Sunday, December 28, 2008

Holy Dustbunnies!

My boys have finally reached that magic age; they're trustworthy enough to come downstairs ALONE in the morning, eat peanut butter out of the jar, and watch cartoons, while Mommy and Daddy get a few more hours minutes of very light sleep with one ear open. Cue the choir of angels, and yet...

Last Sunday, Andy and I are enjoying a few more minutes' sleep when the boys appear on my side of the bed (aside: my side of the bed is farther from the door than Andy's. They never start on Andy's side of the bed.) to inform me that they were going down to the playroom and noticed a 'fuzzy thing' at the bottom of the basement stairs. I slip out of my coma long enough to tell them, oh, honey, that's called a dust bunny, don't worry about it, I'll vacuum it later.

HRH is not convinced but RC pipes up with the very clever idea to sweep it up with the dustpan and brush. RC just loves him some dustpan and brushing. And they exit to tidy up the fuzzy thing.

Fast forward about thirty minutes. I open the lid on our kitchen trash to drop a tea bag in. And staring back at me from the top of the trash is a fuzzy thing - also known as a bat with no wings. Aghhhhhhhhh!

I call Andy over. He calls HRH over. My questioning goes something like this; Didyoutouchit? Didyoutouchit? Didyoutouchit?? You'renotintrouble. Did. you. touch. it!?" HRH's answer was no. RC was required to pantomime out exactly what he did when he swept it up. I'm reasonably certain they were telling the truth. Nonetheless, I Purelled their hands, twice, then washed them in antibacterial soap. I may have burned their pajamas.

Near as we can figure, the bat was looking for a warm place to stay. He somehow got into the house, was met by our bloodthirsty cat, and met his demise. The Bink left the de-winged carcass as a 'present' for us. He's thoughtful like that.

For future reference, Poison Control states that rabies must be spread by injecting saliva through a bite. We then had the pleasure of triple-wrapping the remains and freezing them overnight. On Monday, I took the carcass to our vet, who had it tested by the state lab. I'm very happy (and pretty surprised) that the results were negative. No rabies here.

I haven't found the wings yet...

17 comments:

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Why do they demand your attention when it is unneccesary and then let you be inattentive when your attention is needed?!

I love the transcript of your questioning--I can imagine I would have said the same thing--in a high, screechy voice.

I'm glad all ended well.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness!! That is great. I had an issue right before Christmas where my cat was "playing" with his toys... In my weary 2am sleep I threw a pillow at him. He continued. So I got up to use the bathroom. On my way down the hall he brought his toy to play (yep even with the kids sleeping I can't pee in peace)... anyhow... I told the cat it was too late and to just drop it. Which he did... and the "toy" ran down my hall!!! He had gotten a hold of a mouse. He caught it again (and dropped it to play several times).. First thought.. KILLIT!! but then ewww dead field mouse... so I put on a pair of ove gloves... and grabbed an old towel(so it could not bite me)... took the LIVE mouse out of his mouth and proceeded to HURL it across the front lawn.. hahaha

Texasholly said...

Oh the sleeping in is tooo much.

And as for the rabies report, glad it came out that way...OMG!

Stimey said...

ohmygodohmygodohmygod! I'm so happy to hear that there is no rabies in the House of Manic Mommy. Oh. My. God.

Jennifer S said...

I can barely type for the shudder going through me!

Bats freak me the heck OUT! I'm so glad for no rabies.

P.S. My kids never start on their dad's side of the bed, either.

Sarahviz said...

*shudder*

{sue} said...

Arrrrgh! I'm going to Purell my fingertips and eyeballs!!! I really thought this was going to be about dustbunnies.

Ellyn said...

Oh Gross. Go wash them again for me please. Ewwwwwww!

Anonymous said...

Classic. If that happened in my house, my husband would want the carcass back so he could get the skeleton! Oh the joys of being married to a biologist!

Anonymous said...

OH yeah.... I would've FLIPPED OUT if I saw that in the trash!

Thank goodness the test came back negative.

JCK said...

OH, my...my, MY! You have an exciting household. Just the story just about sent me over the edge.

KC said...

How did you know it was a bat??? I'm impressed. I thought you were just using a euphemism for rat.

anymommy said...

I am so jealous. But, that's a worry that hadn't occurred to me. I was thinking more along the lines of peanut butter smeared across furniture.

Kate Coveny Hood said...

That's horrifying! None of my kids are verbal enough for that level of communication yet - so I think I'll have to continue to get up at the crack of dawn with them for a while...

the new girl said...

OH. MAH. GAAAAAAAAAAH.

Suburban Correspondent said...

Wow. You just outdid all my mouse and bat stories. I bow to a master.

As Cape Cod Turns said...

Ewwwwww! Double ewwwwwww!
I would have burned the pajamas too.

 

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