Weather and Bat Report
As many have heard, we've had a bit of rain in Washington. Streets flooded, highways closed, some people even got a day off -- notably the IRS, Commerce Department and others -- when their buildings either flooded or lost power. Not us, of course. No, the State Department and the Foreign Service Institute weathered the storm well.
Drat.
Oh well. We needed the rain; apparently the region got anywhere from five to ten inches in one day, completely making up the entire year's rain deficit in one night. Maybe would have been better a little spread out instead of all in one night, but...
The good news is that we have (knock on wood and keep praying) seen no/no leaks in the roof and the gutters seem to be running clean and clear. So all that fretting over the new roof appears to have paid off.
We also seem to have some unexpected tenants. Apparently a significant number of bats have taken up residence behind our faux shutters. In the tradeoff between the prodigious amounts of bat poo being deposited on our garage trestle and eating the mosquitos, we're going with eating the mosquitos. Besides, we found out that bat families are protected and one is encouraged not to harm or displace them, as long as they're not rabid or harmful to people. We debated whether to add pictures to this post, but there's really not much to show except some shutters and lots of bat poo. We figured you could do without that.
We even had one fall out of the shutters last week, early in the morning. Jenny found a baby bat, barely an inch from head to tail, laying on the trestle of the garage, crying for help. It was up to Steve to shuffle the poor fellow into a box for the day and tuck it away securely out of direct sunlight and the clutches of predators (squirrels, cats, etc.). Later that evening, Jenny slid the baby back onto the trestle, and within quite literally seconds after Jenny stepped aside, the mother swooped down, grabbed the baby bat, and hustled back behind the shutters. We felt all warm and tingly and sentimental.
S & J
Drat.
Oh well. We needed the rain; apparently the region got anywhere from five to ten inches in one day, completely making up the entire year's rain deficit in one night. Maybe would have been better a little spread out instead of all in one night, but...
The good news is that we have (knock on wood and keep praying) seen no/no leaks in the roof and the gutters seem to be running clean and clear. So all that fretting over the new roof appears to have paid off.
We also seem to have some unexpected tenants. Apparently a significant number of bats have taken up residence behind our faux shutters. In the tradeoff between the prodigious amounts of bat poo being deposited on our garage trestle and eating the mosquitos, we're going with eating the mosquitos. Besides, we found out that bat families are protected and one is encouraged not to harm or displace them, as long as they're not rabid or harmful to people. We debated whether to add pictures to this post, but there's really not much to show except some shutters and lots of bat poo. We figured you could do without that.
We even had one fall out of the shutters last week, early in the morning. Jenny found a baby bat, barely an inch from head to tail, laying on the trestle of the garage, crying for help. It was up to Steve to shuffle the poor fellow into a box for the day and tuck it away securely out of direct sunlight and the clutches of predators (squirrels, cats, etc.). Later that evening, Jenny slid the baby back onto the trestle, and within quite literally seconds after Jenny stepped aside, the mother swooped down, grabbed the baby bat, and hustled back behind the shutters. We felt all warm and tingly and sentimental.
S & J
posted by Steve, Jenny, Aubrey and Zachary at 9:56 AM
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