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[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by dtb
Any of you urbanites considering a move to the bucolic outer-reaches of your city, please read the following:

The other night, a bat flew into my house. I know we have bats in the rafters, and behind the shutters outside, but I'd never seen one IN THE HOUSE! Yikes. We were hunting it down (armed with brooms -- OK, fine. I wasn't armed with anything but my girly shrieks) and closing doors to trap it in a room. I went upstairs (b/c I didn't think it would be up there), and noticed something moving around in my son's room. It was then that the shrieking started in earnest. My son was fast asleep, but we turned on all the lights, slammed the doors, and two adults went after the bat with brooms. I helped by shrieking some more. My older son got out a belt (for protection), and after some more hollering and swatting, the bat had flapped its last. (RIP, bat)

The sleeping boy was never the wiser. I have to say, I can't look at the toy rubber bats my kids have in quite the same way anymore. I actually think bats are kind of cute -- when they're outside!!

You've been warned.

When I was a kid, my dad taught me that a calm attitude and a large towel to grasp gently around the creature works wonders in such scenes. You can usually remove the animal to the outdoors and let it live. Not to get all PETA on you but there was no reason to kill that bat.