Friday, June 20, 2008

Just One Bat...

Ok, about the bats, (Cammy). The winter I first moved in here I was scared of everything I heard and saw. I moved in during January and my husband was back at the old place taking care of his mother who was dying of cancer. I just had to get away and thought I'd stay for a couple of weeks and then head home. I got snowed in and ended up here for almost 3 months by myself (hubby couldn't even get up the mountain). I was afraid of the bears (will go there another day) and a bat kept getting in. The man that built the cabin did a piss poor job and there were huge cracks between the logs and the roof joists. The first time I saw a bat flying around in here I freaked out. I turned off all the lights inside, turned on the porch light, opened all the doors and grabbed the dogs and threw an afghan over our heads. We snuggled like that for about 20 minutes and when I peaked out it was gone. So I closed everything up. That happened a couple of other times and even continued when my hubby came to stay. After a while I quit hiding and just opened the door and turned off the lights and just watched it swooping here and there. It never came down to where we were, always stayed up at the top of the roof apex, which is about 25 feet. After hubby died I found someone that would get on a ladder that high and put expanding foam in those cracks. I haven't seen one in a couple of years so I thought the problem was solved. Remember my talking about the chipmunks I thought I had in the wreath? Well, it was a bat evidently, because the Orkin man said they were bat droppings not chipmunks. He searched the rafters really well yesterday and found no bats and I searched all afternoon too. Since they roost in the day time and fly at night he figured they'd be asleep in the day time but evidently, since I keep lights on at night (duh) it is getting confused and coming in here at night looking for a meal (bugs). Hey, maybe it's eating my carpenter bees at night. I'm no longer afraid of them because I have discovered they don't want me or the dogs and stay way up high. It's kinda fun to watch them swooping around the ceiling fan when I have it on. They never hit it. Boy, is that radar something. I'm not crazy about them being in here but until I find someone else to do something else that will keep them out I guess I have to put up with them. And I've never seen more than one at any given time. (And, BTW I didn't take that picture).

Eating plan has gone great this week. Exercise hasn't. I'm still weighing myself every morning and it's up a pound this morning but I realize the only one that counts is the Wednesday one so I don't get upset on a daily basis. When you're only losing a pound a week it surely isn't going to show on the scales on a daily basis, that's for sure.

Here comes another weekend of boredom. This retired life isn't fun on the weekends when you live alone and everyone else is busy. It was mentioned in a comment about eating when bored. Boy, do I ever want to do that and it has really been hard over the past year not doing it. I do give in sometimes and just can't stop myself but on the most part I have to quell the urge. That's one of the reasons I moved my weigh-in day to Wednesdays. On the weekends is when it is the worst and weighing on Monday rarely showed a loss.

Hope you all have a fun filled weekend. I'll be setting here watching the antics of H1, H2, and H3 (pappa, momma and baby humming birds).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Bats??!!!

You have the coolest/weirdest pests on your mountain. I love the hummingbird stories. But the bat, I think, tops the hummers.

I'm so glad you're losing a pound a week. My average since I started over a year ago is a little more than a pound a week, but lately it hasn't been anywhere close to that. So you're doing great!!!

Cammy@TippyToeDiet said...

You're a much, much, much braver woman than me. Hats off to you for that.

Do you like books on tape? That might make WALKING more fun and inviting.

Hope you have a great weekend and don't feel bored for one, single second. :)

MaryFran said...

I'm like very impressed! You are so calm about the bats! When I was about 17, my parents moved. They unknowingly bought a house that had bats roosting in the attic. It was terrible...bats swooping all the time. I was a nervous wreck and moved in with my grandmother until the house was 'de-batted'!

That said, I'm getting much better with these types of things now that I married a country boy. Yep, he's turning me into a regular country girl!