I don't have a belfry; I have a bat box. In the early summer when the mosquitos descended upon us, Shawn bought a bat box. We mounted it on a tall post in our backyard, against Jenny's garage. Shawn, Jenny, and I looked at it hopefully for a few weeks. Summer, though, is not bat moving season. That's spring. We knew we weren't expecting residents anytime soon.
This past Saturday, a few friends came over for dinner. We sat in the backyard under our newly completed trellis munching tacos at twilight. Suddenly a small furry bit swooped through the yard. And again. And right into the bat box and out again. Shawn, Jenny, and I looked around with wide eyes and big smiles. "A bat!" we cried! "Hooray!" Our friends very likely think we're nuts. On Sunday morning, Shawn and I went out to the backyard and shined a dim flashlight up into the box, and there he was. One little bat hanging in the box, all wrapped up snug in his little wings. A halloween blessing to be sure. We politely extinguished the light and tip-toed away quietly.
* * *
It was a good weekend. On Friday night I finished a pair of pirate pants. They're everything I hoped they'd be. I took a pair of black capris that don't exactly fit my hips these days (damn things shrank a whole size in the wash suddenly...after I had had them for years...really...I swear) sliced them up both side seams, pounded in a whole bunch of grommets, and laced them up the sides with black elastic. Now they're rad. And moderately scandalous. Perfect. My pirate costume for this year includes exactly 150 grommets. Just call me Wallace and pass me some cheese. Saturday brought friends to call for Ana's famous tacos and games. (No, sadly Ana is not in town, but making her tacos is like having a little bit of her here with us. We miss you dearly, Ana my friend. Come home anytime.) Shawn and I finished up Saturday night with a Battlestar Galactica fest. Now I'm going to be tapping my toes impatiently until the postman brings me more discs from Netflix. I've become a total addict. (Note to Cow: Why oh why didn't I start watching this the instant you recommended it?) Sunday I decorated the yard for Halloween and I made myself a new cloak. I've been wanting one for dressier occasions. Shawn saw the bag of fabric come home from the fabric store.
"What's that?"
"New cloak."
"Ah," he said and paused for a moment. "Don't you have two cloaks?"
"Yep."
"So this would be three."
"Yep."
"I thought so."
"You realize that you have four yourself," I pointed out.
"Do I?"
"Yep. I made two of them myself." We counted together.
"Huh, I guess I do."
My husband has more cloaks than I do. Yet another reason why he's rad. Shawn had a creative project on Sunday as well. He spent all day making a incredible beef stew and baking homemade bread to go with it. I'm a lucky woman. Late Sunday night I sat down at the computer to do a little Crow work and puked out a poem instead. Surprised the heck out of me. I finished it up in time to watch the clock tick over to midnight. Hmm. Monday. Then I went to bed. A good weekend.