Monday, January 26, 2009

going batty

the phone rang about 45 minutes ago. considering it was almost 9, i knew it had to be steph.

here's a little back story on steph. she can't STAND creepy-crawlie things. they had a mouse problem for a while, and one got caught in a trap by just its tail and one leg. her solution? put a paper box top with an iron on top to keep it contained until her sister got home to deal with it. not quite sure how she's my child, since creepy crawlies don't bother me in the slightest, except for the bite factor (i don't handle snakes because my hands are tender enough without throwing bites into it).

so, i answer the phone, and she's SQUEALING. not in a good way. "THERE'S A BAT IN MY BEDROOM!" "where are you?" "UNDER THE COVERS!" "well, dummy, get out!"

she hadn't been feeling good, and had been in bed since she'd gotten home from work. she was calling me from under the covers. she had been lightly dozing when she heard what she thought was a mouse, so she thumped on the floor to scare it away. instead she heard wings!

i finally talked her into getting out of the room, amidst much squealing, giggling, and half-crying (yes, she's that scared). i called the humane society/animal control, and the lady told me that steph was going to have to keep a visual on the bat until they got there. i told her that wasn't going to happen, because she'd practically had a panic attack while calling me. finally, i told the lady i'd go over and keep an eye on the bat until they got there. she told me that since this was considered an emergency, we would be next. however, the officers were already out on a call.

i called steph up and told her to tell me how much she loved me, because i was going to come over and keep an eye on the durned thing. i went over there, and discovered she'd turned the light off. "how am i supposed to watch the bat if the light's off?!?" i turned the light on, and she screamed "don't let it out!" "would you s hut up! that's why it's flying around, you've got it all worked up!"

i got her to shut up, and it actually decided to land on the window sill at the top, and there it stayed until the officers showed up. i decided i could watch it by opening the door every few seconds, and that worked. i honestly think the poor little thing had gotten worn out, and since the nuttiness had died down, it needed a nap, lol.

So, the officers show up. They're both GIRLS, and both around steph's age. she was thoroughly disgusted, lol. I opened the door enough for them to go in and get the poor little guy, and steph fled to the kitchen.

We had to sign paperwork waiving rabies testing, but steph is positive it never touched her, so the officers didn't seem concerned.

The whole thing took about 45 minutes, from her call to the little guy being deposited in the container (which was a commercial-sized sour cream container with holes cut in the top, and what looked to be a paper towel sticking through the lid).

i'm still just struck over how much of a puss steph was over the whole thing, lol.

6 comments:

Jadielady said...

My mom is terrified of bats, and were you to ever meet her would surely tell the tale of bringing one home in her lunchbox by accident.
Just don't tell Steph what my mom says, that bats can bite you when you're sleeping and you wont know it.
I'm sure she's fine though :)
*thinks bats and mice are cute*

Shells said...

I'll bet she doesn't sleep well for at least a week! You did read my bat story this year on my blog right? Now you'll have to make her a wahnananana bat shawl....

fillyjonk said...

Reminds me a little of the time when I was a TA. I had this one real mouthy guy in my class, too cool for school, you know what I mean.

One day we were out doing some forest sampling and a walking stick insect landed on him.

Dude FREAKED OUT. Started running in circles and screaming "Get it off me! Get it off me!"

So I walked over, gently picked the insect up with my bare hands, held it up for the class to see, and slowly and calmly talked a little bit about the ecological role of the things as I walked over to the nearest tree, where I released it.

It was pretty sweet, and dude showed me more respect after that.

But yeah, bats. I don't like them either and I'd probably freak out if one got in my house.

AR said...

I'd have been hiding, too. Bats are cute in pictures, but really freak me out!

Anonymous said...

I never knew you could get assistance from Animal Control with bats. I've always just dealt with them myself. Sometimes it takes a long time to get them to find the open door and fly outside. Next time I'll try Animal Control! :-)

Judith said...

Hey there, Minnie! I tagged you on my blog (coffeeteagals). If you want to play along, the "rules" are that you make a post in which you add a link to me, list 6 "quirky but boring and unremarkable" things about yourself, and then add links to six other bloggers (who you then notify by a post in their comments). I hope that's OK with you! :)