This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on August 28, 2008 10:17 AM.
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Interesting night last night. We had a bat in the house. The kids stayed pretty calm, but the Mrs. and I went into, shall we say, a stated of heightened awareness.
She: "Aaarrgh! There's a bird in the house!"
I: "What?"
She: "There's a bird or something flying around in the -- aaarrgh! How did it get in here?"
I, from behind a door that was open just a crack: "I think it's a bat! Open some windows and the doors! Try to get him to fly out!"
She: "I just took my contacts out!"
I: "Well, you better put 'em back in."
After a few minutes of spastic movements on my part (mostly ducking and hiding), the Mrs. finally shooed the poor thing out the back door with a broom.
Geez! A dang bat!
I remember a time years ago when we were visiting the headwaters of the Metolius, and I stopped in the park men's room there for a potty break. I was seated in the stall in a compromising position when under the door came limping an extremely sick bat, which apparently had been roaming around the nearby campground in broad daylight. I screamed bloody murder and, forgoing some of the fundamentals of personal hygiene for the moment, scrambled out of the building. A crowd of onlookers outside thought it was pretty funny.
Bats are pretty decent, except for the rabid ones, and leaving aside their own personal hygiene habits. We used to have them in the house fairly often in central Oregon, and it was occasionally difficult to coax them back out. I don't think they view us much more beneficently than we them.
We had one fly into the screen at an open bedroom window in the middle of the night. It got stuck, but shook itself free before I could get out of bed. But not before freaking out our cats.
The animal kingdom knows which species is responsible for air and water pollution, habitat destruction, endangerment / extinction of species, resource depletion, global warming, and superfund cleanup sites. And they are very, very, angry.
I do sympathize with you, Jack, during the unstoppable invasion of your home and the distress you and your family suffered. Having a wingbat somewhere in the house is like having LIARS on the radio dial: you know its a bloodsucker and rabid infections are deadly to everyone nearby.
"When you are truly serious that you are willing to 'sacrifice' to DO SOMETHING, then BOYCOTT Cable TV. Click that sucker OFF !! It takes so few of us, like 1,000 in the Portland 'market,' or 100,000 in this country, to bankrupt television and its LIARS."
Practice What You Preach.
You are his biggest fan.
If You See Kay, Red 2011
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Cherry Tart, Cherry Pie Pinot Noir 2012
Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Cabernet, Oakville 2012
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Campo Viejo, Rioja, Reserva 2008
Haden Fig, Pinot Noir 2012
Pendulum Red 2011
Vina Real, Plata, Crianza Rioja 2009
Edmunds St. John, Bone/Jolly, Gamay Noir Rose 2013
Bookwalter, Subplot No. 26
Ayna, Tempranillo 2011
Pete's Mountain, Pinot Noir, Haley's Block 2010
Apaltagua, Reserva Camenere 2012
Lugana, San Benedetto 2012
Argyle Brut 2007
Wildewood Pinot Gris 2012
Anciano, Tempranillo Reserva 2007
Santa Rita, Reserva Cabernet 2009
Casone, Toscana 2008
Fonseca Porto, Bin No. 27
Louis Jadot, Pouilly-Fuissé 2011
Trader Joe's, Grower's Reserve Pinot Noir 2012
Zenato, Lugana San Benedetto 2012
Vintjs, Cabernet 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White 2012
Rainstorm, Oregon Pinot Gris 2012
Silver Palm, North Coast Cabernet 2011
Andrew Rich, Gewurtztraminer 2008
Rodney Strong, Charlotte's Home Sauvignon Blanc 2012
Canoe Ridge, Pinot Gris, Expedition 2012
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir Rose 2012
Dark Horse, Big Red Blend No. 01A
Elk Cove, Pinot Noir Rose 2012
Fletcher, Shiraz 2010
Picollo, Gavi 2011
Domaine Eugene Carrel, Jongieux 2012
Eyrie, Pinot Blanc 2010
Atticus, Pinot Noir 2010
Walter Scott, Pinot Noir, Holstein 2011
Shingleback, Cabernet, Davey Estate 2010
Coppola, Sofia Rose 2012
Joel Gott, 851 Cabernet 2010
Pol Roget Reserve Sparkling Wine
Mount Eden Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains 2009
Rombauer Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2011
Beringer, Chardonnay, Napa Reserve 2011
Kim Crawford, Sauvignon Blanc 2011
Schloss Vollrads, Spaetlese Rheingau 2010
Belle Glos, Pinot Noir, Clark & Telephone 2010
