Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Nu nu nu nu nu nu BAT HOUSE!!

We went to a friend's engagement party last weekend. It was a good time, sans kiddos. One of the (only slightly) alcohol-fueled discussions Ry had was about the ridiculous amount of mosquitoes that call our backyard home. Seriously, right now I can't let the kids play in the yard for 5 minutes without a new crop of bug bites all over their legs.

A friend of ours built a bat house for his property. He now has 3 bats, and swears that it seriously cut down the number of mosquitoes on his property. Ry, of course, was very interested in this non-chemical solution to our mosquito problem. I was a little skeptical about bats living on our property, but figured this interest would melt away like Ry's headache the next morning.

I was wrong. 

The very next day, Ry was at the hardware store buying the required supplies for a roomy 25-bat inhabitance. He and Gummy Bear spent most of the afternoon putting this beauty together. Bear is getting old enough that he really helps with little projects like this.


We only had one minor injury, quickly remedied by a bear bandaid.


Bear was very proud. Do you see the opening at the bottom? It's about 3/4 of an inch wide. That's how the bats get in because they can collapse their skeletons. Seriously.


And because we live in the northern part of the country, we have to paint or stain the house dark to help hold the heat.  It's drying in the basement, but we're going to get it up sometime this week. Apparently, the toughest part is actually attracting the bat. Once you have one though, others quickly follow. Our friend is willing to gift us a bat, but I have no idea how in the world we would get it from his house to ours.

In other news, I just used the phrase "our friend is willing to gift us a bat." Life is weird sometimes.

5 comments:

Becky said...

That's really cool! I hope it works. If your friend gifts a bat to you, you should definitely take pictures.

Cathy said...

How very Ry this project is!! One of my favorite things about visiting the in-laws in WI is that during a party (particular those that involve adult beverages) we will always enter in to the "bat in the house" tales that all Wisconsinites seem to have and end up laughing so hard we cry. Maybe you'll soon have these tales as well! Happy bat-hunting!

G'pa said...

Looking forward to a personal tour of the bat house in about 2 weeks!

Jo said...

20 bats may be overkill, but you can share with the neighbors. Cool project Dudes!!

Jube said...

Becky, as it turns out, it is both illegal and a really bad idea to move bats. So, we'll have to just hope some bats come and live in our house on their own.

 
Designed by Lena