To The Bat Cave!

I received the following email from my mom tonight and I thought you would all enjoy it!

So--I was just minding my own business, reading Deathly Hallows at about 11PM a couple of nights ago, when something flew into the room. "A bird!" I thought naively. It was circling the room, diving down now and then, making little chirps. It was going really fast and I quickly closed the door so it couldn't escape. Dennis was asleep, so I was on my own as far as catching the critter. I took one more look. Yeah. It was a bird. I remembered Grandma's story about trapping a bat in a waste paper basket, so I went to get a dust mop. Luckily, Dennis had just emptied all the trash cans!

How did a bird get in here, I wondered. We have screens on the chimneys... Whatever. I found the dust mop and slipped back into the room. The bird was starting to look more like a bat, kind of. The plan was to knock it down with the dust mop and then sweep it into the trash can and carry it outside to turn it loose.

The dogs seemed amused by the situation, but were of NO help. Pearlie came out from under the covers, but wasn't in attack mode.

I swung and missed a couple of times, but then connected! It fell to the floor between the bed and the window. While it was momentarily stunned on the floor, closer examination revealed it was a bat! Suddenly it recovered and resumed zooming around the room. I made a few more swings with the dust mop and it finally landed on the floor spreadeagled under the rocking chair. It was a pretty good size, I thought--probably a 15" wingspan. Pearlie jumped down off the bed and sniffed at it. I tried to be gentle as I slid it into the trashcan and held it in there with the mop. It was now chirping nonstop. I took it out to the deck and it flew away when I released it. Whew!

How did it get in the house? Maybe when Dennis came back from walking the dogs, it zoomed it. I was surprised later to notice a big, fat, dead moth under the rocking chair! I blame the moth for the whole incident.