bats, balls, and bicycles

My friend Joanne has had some bat problems in the last few years. It started when she re-sided her house then got much better for a while. Yesterday morning as she was eating breakfast, she heard a scratching noise in the sink. When she went to investigate, a bat was clawing around by the drain. She scooped him up in a Kohl's bag and deposited him in the garbage can outside. A live bat. When I told Regis about it, he said, "She's got some balls, that one". Amazing courage, Joanne.

I ran into Ben at the PO and related the story to him. He told about an encounter with a bat when he was in the company of "a bunch of old ladies". When the bat turned it's little mousey head and hissed at him, he went running up the stairs flapping his arms and screaming like a girl. I almost fell down on the street laughing.

I was going to post a photo of a bat but really, they are too ugly. Mice with wings that wear a human face. I'll settle for a poem.

  The Bat by Theodore Roethke

By day the bat is cousin to the mouse. He likes the attic of an aging house. His fingers make a hat about his head. His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead. He loops in crazy figures half the night Among the trees that face the corner light. But when he brushes up against a screen, We are afraid of what our eyes have seen: For something is amiss or out of place When mice with wings can wear a human face.

I went out for a bike ride this morning. About four blocks away from home, I hear this soft pooshing noise coming from behind me. This is disconcerting, I thought. I turned to see what it was and saw my rear tire rapidly deflating. Thankfully there was not a biological cause for the noise but I had to walk the bike home and call the bike repair folks who are on their way right now to repair it. Great service, Nicollet Bike Shop!