Bugbear: the bats are out and about...

[thoth51]

I find them fascinating as well.

[Mike_Oettle]

Ali, your preference for a boa constrictor slithering up your leg is a bit mind-boggling! Give me a bat any day!
But I look forward to the day you launch your novel (you would look great in a stunning and colourful little dress with gorgeous heels, whatever Bugbear has to say about it!).
Irish Jack, that is a most intriguing sporran – do you wear it often?
And Thoth, thanks for the bat picture.
Regards,
Mike

[Bugbear]

Ali, your preference for a boa constrictor slithering up your leg is a bit mind-boggling! Give me a bat any day!
But I look forward to the day you launch your novel (you would look great in a stunning and colourful little dress with gorgeous heels, whatever Bugbear has to say about it!).
Irish Jack, that is a most intriguing sporran – do you wear it often?
And Thoth, thanks for the bat picture.
Regards,
Mike

Just saying that those things have never been part of my past dreams of having a book published.

I did write a volume of poetry back in college, but in the editing process ended up with a handful of poems.

These days, I have restricted myself to writing reports for my work which are only published to a few people, and not fiction! Though does have some philosophy...

They also require a great deal of writing in html code, then checking if it worked.

[ali8780]

Ali, your preference for a boa constrictor slithering up your leg is a bit mind-boggling! Give me a bat any day!
But I look forward to the day you launch your novel (you would look great in a stunning and colourful little dress with gorgeous heels, whatever Bugbear has to say about it!).
Irish Jack, that is a most intriguing sporran – do you wear it often?
And Thoth, thanks for the bat picture.
Regards,
Mike

Thanks for the compliment Mike. Um... you do know that bats carry rabies, don't you? And that boa constrictors don't? I actually do like snakes, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I've accepted it.

[ali8780]

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.

Thanks Ted. That's exactly how the process works for me as well.

[Bigkahuna]

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...!

Bats throughout the Eastern part of the U.S. have been decimated by the "White Nose Syndrome". Whole populations in some areas have been wiped out, and there doesn't seem to be a cure. The disease seems to thrive in the same conditions that bats like to hibernate in. As a result, we may be faced with 700 tons more of insects than we would have been had the bats survived.

[SteveB]

Fortunately the home made bat-houses are in regular use and the mosquito population suffers massive control. The little brown bats here do not seem to have any White Noise disease yet. Hope it stays that way.

Slainte

[Mike_Oettle]

Ali wrote: “you do know that bats carry rabies, don't you?”

Well, some species do. I have not had any reports hereabouts of bat-borne rabies, so I don’t think there is much risk of it in my part of the world.
Most people’s dislike of bats has little or nothing to do with rabies, and more to do with the (largely) irrational fear that they will get caught up in one’s hair (women especially).
Regards,
Mike

[Bugbear]

The hummingbirds are back!

I think one might be nesting in one of my tangerine trees. Right next to the tangerine, I have a volkamer lemon tree in training as a bonsai that I visit every day, and I am sure that a hummingbird flies off from the same place in the tangerine every time I go out there; I have to scoot up under the tangerine tree to get to the bonsai. I have herd chirping, but only briefly, and it seems like it might be two birds; can't be sure though.

[ali8780]

hmm... I may have to reconsider my position on bats given the fact that they eat so many bugs...