Wednesday, August 08, 2007
the other guest house
this is the original summer kitchen that sits on my parents' country property. the history people love it because it still has its original paint. i used to love it. i remember going into it as a young girl and imagining the women from long ago cooking in it on a real fire. i remember sweeping it and thinking how it would make a great playhouse or fort. it reminded me of little house on the prairie because it had a loft and i thought how fun it would be if i had the nerve to sleep up there. sometimes i thought it could be my own little barn. i could get some chickens and scatter hay about or maybe i could throw quilts on the ground and use it as a picnic house...i had big dreams for the little place. but it needed some work and so it was locked up for safety reasons and was left to decorate the land for awhile. for a good long time no one thought much about it. then one summer day a few years ago, i woke up really early and groggily looked out an upstairs window from the main house. i couldn't believe what i saw flying into this sweet little antique dwelling - bats. and i don't mean like ten, i mean like hundreds. no one believed it, but after further inspection it was discovered that at some point in the past few years, the charming summer kitchen had become a bat house. originally, i was completely freaked by the idea of bats taking over my little playhouse. but then i became intrigued by it. when you walk by you can hear the squeaks and fluttering from within. at dusk you will see the bats leave usually in pairs or groups of four. and at exactly 6 am in july, they all fly back into the house in one big swarm. we have been told people come to see the bat house and while i was there this past time people had set up lawn chairs to watch the bats leave. people come and take pictures of the house, not just because of the historic value, but because of the bats. we hear it has become a local interest. so my mom has to make a painful decision. we love the mosquito-free living the bats provide on the property, we love that area people and town visitors find it so interesting, we especially love that because the bats have a nice place of their own, they are not in the rafters of the house where we sleep...but we want our cute little summer kitchen back! so, what do you think...should we kick them out?
  posted at 8:51 AM  
  8 comments



8 Comments:
At 12:12 PM, Blogger Meg said...

Gosh, that's quite a story. I know bats can be nice co-companions, but I understand also why you want your summer kitchen back. How hard would it be to kick the bats out? Have you seen what's going on in there when they're not around...how does it look?

 
At 2:31 PM, Blogger Shabbee Chick said...

I don't know about the kicking them out part because if I wanted to use a building, I definitely wouldn't want 100 bats in there. But bats are good things to have hanging around (get it? hanging around?)! They are very good for the eco-system!

 
At 4:08 PM, Blogger sugar said...

Bats be gone!

 
At 8:14 PM, Blogger Kellie said...

I saw have a bunch of little bat houses built, hang them on the trees, them kick them out of the house... You'll still have some bats and you'll have your house too!

 
At 8:22 AM, Blogger Diane said...

When I read this I thought the same thing Kellie did. Put up some bat houses and then take back your cute little house :o) I have a bat house that I had bought years ago because the mosquitoes here are awful. If you want me to email you a picture of it I will. My email is clianeh@hotmail.com. Good luck with whatever you decide. Diane

 
At 12:56 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I find your story very intriguing. I think I would keep them. But I am weird that way. LOL

 
At 8:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm w/Diane & Kelly, build a few bat houses on the property. We used to live in Woodstock,VT & had them built on some of our trees to keep away pests like black flies & mosquitoes. I think you can get them from "The VT country store" or call "Gillingham's" in Woodstock VT. I seem to remember bats are pretty picky abt temps & light so you have to make sure you do their houses right or they won't move in. Good luck Batgirl!! :)

 
At 7:10 PM, Blogger Dena said...

I think I would have to evict the little critters and reclaim that cute summer kitchen! Laura Ingalls wouldn't stand for it, but then again, she could solve everything in under an hour including commercials!

 

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