I'm not yet sure whether I'm writing about BatCat or Mozart here.
I suppose it started with BatCat. The other morning I was feeling quite ill after running some errands and Mme. Child had offered to oversee the Boy for a couple of hours. I stopped home to get some scallops for her - I had bought them two days earlier and with the aforementioned illness, I was not about to fry 'em up, so they were going to Mme. Child as well. I park the car, run in the house, get the scallops and notice BatCat on the stairway. She had a mouse. Per usual, she had not killed the poor soul, but instead let it down and batted it about for a minute. I freeze, stare, and scamper around the kitchen trying to find a container that I can put the thing in. I do. I catch the thing (it was alive, but apparently injured/in shock enough so that it wasn't moving too fast), and go to the far corner of the yard to let the thing go.
I thought briefly that perhaps I should take it someplace far away from the house so that it didn't try to get back in, but I just didn't feel well and was already past when I'd told Mme. Child I'd be there.
Fast forward to the next evening. I was feeling much better, though the Boy and I hadn't had any real playtime. We'd gone to pick strawberries, sure, but he still needed some run-around time. Instead of a sit-down dinner, I made him an elaborate snack (including several freshly picked strawberries, of course), and let him play in the yard while eating on the run. I know, I know, not the best habit, but I figured he'd go down easier if he ran around a bit and we didn't have time to sit for a meal and run around. So he's out there munching away, running around, inspecting rocks, munching some more, riding his trike, munching some more, inspecting the grass, munching some more, and telling me about the cute little mouse.
WHAT?!
Oh, yes. That mouse did exactly as I suspected it would do. It headed back to the house. Unfortunately, it's injuries were too much for it and it succumbed to it's end right in the middle of Mozart's play area. I screeched, "Don't touch it!" and for the second time that weekend scampered off to find something I could carry the thing in. And thankfully Mozart did not touch it, but he did want to, "Keep it?" I told him no, definitely not, it had to go. "Where?" he asked. And I said something to the effect of, a journey to heaven, or the like, as I tossed it into the trees.
Thankfully he did not ask further questions, but I realized that he is not to the age when he will start asking more difficult questions, and I'll have to explain things like death, love and war. *sigh* He is growing up. I am in awe every day by what he is saying an thinking and doing.
Showing posts with label Vermin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vermin. Show all posts
Mouse!
Mozart's thing these days is Stuart Little - well, Elmo and Stuart Little. It could be worse, really. I think it's a cute video. And it's a good thing 'cuz over the past week we must have watched it at least 15 times. I always strove to be one of those moms whose kids don't know what t.v. is. And, really, I still do. But that has gone by the wayside because, what can I say, if it affords a Mama a bit of worry-free rest, it's worth its weight in gold.
So along with this new-found obsession of his, he has taken to saying, "Mas! Mas! Mas!" Somewhat constantly. For some time, I wondered where he learned the Spanish word for more. The context always seemed to fit. But then I realized it was really "Mouse!" that he was saying. He's eating and he says, mas. He's playing with his toys and he says, mas. He looks in my belly button, and you guessed it, he says, mas. In the dryer, mas. In his shoe basket, mas. Down his pants, mas (he's a boy, what can I say). In the toilet, mas. Yeah, you get the picture.
So this morning we are going through the usual routine. Kind of, for I went to work for the first time in a week today, and was doing the routine myself as the Wife is now down with this terrible flu. As I'm getting Mozart ready he has a toy truck and is talking about mouse this and mouse that and can we watch mouse, etc, etc. I am in kind of a hurried daze as I'm trying to dress him and make myself look presentable.
I manage to get him fully outfitted and put him down, making my way into this odd little room we call the dressing room (it contains several sets of drawers, a bureau, an open wardrobe and a vanity) to, well, get dressed. Mozart tags along behind me and I am wishing he would stop asking to watch mouse and just play with his toys. As I am putting the iron away, I note that he suddenly looks very interested in his toys that are strewn about as he toddles over to them saying, "Mas!"
I let out a sigh of relief, and follow this by an immediate shriek. Mozart has bent over and is holding in both of his chubby little hands A MOUSE! And I don't mean a toy mouse here folks, no, this is no Stuart Little, this is a for-real-kind-of-vermin-mouse! And instinct takes over and I swipe it out of his hands, and now I'M HOLDING THE MOUSE!! With my bare hands! Ack!!! I scream to the Wife that she's got to get up and wash the Boy's hands immediately because he just had a mouse in 'em and now I've got to do something with it! Bless her, she moved faster than I've ever seen her get out of bed ever before.
