Diary of The Food Whore: Bats in the Belfry

Bats in the Belfry

June 29, 2006

When the weather is fabulous - and it is fabulous - everyone wants to move their parties outside. And who can blame them? With the onset of summer, and actual summer weather in the Pacific Northwest, it's best to get outside while the getting is good.

We love outdoor Tricks. There's something about cooking and serving in the open air that makes it all seem - easy.

The meal for this particular Trick was all about Mexican, complete with BBQ'd chicken fajitas. (Which were fabulous, if I do say so myself...)

As the sun went down and the tiki torches were lit, we were able to quietly make our way out to the van at the back of the property to load up and head home. But there was a lot of fluttering overhead. And we began to be swooped upon to the point where it became an annoyance. An annoyance until I realized we were being swooped by bats.

And then I screamed like a baby.

I don't know anyone who likes bats, really. But I have a fear of anything rodent-like, so when you add boney wings and pointy ears and sharp teeth, it creates a hysteria in me only solved by either slapping me in the face or shooting me with a taser. And while neither seemed like an option at that moment, I did have to crouch in the fetal position by the back tire until I was able to regain my composure. Only it wasn't so much 'composure' as it was getting up and running around with my arms flailing in hopes to scare them off.

The Partner was no better, really. She once had a bat crawl through her hair while on a family camping trip. So the both of us were trying to be quiet in our complete hystera, and she actually dove into the van and would have locked the doors had she not been frozen by the fear of my retalliation.

The outdoor Trick, it seems, is terribly overrated. And wickedly hard on my nerves.

Posted by Foodwhore at June 29, 2006 11:20 PM

Well that was just GROSS. I completely understand the screaming, crounching, running, flailing arms. I would have added to that list: near faint. Glad you got out OK (physically OK, a bit mentally scarred though, I'm sure).

All future outdoor gigs must be held in DAYLIGHT!

Posted by: LisaInCT at June 30, 2006 05:42 AM

well, you didn't mention wetting your pants, so you're doing pretty good! Or else you're holding out on us...

Posted by: Tonja at June 30, 2006 07:26 AM

Reminds me of a time many years ago when my family was up north at our cottage. A family friend retrieved her bathing suit from the line outside and began getting changed into it in the bathroom. Next thing we all knew, she came running out of the bathroom with the bottom part of the suit on, but her boobs bouncing freely about. Turns out there was a bat nestled in one of the cups of her bathing suit.
I was scarred....scarred for life.

Posted by: Dave at June 30, 2006 07:28 AM

I love bats, they are my second favorite animal :-)

Never come to Austin during the summer, we have the largest bat population under one bridge or something. You just see THOUSANDS of them around sunset. www.io.com/house/bats1.html

Posted by: Chels E. at June 30, 2006 08:31 AM

We used to get bats in our house quite often (they flew in through the chimney)...I can't stand those evil little things. My skin is crawling just thinking about them.

Posted by: Hbisson at June 30, 2006 09:17 AM

Ugh. I'm a pretty tolerant person, but I'm not into wild things such that I don't know what they might do next. Blech.

We had a bat come in our house once when I was a kid, and of course it went in MY ROOM. Thankfully, I wasn't home. So my dad blocked the door and set off a bug bomb which knocked the bat out. Then my dad found it asleep and took it outside, where the fresh air revived it. I do remember telling him not to come back in my room!

Posted by: Patti at June 30, 2006 10:35 AM

Bats are awesome! They're just misunderstood -- why shouldn't they be allowed to scrounge your delectable leftovers? Surely that's better than moths and nectar?

You really should take it as a compliment -- the whole animal kingdom wants to check out your food!

(I really enjoy your blog! Thanks for sharing your stories!)

Posted by: k at June 30, 2006 12:21 PM

mMMMm, love bats. Crispy little wings are the best.

No really though, love the bats. They eat mosqweetos and leave poop for my garden. But then I'm not dealing with a swarm of the suckers eithers.

Heh, I used the word bats and suckers. That was cool.

Biggles

Posted by: Dr. Biggles at June 30, 2006 01:56 PM

Poor little bats....probably more afraid of you than you of them. Well, ok, maybe not after that display, but I don't think they'd hurt you. They're really quite neat creatures. Then again, they can carry rabies...(at least up here in the Northeast).

Posted by: Tiberia at June 30, 2006 02:42 PM

I actually really love bats, and got to help feed some flying foxes once. They are a large fruit bat species--there was a zoologist here at the university doing a study on them, so he had some in a special room. When he and his grad assistants were away, the grad assistant I worked for got to feed them, and he took me with him. It was fun--and the babies were adorable holding onto their mothers!

They really are harmless creatures, who eat a huge amount of flying insects, especially mosquitos, and are quite fun to watch flying around on their errands.

At least for me.

But then, I like snakes, too. Used to be afraid of spiders, but am over that.

Scorpions, though. Ick. I draw the line at scorpions.

Posted by: Barbara at July 1, 2006 11:07 PM