stuck, scared, and screeching

UPDATE: Mr. Marvelous came home this afternoon and was sent straight to the deck. What a wonderful man of the house! He hesitantly bravely pulled the umbrella up a bit with all our eyes watching from a distance. (Well, not Luke's. He was front and center for a good view.) And yes, our winged friend is still hanging around. And no, I don't know what we'll do. Maybe rent one of those bee farmer suits to chase him away in.



ORIGINAL POST:
This morning my heart pounded the fastest and hardest that it has in a long time.

Come to think of it, the surges it sent through my body were quite similar to the ones I experienced during my pre-teen years. I had a terrible bout of Night Terrors for some period of time. I seemed to be a bit clostrophobic as a child. My mom attributes it to me being stuck in the birth canal while being born. Who knows.

But, my reoccuring dream was of me trapped in my Grandparent's barn--just down the hill from my house--while the walls were closing in. Some nights I would wake from it, fall back to sleep, and it would start all over. I can still see it clearly. There were no cows around, I was standing in the middle of a manure-filled pen, and it was dark outside. As the 4 walls continued to close in on me, I stood in a panic. But in every dream, just as they would reach the sides of my shoulders, I would wake up...terrified, heart pounding, and out of breath.

That's kind of how I felt this morning during our--let's call it our Advanced Biology Lab that was held out on our deck. The babies were napping, Julia and Luke were going to play in the backyard, and I was going to fold a load of laundry on our deck table. I sat my basket down, and opened our umbrella when this dropped next to me.

Now let me tell you. Not many things get me excited. I do fine with snakes, bears, wasps, you name it.

Not bats.

And I'll be honest, my last drought of bat experiences was fabulous. It's been a wonderful 15 year stretch since I last had to deal with this flying mammal species. And that bat, I'm sure, regrets messing with 2 teenage cousins during the wee hours of a sleep over.

After a rush around the house--heart still pounding--trying to find batteries for my camera that has the most zoom, and Julia trailing close behind, I snapped this picture,

then sllllooooowly reached for my basket to jet inside. Of course it then "got scared" as Julia puts it, and FLEW AT ME. I darted for the door that was still open with my basket in hand, plowed Julia over sending her into a weeping tizzy, and slammed the door behind me. All the while, screaching and squealing for the neighbors to hear.

And wouldn't you know, I thought it had went on its way. I would have if I was getting kicked out of someone else's place. But much to my surprise, it flew right back to its apparent home in the top of our umbrella. I found that out the hard way minutes later when I decided I would air out the umbrella, now that it was gone.

So, it's still there. I'm quite positive about it.

And I'm quite positive that Julia is now in love with bats, regardless of her mother's petrified behavior. Because, you know, she informed me that they help us by eating mosquitos. And the bat was probably scared because it couldn't find its mama.

And I'm quite positive that only about 20 minutes ago did my pounding heart return to normal rhythm.