Tuesday, August 26, 2008

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.

16 comments:

Amy said...

Sorry for laughing.

Can you believe my hot hubs wants to build & put a BAT HOUSE in our backyard?!?!
Can you say rabies??

Anonymous said...

Oh, my gosh Tiff-- I nearly wet my pants reading this...the scariest thing is just last night, I opened the garage door to feed our dog. And you better believe it zoomed right over my head, I hit the garage floor screaming. Poor Brad ran out thinking the worst! Nope just a small baby bat!

Cousin from IA

Kristin said...

Oh my goodness! You had my heart pounding with that story, too! I commend you for your ability to even hold a camera steady during that ordeal. So, how do you remove a bat from an umbrella, anyway?!? (That sounds like a bad joke!) I'd love to know what you end up doing about it...and I am also impressed that snakes and bears don't do much for you. We had a huge camel cricket gallavanting around our house for a while, and I refused to even go near the basement for weeks because of it.

P.S. Thanks for tagging me! I have never been tagged before; I will try to answer soon. :) I had my first day with students today, so things have been more hectic than usual around here.

Lakeville Vertical said...

I'm sorry but I'm laughing too!
I have this same love for all things rodent which my kiddos think is hilarious. Especially with 3 gerbils living in my girls room. Eeeew!
Julia is right though about the mosquitos. Go get 'em. :)

Lakeville Vertical said...

I'm sorry but I'm laughing too!
I have this same love for all things rodent which my kiddos think is hilarious. Especially with 3 gerbils living in my girls room. Eeeew!
Julia is right though about the mosquitos. Go get 'em. :)

Lori said...

Ummm...would have crapped! I do not, in any way, enjoy flying animals. I felt my heart race just seeing the picture!

Ehlan said...

oh dear, I hate bats too. Speaking of creatures, check out my post! :)

Salsygirl said...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am running around screaming for you!!!!!!!
there are so ungly I swaert it could be cute, if it weren't so dagum ugly and creeep and well.....BATTY!!!!!!!
Dang DAng DANG!!!! GEEZ DANG!!!!!!

Salsygirl said...

Sorry about my spelling, I am typing on a black keyboard in the DARK!!!! DUH..........how smart is that....DANG....OH Dang...was that a bat that flew by???

Angela said...

oh my oh my oh my oh my!!! my heart would be pounding, too!! i do NOT like bats- at all! BUT- little Julia is right- at least they keep the skeets away. I have a huge taranchula like spider that I allow to live on our deck because he catches big nasty bugs in his web. Now, as for your bat- I would have loved to see the picture of him flying at you ;) hehehehehhe

Amanda said...

Oh YUCK! Bats TERRIFY me! They are NASTY! Those were great pictures, but seriously grossed me out!

I used to get night terrors when I was younger, and like yours, it was a reoccurring dream of a tornado coming at me and I always woke up before it sucked me in. I'd wake up screaming, drenched in sweat and my heart racing a million miles a minute. I'm not sure when they stopped, but I STILL have nightmares about tornadoes all the time.

Ella has (had) night terrors and they were absolutely horrific...kinda like bats. Yuck.

Lori said...

Hi Tiff, It was probably my first time commenting...I have been reading for a month or two, and honestly cannot remember how I foudn you...you know through other blogs! Enjoy reading about you and your beautiful fam!

Sushi...I like spicy tuna, and most anything really...except the funky stuff, like eel, etc. FUnny we will consume raw fish, but bats scare the bejeevies out of us. Hmmm

And I am an OJ lover, (just the juice, not the man!) I digress...but I have never thought of having it with popcorn! will pour me a glass next time!

Nice meeting a new friend on here...I will lurk no longer!

Tara said...

AND YOU TOOK PICTURES!!!!!!!! AHH AHHH AHHHHHHH. You should have seen me when we had a bat in our previous house. Dang. I was one trembling screaming hiding under blankets running outside mess. Ooooh, I still shiver.

Missy said...

Oh my gosh, the EXACT same thing happened to my friend, with her patio umbrella! Must be a very popular batcave.

Ok, not trying to be Debbie Downer - but - I am sure you know to tell your kids not to ever ever touch a bat. A teenage boy in Houston died because a bat flew in his open window while he was napping - he didn't realize it had bitten him. Once the rabies symptoms set in it is almost always fatal.

I tell my kids if they touch a bat they will have to get shots in their tummy - which is true and hopefully will scare them from touching them!

Anonymous said...

Yikes!!! That pictures makes me quiver just looking at it.

One time, I was backing my car out of my grandparents shed. I had left the windows open the night before and when I looked in the rearview as I was backing out, I saw a bat hanging from the corner of my car. I can't even begin to explain the pains it sent through my body.

Brittany said...

So... I had a swimming party at our family farm a few weeks ago... it was dusky dark and we were all playing volleyball in the pool... the game ended and everyone moved from one end of the pool to the other... out of no where, a bat flies into the pool, lands on top of the water and just lays there... we all panicked, all 20 or so of us... a few moments later he took off...

Odd.

Never a dull moment.