bats

up until yesterday, i lived my life without fear of bats. now everything has changed.

last night i took iris and zoe down to the grassy gnoll #1, where we take them every day to do their business. when we arrived, i noticed something flash by in my upper periphery. i stopped to take a better look, and sure enough there were godforsaken BATS circling above. at first i thought it could be some crazy in love sparrows, but i heard the telltale "clap clap" that their ratty wings make while flying. all of a sudden something clicked, and i went from forgetting bats exist to being rather afraid of standing in that location while iris took forever to go to the bathroom. perhaps it was because i had exposed skin (tshirt weather) or maybe it was because they seeemed to get a kick out of flying low to the ground in circles that just missed my head by mere inches every 10 seconds or so. either way, i am not a fan! even doing a bit of "wisearch" (wikipedia research; said like a kid with a lisp) for this entry, i got squeamish: bats carry rabies and sars! bats bite humans! bats are flying rats! disgusting.

one another note, i find it extremely strange that our neighborhood is home to woodpeckers, bats, and praying mantis, among other things. i never would have expected to see so much fauna in a city, let alone in baltimore.