Another Visitor

 Before the mother of all heat waves captured and tortured the midwest, there was a day where it was nice enough to open the windows. No, really, there was......... I know it is hard to believe........... I am serious!

Willie and I went through the house and happily opened windows to let the air come through. Our house has about 20 windows in it and with the shade trees outside, it ventilates and cools very well, even when the temperatures reach into the eighties. I sleep much better with the windows open, we open them every chance we get.

 This last time we had a chance to open the windows we found a little visitor hanging out on one, literally, hanging out. He was on the outside of the screen. He seemed to have his feet tangled in the screen.  At first it took us a while to figure out if he was even alive. We poked at the screen and he didn't budge. We wiggled the screen more and still he held perfectly still. Willie said he thought he saw him move. I thought it was just jiggling with the movement of the screen. We watched him for a little while and he didn't move a muscle. I decided, as much as we had banged on the screen, and he hadn't flown off, he must be dead.

Then suddenly a wing moved. Did it move voluntarily, or did it just fall? We watched carefully again. We saw no other real movement. About this time, we started trying to figure out how we were going to get a dead bat off of the outside of the window screen. Then his head popped up. He started looking around. He was alive! I was so happy!

Turns out he was a sleeping baby. He was not stuck at all. Once he was fully awake he started moving around on the screen. He moved down the screen and over to the side. I was captivated. I sat on my knees watching him until my knees screamed in agony. Then I went and got a pillow and watched some more. Every once in a while a much bigger bat would come to check on him. Finding him fine, she would fly off to eat more bugs and mosquitoes. I kept watching. I must have watched this little guy for two hours. The sun was still bright in the sky when we found him and it was dark night when I finally left him alone.

The next morning, as excited as a giddy child on Christmas,  I went to see if he was still there. His mother must have come to get him in the night because he was gone. I was disappointed, but glad he was being taken care of. A few days later we saw a bat climbing up the side of the house. As long as they don't decide to live in my house they are welcome to stay. We have more than enough mosquitoes for them, and I am happy to let them devour as many as they can.