Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

The other night we were out on our deck discussing the unwise choice of a ground squirrel to make its hole next to our backyard. With two cats living at our house and two frequent cat visitors, the ground squirrel doesn't stand a chance. The neighbor's cat, Jasper, was at that moment sitting behind the hole waiting for something to dart out. 

Suddenly a shadow in the grass started moving and fluttered up. Jasper quickly knocked it back down. At first glance we thought it was a wounded bird, until the same thing happened again and we realized those weren't bird wings but bat wings. After a few more rounds of this the bat ended up laying in the middle of our backyard. Jasper wasn't interested in the bat unless it was moving, which it wasn't. After several minutes of no movement Rich went to get rid of the bat while Joshua and I watched from the deck. 

To verify that it was dead Rich tossed a stick. Nothing. He tossed a rock. Nothing. He went over and poked it with a stick at which point the bat flew up and directly at my head! I swear it looked just like the bats at the beginning of Scooby-Doo with it's little scrunched up face coming straight at me.

(When I replay the event in my head I hear those screeching bats.) 

I turned around and stumbled over Joshua as I tried to push him inside and get the screen door closed before we were attacked or had a bat in the house - I know I did a very girly scream the whole way in. I'm sure the bat didn't even get close to us before it flew up into our tree and was gone.  

Muskrat. Bat. What will our next wildlife encounter be?

*It's good to know that I will save my son in times of danger instead of pulling a Costanza.