Our most recent adventure came early (5:30) Friday morning. I woke up to Maggie going crazy out in the hall and grudging got up to go calm her down. However, when I reached her, it was obvious (even in the dim light) that she was after something. Though I didn't have my glasses on, I could make out a dark shape swooping through the hall which I took to be a bird. After retrieving my glasses, Maggie had managed to corner the bird in the spare bedroom, so I opened a window, hauled her away (against her wishes!) and shut the door. By this time the commotion had roused Tom, so he came out, looked in the room and said, "Katie, that isn't a bird, it's a bat." Eek! For some reason a bat in the house worried me a lot more than a bird. Tom was brave, however, and went in to open the remaining windows so our unwelcome visitor could fly out. Then we went back to bed with Maggie standing guard at the closed door. The bat was still flying around the room when we got up and then found a good place to take a nap. It finally left, though, to my great relief.
We did learn a few things from this experience:1) French for bat is chauve-souris meaning bald mouse
2) Apparently bats can get in through our windows, though they are only cracked open
3) Maggie is a good bat alarm
4) Per one of Tom's co-workers, bats in your house here are analogous to mice in your house in the US
5 comments:
We used to get bats in our house in Vermont. They would fly down the chimney. An occasional bird would fly in, too, but mostly it was bats. They can be pretty scary. My dad used to hit them with a tennis racket to kill them. Your method sounds much less gross.
eeek!!
Goodness... I've always heard that if you can catch the bat (i.e. its just hanging out on the window screen not caring that your bothering it) there is a good change it might be sick (i.e have rabies). That said I'm glad the bat found its way out. Enjoying keeping up with your adventures. Cristina gave me the link.
wow, so was the bat still there when we talked and you thought it was gone? Yucky! Im glad Maggie didn't catch it- that would be worse, for the bat and for Maggie!
So bats in Switzerland are like mice in the U.S., huh? Funny... you know I think I might like mice better since they don't fly around... though I did have that one eat my underwear that summer at camp... and my chocolate. Maybe bats are better... as long as they're just "hanging out" and not flying around :)
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