I took the little beast outside. I realized as I was doing so that it was dead as it was a) not moving and b) cold. I also realized that it was quite soft, poor thing, and no wonder why Mozart was so thrilled. He probably thought it was a new stuffed toy. I am just glad that I was paying attention enough to have grabbed the thing from him before he kissed it. He's also very into kissing things lately...
So along with this new-found obsession of his, he has taken to saying, "Mas! Mas! Mas!" Somewhat constantly. For some time, I wondered where he learned the Spanish word for more. The context always seemed to fit. But then I realized it was really "Mouse!" that he was saying. He's eating and he says, mas. He's playing with his toys and he says, mas. He looks in my belly button, and you guessed it, he says, mas. In the dryer, mas. In his shoe basket, mas. Down his pants, mas (he's a boy, what can I say). In the toilet, mas. Yeah, you get the picture.
So this morning we are going through the usual routine. Kind of, for I went to work for the first time in a week today, and was doing the routine myself as the Wife is now down with this terrible flu. As I'm getting Mozart ready he has a toy truck and is talking about mouse this and mouse that and can we watch mouse, etc, etc. I am in kind of a hurried daze as I'm trying to dress him and make myself look presentable.
I manage to get him fully outfitted and put him down, making my way into this odd little room we call the dressing room (it contains several sets of drawers, a bureau, an open wardrobe and a vanity) to, well, get dressed. Mozart tags along behind me and I am wishing he would stop asking to watch mouse and just play with his toys. As I am putting the iron away, I note that he suddenly looks very interested in his toys that are strewn about as he toddles over to them saying, "Mas!"
I let out a sigh of relief, and follow this by an immediate shriek. Mozart has bent over and is holding in both of his chubby little hands A MOUSE! And I don't mean a toy mouse here folks, no, this is no Stuart Little, this is a for-real-kind-of-vermin-mouse! And instinct takes over and I swipe it out of his hands, and now I'M HOLDING THE MOUSE!! With my bare hands! Ack!!! I scream to the Wife that she's got to get up and wash the Boy's hands immediately because he just had a mouse in 'em and now I've got to do something with it! Bless her, she moved faster than I've ever seen her get out of bed ever before.
I took the little beast outside. I realized as I was doing so that it was dead as it was a) not moving and b) cold. I also realized that it was quite soft, poor thing, and no wonder why Mozart was so thrilled. He probably thought it was a new stuffed toy. I am just glad that I was paying attention enough to have grabbed the thing from him before he kissed it. He's also very into kissing things lately...
Our bat made the paper!!
I just love it! We are the first incident listed in this article that was on the front page. They don't list us as the home being invaded by the bat, or give the bat a name or anything. But hey, there's some notoriety for ya! I didn't have time to scan the article, but here's a photo. Notice the fold, and how the headline is above it - this must truly qualify as serious news. Gotta love small town papers. That's BATastic!
Whew! We're in the clear!! The woman at DPH said on Friday that Boston usually calls early afternoon with the results so we should have the results by then but that she would definitely call me by 3:30p either way because if by that time we hadn't heard the results we were all going to have to have the shot. This sounded great to me and, really, I wasn't worried because everyone I'd spoken to said the rates were either very low in this area or that they hadn't seen any cases this year. That was until juuuuuust about 3 o'clock when I hadn't heard yet. At that point I began to get a little worried. By 3:15, I was a little bit more worried. And by 3:28 I was poised with the number to call and check up on this woman who promised to call. At 3:30 on the dot I dialed the number and: No one picked up. Aaaaack!! I attempt, unsuccessfully, to get some work done. I tried the Wife's number, ready to tell her we'd better give our insurance a heads up that we'd need the shots, and she wasn't there either. I didn't want to leave that message as I didn't want to believe that we'd all have to line up and be subjected to a series of needles. As I was about to dial her cell, at 3:48, mine rang. It was the DPH lady. She'd been out all day, had three messages, hadn't checked them yet, but just wanted to check in with me before I began to panic - um, a little late, but thanks. She hung up to check her messages. I waited anxiously. At 3:52 she called back. She greets me pleasantly. I say, "Yes?" - all the while holding my breath. She says the results are in. I say, "And?(!)" And she FINALLY say, after pausing again, "the bat tested negative." Woo Hoooo! Huge sigh of relief!
Now maybe I can stop the obsessing - really, I've been dreaming of bats non-stop since the Bat Fiasco. Along the way I've gathered some fun facts about bats. Much of this I learned in the moments after the arrival of the bat, by way of the Wife spouting out, iPad in hand, facts that any good bat-hunter should know. And further fun facts were by way of continued obsession - many, many websites, and random people telling me bat tales. In the order with which they pop into my head:
Now maybe I can stop the obsessing - really, I've been dreaming of bats non-stop since the Bat Fiasco. Along the way I've gathered some fun facts about bats. Much of this I learned in the moments after the arrival of the bat, by way of the Wife spouting out, iPad in hand, facts that any good bat-hunter should know. And further fun facts were by way of continued obsession - many, many websites, and random people telling me bat tales. In the order with which they pop into my head:
- Bats can get through exceedingly small spaces - 3/8ths of an inch to be exact.
