The photo here is not a dirt dauber’s nest. It is in the top of our breezeway between the garage and house entrance. That little dark blob is a bat.

About a half year ago, we were getting droppings in our breezeway every morning. Maureen swore it was rats. That didn’t make sense to me, but i went along with her assessment. i know better than disagree…she’s usually, usually, right. But we hired this guy to get rid of some gophers that had decided our slope was an attractive abode. As he was leaving one day, i asked him about the droppings. He got down on one knee, looked closely at the droppings and then, looked up. He pointed to the dark blob i thought was…yep, a dirt dauber’s nest, and said “bat.”

i asked him how to get rid of the bat. He said when the bat had gone out for his nightly rounds to paint the area where he slept at night. i waited until dark, saw the bat was on his rounds, got out my tallest ladder, and painted the area. i woke early and as first light was showing, checked the breezeway. The bat had returned. Then Maureen read about a concoction to spray in the area that the bat didn’t like, boiled water, sugar, and peppermint oil. The next evening, i sprayed. The bat went somewhere else. He was gone. We rejoiced.

Fast forward to about a week ago. Maureen came in one morning to report the bat was back on the other side of the breezeway top. She made another batch of the magic elixir. Last night, when our buddy had headed out, i sprayed. This morning we were elated when no bat was where i sprayed. About an hour later, Maureen came inside laughing.

“He’s back in his original hangout,” she laughed. i laughed with her.

Bat 2, Us 0.

Tonight, i will spray again. Wish us luck as i am thinking this could become an Abbott and Costello routine.

i wished Sarah were here. When she was young, she and i would often go to the zoo. She always wanted to first go to the bat exhibit, a large cage. We would watch the bats hang out for a while and hit some other places that day. But each time, we would always go to the bat cage first.

i was also enthralled when Sarah and Blythe took me to that bridge in Austin, Texas. It was famous for the thousands of bats that hung out underneath the bridge. When startled and they took off, it was a sight to behold.

i like bats and am just glad we only have one for competition.

As long as he’s only one.