Graphic huh?
You thought one bat was an adventure...well, listen up because we're about to go on a funtastic roller coaster ride of a lifetime. Ok, not really but....
I wake up at 4am this morning to what I'll describe as "movement". In my 5 1/2 years being trained as a mom requires stealth-like hearing and being able to awaken upon a moment's notice. Even before having kids Eric was in awe of my miraculous ability to jump out of bed from a dead sleep and answer the phone. I've been known to do this on many occasions so if you ever need anything critical in the middle of the night, I'm your girl.
Anyway, to continue the story....the sounds weren't quite matching up but all I could come up with was that Cal was in the bathroom and I was hearing him walk on the floor then get on the potty seat and then use the wipe. I look at the clock and it's exactly 4:00. I think, ok I should probably get up and see if he's ok and put him back to bed. I get up, open my door, and WHOOSH the thing flies past me and down the stairs. I give a little yelp and shut the door. Eric says "What?" I say, "There's another bat in the house!" followed by some explicatives. I'm freaking out because the boy's doors are cracked and Cal's is more open than just a crack and bats can get in a space the size of the tip of your pinkie...plus they could crawl under the door, etc. I remember that the guy who came out said he had a "24 hour service". So we grab the laptop which neither of us can remember how to start - it IS 4am...I finally get the number and the guy doesn't answer. I leave a message and call another "24 hour" place. No answer...so much for 24 hours!! I call the police just in case they have a better solution or a different number, he doesn't. I call back the first guy just in case he's sleeping, he was.
We finally decide that we need to try to contain the bat somehow, preferably the porch again. We come down the stairs wielding pillows in front of our faces and see the bat flying around in the living room just like the last one. Unfortunately, the slider to the porch wasn't open this time so we figure we have to get it open. I, for one, am NOT doing it. After a period of a few minutes we don't see the bat flying anymore so Eric runs in and open the slider. He waits inside and I watch the porch from outside hoping to see it flying around in there so we can trap it. This time we want to keep the bat to get it tested since we can't be sure it didn't bite any of us. They say you'd have no way of knowing if a bat bit you in your sleep - comforting huh?
After 15 mins of no flying, no activity, nothing we figure it's like the last bat and we aren't going to hear from it again. It's around 5am now and I don't think I can go back to sleep. I shut all the kid's doors and snuggle down with a book. After awhile I can't keep my eyes open. I fall asleep and have a crazy dream about cult activity on my lawn, the bat patrol guys coming into the house to scare us, and a quail flying into my neck. Awesome. 6:45 and time to get up...still no idea the actual locale of the bat.
I get everyone up, we have breakfast as usual, and the bat guy calls at 7:30am. Coincidentally, he was coming to my house between the hours of 9-11am to seal it up so no bats could get in!! Little late, buddy. He gets here at 10am. I tell him I think it's in the living room and he goes in and finds it in the curtain of the slider in 3 seconds. Phew! I was going to die if the bat wasn't found so I'm happy about that. He tells me if I want to have it tested that he has to kill the bat (by drowning) and then I'll have to put it in my fridge, yes THE FRIDGE, until I can drive it Concord, NH myself. Ugh! The thought of all of that and that I have drive an hour and 6 mins both ways is not appealing. But once you get rabies there's no coming back so obviously it's worth it. I spend half the day playing phone tag with the Public Health Dept and various other companies/animal control to see if there's any other possible way to get the bat to Concord. Finally, around 2pm I get ahold of a nurse at Public Health and she tells me it's approved that the bat can be tested for rabies and that I need to call the Concord Fish & Game to come and pick it up! Hallelujah! I'm a so freakin' happy I don't have to drive this thing myself.
Meanwhile, the bat guy answers all my bat questions, tells me that he's not sure how he slept through 5 missed calls and 4 messages since the phone was right by his head and then it rings for 5 full minutes after someone leaves a message (I'm assuming alcohol was involved - on a Monday night??), and seals up my house lickety split. He installed 2 one-way doors and "assures" me that after tonight there will be no more bats in my house. I wish I had posted on my last blog that I just had this "feeling", I just KNEW there was going to be a second bat but now no one will believe that I thought that now. I have faith in the one way doors and the sealing methods of Chris the bat guy so I'm crossing my fingers on this one! I said, "How do you know it won't get confused tonight and come in the house instead of out the door?" And he said, "I don't." Anyway, I learned that Animal Control (at least in Portsmouth) is useless. The girl was an idiot and told me that "They wouldn't test the bat for rabies" even though the Fish & Game guy was already coming to pick it up. Then she said, "Well if you ever have a bat in the house again, I GUESS I could come and try to catch it". I think I'd rather take my chances with the bat! So I'm hoping all is well with the bat colony in my attic. I'm told they are of the large brown bat variety and that there may be up to 20 in the attic. Sayonara bats! Fly to the sky tonight and find another Woodlands house to enter because you aren't getting back in mine!!!!
