Bats in my Belfry?

I honestly don't know what a belfry is or even if that's how you spell it but we had a bat in the house last night. It might of looked like this. I wasn't too interested in how it looked as much as I was in getting it OUT of the house.

The boys went up north so Equestrian Girl and I were have a girl's night and watching "New Moon" on my bed when we saw something move just outside the bedroom door. I knew what it was instantly but didn't want to say anything. I was halfway up to close the door when the darn thing flew in! I have more experience with bats in the house than I like to admit but that doesn't mean they still don't freak me out. I darted in the bathroom and closed the door and told EG to cover her head with the blanket. I kept peaking out to see if it had left the room - normally they'll leave a light room to go to a dark place and the whole rest of the house was dark EXCEPT that room!! After what was way too long it finally flew out of the bedroom and I slammed a hat on my head and followed it out closing the bedroom door. I took a laundry basket with me too. I figured I could use it like a helmet...don't ask.

So based on my vast experience with bats in the house in the past, I knew I needed to convince it to fly outside so I didn't have to resort to violence or get in it's close proximity. Ewww. I opened both of the back doors wide and left the lights off near them. Then I closed the door to the upstairs and the office and started flipping on lights in the kitchen, dining room and living room with hopes it would see or sense those dark places in the back of the house and follow the sent of that fresh air out the door.

It worked for the dog. She ran outside on the back porch and sat there staring at the door until we told her it was okay to come in. Apparently she doesn't like bats. Great guard dog!

It did NOT work for the bat. Darn thing flew back and forth from room to room with me swinging my laundry basket at it (I'm not sure what I would have done if it had actually flown in it). Then it stopped. I thought I saw it in a dark corner of the living room near the ceiling but that corner is pine paneling with dark knots so I wasn't 100% sure. I called to EG to bring me a flash light and sure enough, it was stuck up in the corner near a door and closet wall. I was ready to smack it with an old boat paddle but EG didn't want me to kill it. That left the getting too close for comfort option. Ewww.

Even though the ceiling isn't all that high right there, I'm pretty vertically challenged and jumping wasn't exactly an option. EG brought me a little stool and a plastic bowl and lid. It was a square bowl - better to fit the corner where it was hiding. Smart kid. With the light in my teeth and the lid to the bowl in my hoodie pocket, I smacked it down over our bat (that looks amazingly like a frog when stuck to the wall like that). I could tell I caught a leg or wing or something under the edge of the bowl and had to wiggle it loose so it could move to the inside. Ewww. Then I carefully slid the lid under and tried to square it up enough to pull it away from the wall. When I did lift it off I saw one tiny foot still sticking out of the edge of the bowl and lid but it wasn't super tight and there was NO WAY I was going to move it enough that it could get loose. Ewwww!!!

Equestrian Girl emerged again to get a better look at the bat in his temporary Gladware home and then agreed with me we should just toss the whole bowl out the back door and hope the lid flies off in the process. So we went to the back porch, called the dog in (poor thing!) and then tossed the bowl and slammed the door closed. As planned, the lid flew off and while the bat seemed stunned for a second, it took off into the cold night.

The bowl is still on the back porch this morning but I've sprayed the spot where it landed in the house with Lysol and put my laundry basket and hat away.