Creepy Crawlies

We've had a couple of critters visit our house lately. We have a local groundhog who thankfully usually doesn't come past our neighbor's house. We have lots of birds, squirrels, and rabbits, a mole that I think may have finally kicked the bucket, an occasional chipmunk, and then our recent Mother Duck. You'd think we live in the woods or something. A few weeks ago, this little guy(?) had his nose up to our backdoor. I was worried that if I had come outside to water the flowers from that door, he could have scurried right on in, but David kept assuring me that "scurry", he would not.



We do not have a picture of our most recent critter, so you'll have to take my word for it. Adam was in the bed and I was doing some last minute things before going to bed myself when I looked down the stairs to see that a folded basket of laundry was dumped in the floor. I was getting a little worked up thinking that David was using the basket for other laundry so I yelled down to ask what he was doing. His prompt response was, "Uh, we have a problem". Thinking that the dryer must be broken, I asked what it was. David said, "We have a bat in the house." A what!!!???! I think I made him repeat it three times. David had me make sure Adam's room and the other rooms upstairs were closed, then I peered around through the dining room to watch through the glass swingy door as a bat was flying in circles in my kitchen. Lovely. David had it blocked off from going anywhere else in the house and he was using the laundry basket to keep it away after learning he was unlikely to catch it with the basket! This was not good.

I took the house key around to unlock and open the back door, then made a run for it back to the front of the house. I had plenty of time to get back inside and watch the dumb thing for another five minutes before it finally made its way out. I was really freaked out after that; I thought I was going to have to sleep with the lights on or something.

We think that I let the bat in when I went outside for a minute to water the plants on the back deck, but I didn't see or hear it when I came back inside. David was watching baseball in the basement and saw the shadow of it flying on the tv. Before he could shut the basement door to close it in down there, it had flown up to the main floor of our house. I am much more careful about closing doors now; actually, I am way less likely to walk outside after dark!