Bat Woes

Our first bat encounter (a year and a half ago) began with rodent like noises in our walls and the duct work of the furnace.  There were some nights Jon and I would wake up in the night to what sounded like mice running back and forth in our walls.  This noise went away after a while, and then we started hearing the same type of noise in the duct work of the furnace in our basement (movies weren't quite the same with this as the background music).  We called FIX-IT (the people who are suppose to fix any problem we may encounter with our apartments), and they sent the pest control to discover our mysterious friend.  The pest man set some mouse traps to see if he could catch a mouse, but after a few days, we stopped hearing the noise in the duct work; However the furnace started making funny sounds whenever it kicked on.  We called FIX-IT about this problem, and low and behold they ended up killing two birds with one stone.  Well actually it was a bat who ended up dead after getting tangled up in the furnace.  

The pest man told us we had bats in the attic and that there was nothing they could do about it.  They might find their way into our walls at times, but they couldn't do anything for us.  Nice!  So after a year and a half of mostly noise free walls and furnace, I woke up Monday night to the rodent like noises.  Thinking the noises were just in the walls, I finally convinced myself to go back to sleep.  Tuesday morning I woke up to go to the bathroom, and as I looked around to find the toilet paper (Isaac likes to get into the TP, so we usually do not keep it in the TP holder), I saw what I thought was a toad.  I jumped up (yes, I had not found the TP yet, so although I did not wet my pants, they did end up a little "damp") and quickly came to my senses knowing it could not be a toad.  It must be a mouse--no, a mouse would have run away by now.  Wait a minute I see some wings on that toad/mouse--its a BAT!  I closed the door and went downstairs to get my night in shining armor to rescue us from the horrible beast (okay, so a bat really isn't very big, but it was kind of scary).  Jon asked me if I put a towel in front of the door to make sure the bat stayed in the bathroom.  A towel?  I was just trying to get out of there:)  

Jon did end up saving the day by catching the bat and letting him go outside.  Avery and Anson spotted a "bird" in our bedroom, and Jon was able to trap him.  Here are some pictures of our little friend, and a story about our bat by Avery.

Avery's Story:

Once there was a dark, dark bat.  The dark, dark bat lived in Michigan.  It was flying and flew right into our house.  Dad and mom were in the bathroom when they saw the bat.  The next day, dad had to go potty, but he realized there was a bat.  The house was with a bat.  The bat was in the house.  Everybody was excited to see the bat.  The bat got caught.  Then our daddy put him in a jar.  He put the lid on and closed it tight.  The bat flew outside.  This is a real story.  

bAT
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