WillaKenzie, Pinot Noir, Estate Cuvee 2010
Blackbird Vineyards, Arise, Red 2010
Chauteau de Beaucastel, Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005
Northstar, Merlot 2008
Feather, Cabernet 2007
Silver Oak, Cabernet, Alexander Valley 2002
Silver Oak, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2002
Trader Joe's, Chardonnay, Grower's Reserve 2012
Silver Palm, Cabernet, North Coast 2010
Shingleback, Cabernet, Davey Estate 2010
E. Guigal, Cotes du Rhone 2009
Santa Margherita, Pinot Grigio 2011
Alamos, Cabernet 2011
Cousino Macul, Cabernet, Anitguas Reservas 2009
Dreaming Tree Cabernet 2010
1967, Toscana 2009
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
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Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
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La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
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Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
The Occasional Book
Maria Dermoȗt - The Ten Thousand Things
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Christopher Buckley - Thank You for Smoking
William Shakespeare - Othello
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cheryl Strayed - Tiny Beautiful Things
Sara Varon - Bake Sale
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Paul Goldstein - Errors and Omissions
Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Beverly Cleary - A Girl from Yamhill, a Memoir
Kent Haruf - Plainsong
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 212
At this date last year: 60
Total run in 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (12)
Jack, are you afraid of vampires?
Posted by John Benton | August 28, 2008 10:36 AM
Bats are pretty decent, except for the rabid ones, and leaving aside their own personal hygiene habits. We used to have them in the house fairly often in central Oregon, and it was occasionally difficult to coax them back out. I don't think they view us much more beneficently than we them.
Posted by Allan L. | August 28, 2008 10:41 AM
(Most) Bats eat tons of mosquitos, and the like. The way whales eat krill and plankton.
Bats are about innocuous. Inside the house, though, is not innocuous. Be glad I guess there's no belfry ;-)
Posted by Tenskwatawa | August 28, 2008 10:47 AM
I think the reaction you described is the most common reaction to a bat in the house in the history of man.
Regarding the bat in the toilet stall, what better place to have the **** scared out of you?
Posted by none | August 28, 2008 11:02 AM
Jack, it probably mistook you for Heath Ledger.
Posted by Bark Munster | August 28, 2008 11:27 AM
We had one fly into the screen at an open bedroom window in the middle of the night. It got stuck, but shook itself free before I could get out of bed. But not before freaking out our cats.
Posted by Jon | August 28, 2008 12:03 PM
I'm convinced that this is not an isolated incident.
The animal kingdom knows which species is responsible for air and water pollution, habitat destruction, endangerment / extinction of species, resource depletion, global warming, and superfund cleanup sites. And they are very, very, angry.
Posted by John Rettig | August 28, 2008 12:37 PM
Re: the Metolius incident: a true definition of the term 'batshit crazy'?
Posted by Cosmic Charlie | August 28, 2008 1:34 PM
I do sympathize with you, Jack, during the unstoppable invasion of your home and the distress you and your family suffered. Having a wingbat somewhere in the house is like having LIARS on the radio dial: you know its a bloodsucker and rabid infections are deadly to everyone nearby.
Posted by Tenskwatawa | August 28, 2008 2:40 PM
"When you are truly serious that you are willing to 'sacrifice' to DO SOMETHING, then BOYCOTT Cable TV. Click that sucker OFF !! It takes so few of us, like 1,000 in the Portland 'market,' or 100,000 in this country, to bankrupt television and its LIARS."
Practice What You Preach.
You are his biggest fan.
Posted by meg | August 28, 2008 3:54 PM
I count the advertisers. And then call them to say their number's up.
Posted by Tenskwatawa | August 28, 2008 11:05 PM
Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found in Mexico, By Miguel Angel Gutierrez, MEXICO CITY (Reuters), Aug 15, 2008
According to an ancient Mayan scripture, the Popol Vuh, the route was filled with ... houses shrouded in darkness or swarming with shrieking bats ....
Posted by Tenskwatawa | August 29, 2008 12:05 AM