I do love the fact that the farm has a variety of wildlife.  We love watching the deer wander through and stop for drink by the stream.  The rabbits are a bit frisky right now, chasing each other and playing some version of leap frog in the back yard.  The birds start chirping early in the morning and have alleviated any need for an alarm clock.  It’s a lively place.

A little too lively.

About two weeks ago, I noticed some “clutter” on our front porch.  For a moment, I thought maybe it looked like droppings, but it seemed an unlikely place for a rodent, adjacent to our front door.  I looked up into the rafters, and there was nothing there – so I swept it away.  The next day there was more, and then more.

When my daughter arrived for dinner one night, I showed her our new curiosity.  “Bats,” she proclaimed.

BATS!  Nesting between the roof of the porch and the exterior (thank goodness) wall of the house.  Mind you, they’d have to get through 18 inches of stone to get INTO the house, but still, between the porch roof and the exterior of the house is just too close for comfort.

I used to like sitting on the front porch.

I’ve asked Chris to seal that space with “Great Stuff” or barbed wire or whatever it takes to keep them out of there.  He thinks it’s cool that we have bats and is happy to sit on a mosquito free porch.  I’d rather have mosquitoes.

We’ve compromised.  I’ll get a bat house that we can mount on a tree on some part of the farm that I NEVER visit, and this winter, when the bats are gone – he’ll seal up that space so that they can’t return there.

In the meantime, I’m only sitting on the porch in a hoodie sweatshirt and long pants.