Going Batty Over Here

Tuesday evening was a little exciting around here when one of the Naughties brought a bird in the house, but things very quickly got lively again last night when we saw another flying circles in our living room. Two birds in one week? And both of them at night? Almost unbelievable!

This bird, like the other, seem genuinely confused at his circumstances and surroundings. Round and round the living room he flew, silently, stealthily, and not once perching on shelf or window transom. We quickly realized there was a unique quality to this silent, circling creature. It wasn't a bird at all. It was a bat, and boy were the Naughties excited!

I have to be honest. I wasn't sure whether to get up and do something about it or duck. All I could think of was the girl from Jumanji. Nathan, seated  on the couch, took a swing at the poor confused thing with the cutting board which flew out of his hand and broke upon hitting the floor. James jumped up and down and waved his arms in an attempt to keep the restless creature confined to one side of the room. (He wanted me to help him... ha ha!). Keeping my head low, I got up and opened the window, hoping the bat might decide to fly out into the night. It didn't  James started waving Spencer's removable highchair tray and accidentally knocked the helpless creature senseless onto the living room floor. We popped a Rubbermaid container over the top of him and scooped him into an empty Triscuit box. James took it out into the darkness.

I'd originally thought one of the cats must have brought the little guy into the house, but this morning I remembered Josiah last night saying that the cats were going under the floorboards in the bedroom closet above the wood stove. Not only that but a year or two ago Hannah insisted there had been a bat circling her room in the middle of one dark night. She'd closed the door and gone downstairs to sleep on the couch and we never saw or heard from a bat again until last night. I almost feel sorry for the poor thing.


* Use your imagination with the pictures. I didn't think to grab my camera until the fiasco was over last night. And Spencer is just concerned about the Beanie Baby bat now hanging from my ceiling fan.