily my husband got it out of the house. We had had the garage door open that night moving some furniture into the house and it must have flown in then. I made my husband check every curtain in the house the next morning to make sure there wasn't another. They like to hang on the fabric. But bat in bed, yup, I would have had a heart attack.

My Farmhouse Kitchen said...

well...the pumpkin sign...i got it at The Marston House in Camden...i think.....there was a flower shop next door....i think i remember alot of bittersweet there...i am having trouble remembering which shop i actually got it in...it was 2002...and we were so EXCITED to be in Maine...and very tired...long flight...

now i am wondering if that is camden..yeah..it is..across the street was a darling shop called TREATS..is it still there? and a mom and pop pizza place we LOVED for an old fashion feeling...we had been eating alot of "fancy" and that pizza night was GOOD!!!!

the BAT: i would have had a heart attack..i had one on a wall in the kitchen once and that about did me in..but on my PILLOW!!!!! YIKES!!!!

i am off to read the other post about my favorite...graveyards...when we were in Maine we spent one night at The Squire Tarbox...it was about a week before Halloween...and we couldn't keep ourselves out of that graveyard...

would LOVE to visit you in Maine...you never know
:-)
and Teddy wants to come too

My Farmhouse Kitchen said...

i thought i WAS following you...i get confused in blogland sometimes...i am following you now...

i was wondering what town you live in?

kary and teddy
xxx

Farm Girl said...

I just had to write you because I was sitting her laughing, because it is so nice to not be the only one. Yes, this is my second time too, but it didn't completely lock the first time, I thought, it wouldn't happen again would it? So I guess it does,
I am so glad you came clean...Having chickens is just so fun.

Primitives By The Light of The Moon said...

Yikes...We have had snakes in the house before but a bat not sure how I would handle that one!

Cheryl Doran-Girard said...

I absolutely and totally am with you!! I lived in a country house that had not been occupied for a year and the bats would get in somehow!! Slept with every light in the house on and curled under the sheets. One Sunday evening there were four flying around the dining room table--my cat was never terribly successful about catching them.
As good as they are for the environment--they sometimes also carry rabies.