The weather for the past week and a half or so has
been unseasonably warm. We loved it! 70-degree weather in November is basically
unheard of in upstate New York. I loved it: right up until last Wednesday.
I was at church practicing with the music director of
our worship team. As usual, when we were finished with practice we sat in the
sanctuary and chatted for a bit. I thought I heard something, but no one else
was scheduled to be there. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw
something near the ceiling. And then it took flight! Yep: it was a bat! I said,
“Jim it’s a bat!” He said, “Are you sure it isn’t a bird?” Then it started
swooping and he said, “Nope: it’s a bat.” No kidding!
At that point I knew practice was officially over but
now I had a dilemma: how was I going to get out of the sanctuary without
attracting its attention? “Jim I have to GO!” yet I continued to sit there
watching it fly around the far reaches of the sanctuary. “Well yes we should
get out.” Yet we still sat there!
As I watched the acrobatic bat, it finally flew up to
a large window that I hadn’t even noticed. It looked like a big square was cut
out of a screen. The bat went into there but then came back out; then it went
for the screen, appeared to slide down said screen and disappeared. This was my
chance to make my break. “Jim, you’re on your own!” “Let me just turn out the lights –“ “So it
can fly back up into the darkness? Nope! Sorry Jim it’s every man for himself
and I’m out!” I hightailed it out of there and into the night. I felt a little
bad for Jim but not enough to slow down.
Oh how the girls chuckled with mirth when I told them.
Brie said, “You seriously left Jim there?” “Yes I did! Survival of the fittest
and he’s a man so if you’re slow you blow.” “Nice Christian words mom.” “God
will forgive me and so will Jim!”
Thankfully the rest of the evening was uneventful. I
was happy to fall asleep on the couch. But then I thought I heard someone
calling my name. Regaining consciousness, it was Kitty. “Kitty were you calling
me? What do you want?” “Mom, don’t panic but I wanted you to know that there’s
a bat up here. I’ll take care of it.” “WHAT????????”
Sure enough, she had found a sleepy little bat outside
of her room door. Of course I wished she had just gotten rid of it and not
woken me up, but that’s Kitty! She came downstairs and headed out the door with
it. And naturally she took a picture of it for Facebook. She put it on a tree,
did the photo op, and then it went up the tree: presumably to nap. When she
came back in I said, “Aren’t bats supposed to be hibernating now?”
Surprisingly, Brie piped up with, “The weather has been so warm that it
confused the bats. That’s why they are out now and confused.” Ugh!
Now that the weather is cold again, I hope that I don’t
get chased out of the sanctuary during this week’s practice. I also saw that
Kitty had reinforced her prior efforts of keeping out any flying visitors. What
would I do without her?