- If trying to catch a bat wear leather glove as bat armor. You need to ensure that you do not come in contact with the bat because rabies can be transmitted through bites or scratches.
- The methods of catching a bat are as follows: If on the ground, use a towel to drape over it and scoop it up - ensuring your are wearing your bat-armor-gloves. If perched on a wall, trap it behind an oatmeal, yogurt, or tupperware container. If in flight, use a butterfly net - not a fishing net as the bat will likely escape due to the larger holes. The net, it the least suggested form of capture as it increased the likelihood of human-bat contact.
- Unless you saw the bat enter your house, you don't know how long it's been there and you should contact your doctor about the rabies shots.
- If you do let it go, put it on a tree or up high somewhere. They have a hard time taking off from the ground and they'll hop around pathetically for a bit before being able to take flight.
- While bats are commonly referred to as rodents, they are not in fact related to rodents, and are more closely related to alpacas, hippopotamus, and dolphins!! (what?? can this be real???)
- There are megabats and microbats. But not all megabats are bigger than microbats.
- Bats aren't blind, but they don't see well at all and they mostly "see" with their ears, so if there are noises about it will make the bat confused as to how to get out, so one should turn off the music, clocks, computers, or anything that makes any noise if you want it to find its way out.
- While a large grouping of bats is now called a "Colony", in the middle ages it was called a "Murder", just as A Murder of Crows, as the black-wings hoards were mistaken for each other.
- The largest bat - called a Flying Fox - has a wingspan of, oh help, SIX FEET!! The smallest bat is called a Bumblebee Bat.
- Bat guano - a.k.a. bat poop - has been used for things such as bullets (really, in the Civil War!!), and could be used to detoxify waste, improve detergents and for antibiotics - but as far as I can tell, it isn't actually used in mascara. And thank goodness, because that stuff stinks in indescribable ways - and I know this from standing outside a great bat cave in years back.
- Oh, and Vampire Bat saliva is an anticoagulant!
Bat Tales Continued...
Thankfully, I did not have to go so far as to commit the murder myself. Another coworker took it upon herself to call the police department and inquire as to the steps one would take in such a situation. Soon thereafter I was on the phone with animal control to set up a meeting for a hand-off of the culprit. Animal Control will "take care" of euthanizing it and get it to the Board of Health for testing. The incubation period for rabies is 10 days. That said, if the results aren't back by day 5 we all need to go in for shots. The concern is that even if you don't think you've been bitten, you can't always tell because the bite can feel less significant than a mosquito bite, and on the off chance that it does have rabies, it is 100% fatal once the person starts to have symptoms. Hopefully the results will be in by Friday and we won't have to go any further than that. Just glad we were able to find it - even if it landed on the Wife's neck - because otherwise all three of us and both cats would be getting A LOT of shots today - the amount of vaccine is by weight. I know two people who are "of size" and they each had to get NINE shots all at once, and a half-pint little one who got 3 shots - and that's just the 1st round - there's follow-up shots, too. My best guess is that I'd have to get 7 or 8, the Wife would have to get 6 or 7, and the Boy would have to get 1 or 2. Really hoping we can avoid this with a negative test outcome. On the bright side, if we do have to get the shots, then we are covered from any further bat/rabies worries for 7 years. The Animal Control guy did say that our area has not had any instances of bat rabies this year, so he is hopeful, but he reiterated that 5-day thing, and also said to call our insurance first to ensure it will be covered/get pre-authorization because insurance companies are not wanting to pay for the shots - you know, the shots that can prevent an illness that is 100% FATAL once any symptoms show up! Uff.
Bat Fiasco
Remember how utterly tired I was just about three hours ago. Yeah. Well, I'm still that tired, but am sitting in the dressing room holding vigil and trying to listen for bat sounds. Bitchy Queen, the captor of the bat, has let it escape and it is somewhere in this room. She has even dared to leave the scene of the crime - I can't believe she would leave! As I start to write this it is 1:15am. I have no business being awake, but there is no way to go to sleep.
About an hour or so ago I was woken from a dead sleep by what sounded like a motor or some such mechanical device dying. A ridiculous racket. I thought our air conditioner was crapping out, but the Wife got up to investigate, suspecting a mouse, then screeched me to full alertness with the shrill announcement that, "the cat has a BAT!"
