Bat versus Alek & Myke ... armed with a golf ball retriever
So it's about 10:00PM - kids are asleep, and Wendy is about to doze off
when she comes running into my office and closes the door ... quickly!
My first thought is she is re-enacting Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct ...
but instead she says, "there's another bat in the house!!!!"
BTW, this is 3 years to the day when the
first bat showed up.
I asked where it is and she said it is flying around in the main entry room;
so I wander out (closing the door behind me), and lo' and behold, bat #3 is
making circles in the two story high entry room. I return to my office to
quickly grab my digital camera (the first step you should always take when
hunting bats and planning to publish your pictures on the web! ;-) and escort
Wendy to the bedroom, closing that door, plus every other door upstairs;
this is the second step one takes in order to limit where they can go;
but doesn't help much in this case, since the bat is flying around the
main area of the house.
Turns out my brother Myke is staying with us, so I go down to his room and
say "we got a manly job to do" and explain the situation. Myke doesn't have
his
shotgun with him, but that's a bit too much firepower for this job anyway. So we wander
out and the bat is flying around ... I open the front door, but even when I
used some window screens to try to nudge him that direction, he's not having
any of it. He finally decides to take a break and stop at a spot about
12' up on the wall.
Mr. Bat hanging out near the corner of the ceiling
Closeup - pretty darn ugly if you ask me
So ... he's just hanging out up there kinda laughing at us knowing
full well we can't reach 'em ... except then I go get my golf ball retriever
and put Myke to work - hey, someone has to be the cameraman! ;-)
Next shot is Myke about to give him a nudge. We're still not sure what this
will do for us, but we're hoping he'll go flying out the front door.
Incidentally, Myke asks about the moving ceiling fan above the stairs,
and I say lets not worry about it ... you can guess what is about
to happen ... ;-)
After a bit of nudging, he takes off ... does about two high swooping
laps around the two story room ... and then HITS THE FAN ... which sends
him tumbling toward the open front door, ending up less than a foot away.
He's not moving, but I waste no time in "flicking" him outside with the
window screen and quickly closing the door. Man, I wish I had video of it!
15 minutes later, I venture outside, digital camera in hand - here's what I see.
And here's a closeup - unfortunately, this is the first bat that didn't make
it out alive. I actually left him there overnight as I had a 14'er climb
(Mt Yale - similar to Longs Peak)
the next day ... but he was still there at O-dark-30 ... so I scooped him up
in a double plastic bag and laid him to rest in the trash can.
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