Ludwig

The following is a message I sent to my sisters on Monday the 15th at midnight.....

I think I just killed a bat. I was sitting there watching Jon & Kate plus 8 when something flew through the living room. I grabbed a blanket to try to throw over it and Oscar (the cat who is now my hero) got it down in the front hall. I threw the blanket over it and called Gerry. We decided I should try to get it into my giant Tupperware bowl & get it out of the house. I took the blanket off then it started flying so the bowl idea was no good. I found it perched in the kitchen corner so got the broom to shoo it outside, didn't work. It flew up into the other kitchen corner where there is a hole in the ceiling from the bathroom pipes coming down. I had to poke at it until it got mad, came out, & started flying again. While trying to shoo it outside I smacked it hard with the broom. I swept it out to the porch & it's now lying there by the shelves either dead or stunned. I just checked again & it has flopped itself almost to the screen door but now looks even more dead. I bet after Oscar & the broom it's not in very good shape. I'm a little creeped out especially since I read on-line that they can bite you while you're sleeping and give you rabies and the ones that get into homes are more likely to be rabid than bats outside. eeehuuuhhheeeeoooooo

I sent this about 5 minutes later....

I just got off the phone with Gerry. I checked while talking to him and it is no longer on the porch. I was feeling pretty guilty thinking I had killed it. It must have woken up and headed out into the night WHERE IT FREAKING BELONGS!

And so it continued the next day....

I think I knew it was a bat but I kept hoping it was just a bird. He's still on the back porch hanging up in the corner. I'll leave the screen door open tonight & hopefully he'll fly back out. I don't really want to get the broom out again. I called the vet's office, she said they have not had any reports of rabies but it's always a possibility with a bat. Gerry is on the roof now trying to figure out if it came in through the chimney. We could hear a noise in the chimney recently but he thought it was the chimney swifts. Now that I heard the bat noise I know it was a bat. Daddy was not impressed by my thinking I could get the bowl over it, slip the cookie sheet under it, and then release it outside. I thought it made perfect sense.

I named him Ludwig. He's very cute when he's sleeping and not flapping spazmodically around my living room.

I left the porch door open while we were running errands this evening & he found his way out. Now I'm scared he'll find his way back IN!

So my sisters tell me....

Are you sure Ludwig left? He's not just perched under a table or somewhere else?

AND

Yes, Ludwig could definitely be hiding up under something.

So now a week later there are still no new signs of Ludwig returning. I'm still a little freaked out by the attic & basement since I don't know for sure how he got in.

Happy Halloween Everyone!