even less time

Well, in my last post, I had complained about having too many hobbies that I wasn't sure exactly how to spend my time on my day off. Alison posted a comment that gave me some nice structure (something I have found that I need) and I was prepared to put her suggestions into practice. I made it as far as about mid-morning, when I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like a rolled up sock but turned out to be a dead bat.

I'll just let that sink in a bit.

So, yes, a dead bat...laying on its back in our dining room. Now, I wish that I could say that this was my first encounter with a dead bat. Unfortunately, I found a dead bat in an empty cardboard box in the basement about 14 months ago. At the time, I chalked that up to having just moved into this house. "It very well could have come from our previous house during the move" I had told myself. I couldn't find any immediate explanation for where this fella came from though. Since I didn't know what proper protocol is for a dead bat, I played it safe and covered it with a large ceramic bowl and carried on with my day.

I called American Pest Control and they informed me that bats are a protected species, at least in McLean County. I couldn't kill it they said. Well, no trouble there - he's already on the other side. They gave me the number of Vernon - the bat specialist. Vernon's guess was that the bat was a male who sneaked in our home through an open door ("They'll hide in the top corner of storm doors and fly in when you enter - you'll never know they were there"). I guess that's comforting. It appears as though we don't have a family of bats living in our house - just a rogue bat who trespassed and couldn't survive in our home.

The memorial service was quite brief. If anyone wants to visit the bat, I can point you toward the hosta plants that he's buried between.