With my head bobbly from the spiderweb assault before I hit The Devil's Playground, I returned to the Mansion intent on carrying in my groceries, and relaxing critter-free over some Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels.
First, upon parking T-Hoe in the garage, I had to fulfill my cat kibble duty. The dogs had not been around for
WHOOPSIE!
Something dark dived at my head and then up into the rafters of the garage! Sweet Gummi Mary! I was sure it was that bat that used to hang there in the louvered vent. The Pony liked pointing it out to me every day, lest I forget. Surely that bat had gone to the big cave in the sky by now! It's been two years since The Pony lived at home.
I opened the people-door so I had an escape, and looked up into the rafters to see the attacker.
No, it was not the Igloo cooler on Farmer H's shelving. Nor the box that is most likely filled with oily rags waiting to spontaneously combust. It's up there on the white wires, where the trusses are held together with one of those metal gusset plates.
This is not a good picture, but short of finding a ladder and coaxing my knees to climb it, that's as zoomed-in as I could get for a photo. Unfortunately, this critter got all bashful and folded up. It's not a bat at all.
It's a BUTTERFLY!
A beautiful black and blue butterfly. As big as a bat. You can't tell from the picture, but it was at least 5 inches across, all spread out. If you scroll down to see the picture at this link, that's what it looked like. A picture also popped up when I googled limenitis arthemis butterfly.
I didn't do a lot of research on it, because I don't want to know if it's just a moth state of some creepy grub worm.
I don't recommend any of you chasing a bat-butterfly up into the rafters of our garage. You'll pierce your non-decapitated noggin on those nails sticking through the roof!
12 comments:
ah the case of the killer butterfly solved. thank sweet gummi mary (whoever she is)
Well at least you got swooped by something pretty, probably he or she was just saying "hello, welcome to my lair".
yevisha,
Here's the story of Sweet Gummi Mary...
When I taught the at-risk students, I took in snacks for my 1st Hour class. Nothing fancy. Just stuff my kids didn't want at home. I had a bag of Gummi Bears that were not very soft any more. One of the students asked if he could put some in the microwave, on a paper plate, to make them easier to chew. I said okay.
The student took his snack out and sat down to do his work, while I was helping another student. Then he said, "I can't eat this! It's Mary and the baby Jesus!" He showed the plate around. I DID look like a woman with a scarf on her head, holding a baby in her arms.
The student wanted to take a picture, but phones were against school rules back then, so I denied him. I really wish I had a picture now! Anyhoo...as class went on, that student started picking at his masterpiece, and eventually ate most of the Gummi Mary. "I was hungry!" he said. Then he unceremoniously tossed the rest of her in the wastebasket.
That's where I get the expression, "SWEET GUMMI MARY!"
***
River,
It was much better than a bat!
We have bats. I like bats. They eat mosquitoes. My bats come from Graham's Cave, about a mile west of us. They feed here and then go back to the cave where they sleep and poop. I don't want bats in my house or out buildings, though. Once, while floating in the pool one evening (in our early years here) a bat swooped down about an inch from my face and snatched up a mosquito intent on drawing my blood. A little close for comfort, but I did enjoy a bite-free swim.
Thanks for explaining where "Sweet Gummi Mary" came from. I thought I was the only one who didn't know!!
well thank you for clearing that up as i've often wondered about the expression. yes, i wish you had taken a photo too. :)
Kathy,
I might have flipped out and flipped over and drowned! You are SO BRAVE!
Our in-town neighbor, next to my $17,000 house, told us about his daughter's problem with bats. She was married, living somewhere in mid-Missouri, and found out her house had bats in the attic. They were PROTECTED bats, and she couldn't get rid of them. I think maybe she had to hire bat specialists to relocate them. Can't remember, it was a long time ago, and all I thought at the time was, "Better her than me!"
***
fishducky and yevisha,
A long, long time ago I wrote about it on one of my old blogs. I think I even had a picture of my recollection of the Gummi Mary. An artist's rendering, in pencil, on notebook paper. It would take too long to find it now, since I use that expression often, and googling wouldn't be much help. If I ever run across it, I will re-post.
a long, long time ago when my husband was alive, we had fried chicken for tea. i went into the bathroom to wash my hands and just felt like something or someone was watching me. i looked up. nothing. so later when i went into the bedroom what did i see but a bat. yes, a bat in the suburbs of adelaide. well, we had to get the neighbour, who was brought up on a farm, to save us. she caught it and put it in a bird cage on the veranda. i thought my daughter could take it to school for show and tell and then let it go, but, when i went out there in the morning it had gone. i guess everyone has a bat story. lol
yevisha,
You were lucky to have a bat-catching neighbor!
Thanks for the Sweet Gummi Mary explanation. I'd been wondering too. @Yeshiva, hello fellow Adelaidean. Bats are a fairly common sight in the Eastern suburbs at dusk for a few nights in early spring or late autumn, I can't remember exactly when since I live in a different suburb now.
I meant Yevisha, I spelled it wrong :(
hi river. I knew you were Australian but didn't know you were from Adelaide. I've seen a few around but usually around trees at night. lots in cairns when we were there. my dil loves them.
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