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.
Gascón, Colosal Red 2013
Cardwell Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
L'Ecole No. 41, Merlot 2013
Della Terra, Anonymus
Willamette Valley, Dijon Clone Chardonnay 2013
Wraith, Cabernet, Eidolon Estate 2012
Januik, Red 2015
Tomassi, Valpolicella, Rafaél, 2014
Sharecropper's Pinot Noir 2013
Helix, Pomatia Red Blend 2013
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2013
Locations, Spanish Red Wine
Locations, Argentinian Red Wine
La Antigua Clásico, Rioja 2011
Shatter, Grenache, Maury 2012
Argyle, Vintage Brut 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2014
Benton Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
Primarius, Pinot Gris 2015
Januik, Merlot 2013
Napa Cellars, Cabernet 2013
J. Bookwalter, Protagonist 2012
LAN, Rioja Edicion Limitada 2011
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2009
Denada Cellars, Cabernet, Maipo Valley 2014
Marchigüe, Cabernet, Colchagua Valley 2013
Oberon, Cabernet 2014
Hedges, Red Mountain 2012
Balboa, Rose of Grenache 2015
Ontañón, Rioja Reserva 2015
Three Horse Ranch, Pinot Gris 2014
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
Nelms Road, Merlot 2013
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris 2014
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2012
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2013
Villa Maria, Sauvignon Blanc 2015
G3, Cabernet 2013
Chateau Smith, Cabernet, Washington State 2014
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Willamette Valley, Rose of Pinot Noir, Whole Clusters 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Ca' del Baio Barbaresco Valgrande 2012
Goodfellow, Reserve Pinot Gris, Clover 2014
Lugana, San Benedetto 2014
Wente, Cabernet, Charles Wetmore 2011
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
King Estate, Pinot Gris 2015
Adelsheim, Pinot Gris 2015
Trader Joe's, Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley 2015
La Vite Lucente, Toscana Red 2013
St. Francis, Cabernet, Sonoma 2013
Kendall-Jackson, Pinot Noir, California 2013
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2013
Erath, Pinot Noir, Estate Selection 2012
Abbot's Table, Columbia Valley 2014
Intrinsic, Cabernet 2014
Oyster Bay, Pinot Noir 2010
Occhipinti, SP68 Bianco 2014
Layer Cake, Shiraz 2013
Desert Wind, Ruah 2011
WillaKenzie, Pinot Gris 2014
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2013
Des Amis, Rose 2014
Dunham, Trautina 2012
RoxyAnn, Claret 2012
Del Ri, Claret 2012
Stoppa, Emilia, Red 2004
Primarius, Pinot Noir 2013
Domaines Bunan, Bandol Rose 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Deer Creek, Pinot Gris 2015
Beaulieu, Rutherford Cabernet 2013
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
King Estate, Pinot Gris, Backbone 2014
Oberon, Napa Cabernet 2013
Apaltagua, Envero Carmenere Gran Reserva 2013
Chateau des Arnauds, Cuvee des Capucins 2012
Nine Hats, Red 2013
Benziger, Cabernet, Sonoma 2012
Roxy Ann, Claret 2012
Januik, Merlot 2012
Conundrum, White 2013
St. Francis, Sonoma Cabernet 2012
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2012
Decoy, Cabernet, Sonoma 2013
Marqués de Murrieta, Reserva Rioja 2010
Kendall-Jackson, Grand Reserve Cabernet 2009
Seven Hills, Merlot 2013
Los Vascos, Grande Reserve Cabernet 2011
Abbot's Table, Columbia Valley 2014
Forlorn Hope, St. Laurent, Ost-Intrigen 2013
Upper Five, Tempranillo 2010 and 2012
The Four Graces, Pinot Gris 2015
Topsail, Syrah 2013
Jim Barry, The Lodge Hill Shiraz 2013
Robert Mondavi, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2012
Adelsheim, Pinot Gris 2014
Boomtown, Cabernet 2013
Boulay, Sauvignon Blanc 2014
Domaine de Durban Muscat 2011
Patricia Green, Estate Pinot Noir 2012
Crios, Cabernet, Mendoza 2011
WillaKenzie, Pinot Gris 2014
The Occasional Book
Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Amy Stewart - Girl Waits With Gun
Philip Roth - The Plot Against America
Norm Macdonald - Based on a True Story
Christopher Buckley - Boomsday
Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way
Ruth Sepetys - Between Shades of Gray
Richard Adams - Watership Down
Claire Vaye Watkins - Gold Fame Citrus
Markus Zusak - I am the Messenger
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
James Joyce - Dubliners
Cheryl Strayed - Torch
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Saul Bellow - Mister Sammler's Planet
Phil Stanford - White House Call Girl
John Kaplan & Jon R. Waltz - The Trial of Jack Ruby
Kent Haruf - Eventide
David Halberstam - Summer of '49
Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead
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: 62
At this date last year: 144
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
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