Bugbear: the bats are out and about...

[Kiltboy]

If you are familiar with the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), you will know it to be small, nocturnal, common to Texas...and incredibly noisy when frightened.

After years of living in Texas, darn armadillos still scare me every time I encounter one. Usually I don't see them, as they scurry off so fast, they are just a blur. And they are not afraid to make some noise as they run.

Actually, I think they are just a future sporran with legs.

Did see a few bats last weekend, in a display in the Ft Worth Zoo. Bats flying all over the dimmed display room. Good exhibit with native Texas nocturnal wildlife and insects. And... no, they didn't combine the insects and bats in the same space.

[Lallans]

I once got suckered into buying a purpose-made bat house- a bird house made for bats. It was made of rough wood and had a nice bat outliine branded into the front and was supposedly made on scientific principles and came with a special bat opening and a little vial of bat droppings to sprinkle inside once the thing was up. This was intended to make the thing warm and inviting. I put it up on the correct side of an old shed and waited. Years passed. Of course the bats, despite being a major nuisance factor in a house down the road, avoided the thing completely. Verdict: bats are not a nuisance, because if they weren't desirable to have a round they would have swarmed the place.

[piperdbh]

Bats, are picky about where they live. Some bat houses will be inhabited by bats; some will be used only by hornets and mud daubers.

[Pleater]

Here in the UK bats are protected by the law and are not to be disturbed - even if they are living in your loft.

My mum always used to have three fits when the bats came out to hunt at sunset when we were walking along the main street in the village where her family lived - the tall houses were ideal for the Noctule bats to swoop between to catch moths. I assume that she couldn't hear them coming and that paniced her.

I had a hearing range higher than normal, up to 25KHz - but couldn't detect low frequencies, so I could hear Noctule bats as they go after large insects. I assume it will have faded a bit with age.

I like the name flittermouse better than bat - far more descriptive of them.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Irish Jack O'Brian]

After years of living in Texas, darn armadillos still scare me every time I encounter one.

Actually, I think they are just a future sporran with legs.

Full Mask...and Claws

[Woodsheal]

Unfortunately, here in the Northeast US, our bats are dying off from "White Nose Syndrome" - a fungal infection:

http://www.fws.gov/WhiteNoseSyndrome/

The Little Brown Bat, our most common species, is pretty much gone around here. I didn't see a single bat flying around our house this past summer, and I used to see many every night. I miss them...!

[ali8780]

Yep, they have been over my yard quite a bit this year too. I'm fairly sure some of them are living in my palm trees.

The raven is still living up in the tallest palm (Mexican fan palm), or at least he hangs out a lot up there.

I'm sure Ali will be thrilled.

Oh, I am thrilled Ted-- Thrilled out of my mind that they are at your house and not mine

I would rather have a boa constrictor slither up my leg than a bat flying over my head. Everyone has their "thing" I guess

[Bugbear]

Oh, I am thrilled Ted-- Thrilled out of my mind that they are at your house and not mine

I would rather have a boa constrictor slither up my leg than a bat flying over my head. Everyone has their "thing" I guess

Hi Ali,

How is the book coming along?

[ali8780]

Hi Ali,

How is the book coming along?

You know Ted, the thing I've discovered about writing a fiction novel (as it pertains to me anyway) is that in order to do so effectively, one must immerse oneself into that world and the lives of those characters completely. Quite frankly it's very draining, and I just haven't had the mental and emotional energy for it for a long time. It still exists though, happily on my computer, and I still love it and the other one I started (yes, now there are two. Only one about kilts though). I dream of the day when I will be able to share it with someone else though-- preferably with the members of this forum (and that dream may or may not include myself being interviewed on TV by Conan O'Brien wherein I wear a stunning and colorful little dress and gorgeous heels).

...so... someday...

[Bugbear]

You know Ted, the thing I've discovered about writing a fiction novel (as it pertains to me anyway) is that in order to do so effectively, one must immerse oneself into that world and the lives of those characters completely. Quite frankly it's very draining, and I just haven't had the mental and emotional energy for it for a long time. It still exists though, happily on my computer, and I still love it and the other one I started (yes, now there are two. Only one about kilts though). I dream of the day when I will be able to share it with someone else though-- preferably with the members of this forum (and that dream may or may not include myself being interviewed on TV by Conan O'Brien wherein I wear a stunning and colorful little dress and gorgeous heels).

...so... someday...

I very much understand, Ali; except for the part about Conan O'Brien and wearing a "stunning and colorful little dress and gorgeous heels"...

Sometimes you have to put it away and let the book fester in the back of your mind; other times you have to work for hours on a sentence; still other times, you sit for hours writing and have no sense of time.

Good luck.