Ok. I hate that I am the bug catcher, which has on occasion turned into mouse catcher, but this, THIS, is out of my league! I don't know the first thing about bats! Ok, well, except that their bites - which one cannot necessarily detect - are known to cause a disease that is 100% fatal if contracted and not dealt with. But how do you catch one? What kind of armor do you need? Is there anything you shouldn't do (aside from screech like a little girl and wake up the baby??)? What do you do with the bat if you do catch it? My mind is racing with all of these questions as I am trying to decide what action to take. I feel stripped naked in my measly jammies hopping around after that cat with a squealing, flapping creature in its jaws, which then escapes and I shriek, put the bucket on top of my head and flee the room as the thing is being completely unpredictable. And it flew. Before it just flapped around. But it was flying as I fled the room. While this is happening the wife is spouting out fun facts about how we have to catch it and turn it over to the authorities to get it tested, that you must wear leather gloves, that if it's on the floor you put a towel over it it can't fly - and other things -
But we got it!! Just now! Oh my God that was BAT-CRAZY-MAD! We were holding vigil for over an hour and just when we were about to decide to all just go get rabies shots, because we probably weren't bitten, but it we were then it's fatal, the Wife said, did you check that pile of clothes, and well, I batted at it quite a bit but no bat came out, so I thought it was clear, but we decided to take the whole pile down to be sure, and that's when the bat flew out and LANDED ON THE WIFE!! Right on her NECK! I don't think I've ever heard her scream so loud before! She flung the thing off and ran up the stairs, still screaming!! And then the Boy is screaming, too, because I don't think he's ever heard either of us scream like that, much less waking him from a sound sleep. Thank the Goddess she probably stunned the thing because I finally got it in the container. And the wife was still making little hyperventilating noises when she finally came back down with assurances that the bat was closed up tight. She is now looking up where to take the thing in the morning for testing. And at Google Image for examples of bat bites. It doesn't look like she's got one, but she is scratched up - though most of the scratches likely came from her own flailings, but at least we can get it tested.
And now, somehow, I am supposed to go to sleep and then wake up in 3 1/2 hours to ready myself for facilitating a 4-hour meeting... but oh, we have to figure out how to "euthanize" the bat before we submit it for testing. So now I have to kill the dreadful little thing too. Good Grief.
About an hour or so ago I was woken from a dead sleep by what sounded like a motor or some such mechanical device dying. A ridiculous racket. I thought our air conditioner was crapping out, but the Wife got up to investigate, suspecting a mouse, then screeched me to full alertness with the shrill announcement that, "the cat has a BAT!"
Ok. I hate that I am the bug catcher, which has on occasion turned into mouse catcher, but this, THIS, is out of my league! I don't know the first thing about bats! Ok, well, except that their bites - which one cannot necessarily detect - are known to cause a disease that is 100% fatal if contracted and not dealt with. But how do you catch one? What kind of armor do you need? Is there anything you shouldn't do (aside from screech like a little girl and wake up the baby??)? What do you do with the bat if you do catch it? My mind is racing with all of these questions as I am trying to decide what action to take. I feel stripped naked in my measly jammies hopping around after that cat with a squealing, flapping creature in its jaws, which then escapes and I shriek, put the bucket on top of my head and flee the room as the thing is being completely unpredictable. And it flew. Before it just flapped around. But it was flying as I fled the room. While this is happening the wife is spouting out fun facts about how we have to catch it and turn it over to the authorities to get it tested, that you must wear leather gloves, that if it's on the floor you put a towel over it it can't fly - and other things -
But we got it!! Just now! Oh my God that was BAT-CRAZY-MAD! We were holding vigil for over an hour and just when we were about to decide to all just go get rabies shots, because we probably weren't bitten, but it we were then it's fatal, the Wife said, did you check that pile of clothes, and well, I batted at it quite a bit but no bat came out, so I thought it was clear, but we decided to take the whole pile down to be sure, and that's when the bat flew out and LANDED ON THE WIFE!! Right on her NECK! I don't think I've ever heard her scream so loud before! She flung the thing off and ran up the stairs, still screaming!! And then the Boy is screaming, too, because I don't think he's ever heard either of us scream like that, much less waking him from a sound sleep. Thank the Goddess she probably stunned the thing because I finally got it in the container. And the wife was still making little hyperventilating noises when she finally came back down with assurances that the bat was closed up tight. She is now looking up where to take the thing in the morning for testing. And at Google Image for examples of bat bites. It doesn't look like she's got one, but she is scratched up - though most of the scratches likely came from her own flailings, but at least we can get it tested.
And now, somehow, I am supposed to go to sleep and then wake up in 3 1/2 hours to ready myself for facilitating a 4-hour meeting... but oh, we have to figure out how to "euthanize" the bat before we submit it for testing. So now I have to kill the dreadful little thing too. Good Grief.
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