Vampire bats

Okay, not really vampire bats, but we did have a bat in the house last night. Bill and I had already gone to bed when Steven knocked on the door. He comes in with a funny smile on his face, "Umm, there's a bat flying around in the library" (no, we don't have a house like "that", it's just a den that got named the "library" because we keep tons of books in there - little kids' names for things have a way of sticking around for a looong time). So, we go downstairs and crack the door open. Sure enough, there's a bat swooping and diving in circles in the library. Smart Steve, he had closed the doors so it would at least be confined to one room. Bill gets work gloves and our ever trusty butterfly net and bravely ventures forth. I close the door behind him. There's odd noises sounding like thudding on the floor, shifting of furniture, exclamations of pain.... just kidding. He sits in the chair and waits patiently. I turn on the outside spotlight and he turns off the lights in the room (fortunately the switch was beside the chair!). After about 10 minutes he held the net up and the bat flew right in. The boys check out the bat close up then let it out the window. No idea how it got in the house, we are all closed up with the ac on in this heatwave of 97 degree weather.

Speaking of butterfly nets - every family should have one. Our school's 7th grade has a month long unit on bugs where the kids collect bugs of all kinds to identify them. They go outside for several days to the playing fields and it's a pretty funny thing to see 25 kids running around swinging their butterfly nets - occasionally someone will nab something and they cluster around to look at it. Then the kids come home with their own jars of "killing" solution (smells like ammonia to me, but whatever - put a bug in and it dies in a minute or less). For the next several weeks the kids are expected to collect bugs on their own to bring in to the class. I bought this butterfly net at the dollar store when Will was in 7th grade, and it's still going strong 6 years later. Who says you can't get good stuff for a dollar?!