1st
Bats in My Mom’s House
My mom has had an email address for a few months and she used computers at the local library to access it.
Last week my grandfather sent her his old laptop, she had the internet hooked up at home (but not before she haggled down monthly fee). This easy access to the internet means she can send very detailed emails, since she is not on a 30 minute time limit anymore.
Here is an excerpt from one I received yesterday. (there were several paragraphs before and after this.)
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Bats in The House
I awoke at 3am on Sun. July 8th with a noise on the screen. I thought it was a June bug. The next thing I knew there was something flying around the room. I thought it was a bird. Then I realized it was bat. I put on the light and ran into the hall. I had the door closed and just opened a crack so I could see where it went. It went on the side of my bed so I ran in and pulled out the fan and pulled up the screen.Then I watched from the hall and watched until it flew out the window. Then I closed the window. I couldn’t go back to bed. I thought it got in b/c there is a hole in the corner of the trim , but I had foil there. So I put duck tape and really patched up the hole.It happened again at 3am on Wed. July 25th. I did the same thing and watched it fly out the window. Then I realized that there was a gap between the screen and the top storm window b/c I only had one of the storm windows in b/c one was broken. I put a lot of foil in the space where the screen and storm window meet.
It happened again around 9pm on Sat. night .This time 2 bats came in. I opened my window but the bats wouldn’t leave. I was out in the hall with my door shut and 1 of the bats came under the door and was flying around the living room . I guess it saw the light on in the living room. The one in my bedroom wouldn’t leave I heard it by my closet. I finally closed my window b/c I didn’t want any more bats in the house.I had all the bedroom doors shut and I slept in the family room with the kitchen door closed. When I awoke Sun morning I saw the bat in the living room hanging from the living room drape sleeping.I couldn’t see the bat in my room so I kept the door closed. I googled how to get rid of bats. The information said that they sleep all day and become active around dusk. It said not to hit the bat with a broom. When it gets dark outside you should turn off all the lights in the house and open a door with an outside light on . The bat should go towards the light. I turned the outside light on around 9pm and had the screen door opened. The bat in the living room woke up and started to fly around the living room. He finally flew out the door.
I checked on my bedroom but there was no activity I guess the bat was still sleeping. I put the living room light on and went to the family room had the kitchen door closed and had no lights on only the tv. I went to the kitchen around 11pm and the other bat was flying around the living room I did the same thing as before and he flew out the door. I slept in the family room again just to be safe. I figured out the foil didn’t work. Bats can get in a 1/2 ” space.They must have moved the foil. I took a storm window out of a window in the boys room so my window is ok now. I took the broken one for an estimate and the girl called back today and said it would be $84 including tax. The frame needs fixing plus the glass. I told her forget it . Maybe I can tape it. I don’t need to worry about it until the winter. I hope I don’t have to experience bats again. I lost a lot of sleep.
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When she mentions the bat that wouldn’t leave her room, I imagined that bat putting its tiny wiry hair in curlers, spritzing its wings with Shalimar, playing a Stevie Nicks CD and catching up on last months news papers.