I wake up at 4am this morning to what I'll describe as "movement". In my 5 1/2 years being trained as a mom requires stealth-like hearing and being able to awaken upon a moment's notice. Even before having kids Eric was in awe of my miraculous ability to jump out of bed from a dead sleep and answer the phone. I've been known to do this on many occasions so if you ever need anything critical in the middle of the night, I'm your girl.
Anyway, to continue the story....the sounds weren't quite matching up but all I could come up with was that Cal was in the bathroom and I was hearing him walk on the floor then get on the potty seat and then use the wipe. I look at the clock and it's exactly 4:00. I think, ok I should probably get up and see if he's ok and put him back to bed. I get up, open my door, and WHOOSH the thing flies past me and down the stairs. I give a little yelp and shut the door. Eric says "What?" I say, "There's another bat in the house!" followed by some explicatives. I'm freaking out because the boy's doors are cracked and Cal's is more open than just a crack and bats can get in a space the size of the tip of your pinkie...plus they could crawl under the door, etc. I remember that the guy who came out said he had a "24 hour service". So we grab the laptop which neither of us can remember how to start - it IS 4am...I finally get the number and the guy doesn't answer. I leave a message and call another "24 hour" place. No answer...so much for 24 hours!! I call the police just in case they have a better solution or a different number, he doesn't. I call back the first guy just in case he's sleeping, he was.
We finally decide that we need to try to contain the bat somehow, preferably the porch again. We come down the stairs wielding pillows in front of our faces and see the bat flying around in the living room just like the last one. Unfortunately, the slider to the porch wasn't open this time so we figure we have to get it open. I, for one, am NOT doing it. After a period of a few minutes we don't see the bat flying anymore so Eric runs in and open the slider. He waits inside and I watch the porch from outside hoping to see it flying around in there so we can trap it. This time we want to keep the bat to get it tested since we can't be sure it didn't bite any of us. They say you'd have no way of knowing if a bat bit you in your sleep - comforting huh?
After 15 mins of no flying, no activity, nothing we figure it's like the last bat and we aren't going to hear from it again. It's around 5am now and I don't think I can go back to sleep. I shut all the kid's doors and snuggle down with a book. After awhile I can't keep my eyes open. I fall asleep and have a crazy dream about cult activity on my lawn, the bat patrol guys coming into the house to scare us, and a quail flying into my neck. Awesome. 6:45 and time to get up...still no idea the actual locale of the bat.
I get everyone up, we have breakfast as usual, and the bat guy calls at 7:30am. Coincidentally, he was coming to my house between the hours of 9-11am to seal it up so no bats could get in!! Little late, buddy. He gets here at 10am. I tell him I think it's in the living room and he goes in and finds it in the curtain of the slider in 3 seconds. Phew! I was going to die if the bat wasn't found so I'm happy about that. He tells me if I want to have it tested that he has to kill the bat (by drowning) and then I'll have to put it in my fridge, yes THE FRIDGE, until I can drive it Concord, NH myself. Ugh! The thought of all of that and that I have drive an hour and 6 mins both ways is not appealing. But once you get rabies there's no coming back so obviously it's worth it. I spend half the day playing phone tag with the Public Health Dept and various other companies/animal control to see if there's any other possible way to get the bat to Concord. Finally, around 2pm I get ahold of a nurse at Public Health and she tells me it's approved that the bat can be tested for rabies and that I need to call the Concord Fish & Game to come and pick it up! Hallelujah! I'm a so freakin' happy I don't have to drive this thing myself.
Meanwhile, the bat guy answers all my bat questions, tells me that he's not sure how he slept through 5 missed calls and 4 messages since the phone was right by his head and then it rings for 5 full minutes after someone leaves a message (I'm assuming alcohol was involved - on a Monday night??), and seals up my house lickety split. He installed 2 one-way doors and "assures" me that after tonight there will be no more bats in my house. I wish I had posted on my last blog that I just had this "feeling", I just KNEW there was going to be a second bat but now no one will believe that I thought that now. I have faith in the one way doors and the sealing methods of Chris the bat guy so I'm crossing my fingers on this one! I said, "How do you know it won't get confused tonight and come in the house instead of out the door?" And he said, "I don't." Anyway, I learned that Animal Control (at least in Portsmouth) is useless. The girl was an idiot and told me that "They wouldn't test the bat for rabies" even though the Fish & Game guy was already coming to pick it up. Then she said, "Well if you ever have a bat in the house again, I GUESS I could come and try to catch it". I think I'd rather take my chances with the bat! So I'm hoping all is well with the bat colony in my attic. I'm told they are of the large brown bat variety and that there may be up to 20 in the attic. Sayonara bats! Fly to the sky tonight and find another Woodlands house to enter because you aren't getting back in mine!!!!
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