Grumpy Old Ganz
Don’t let a problem “work you”
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you played out a scene from a movie or cartoon in real life?
I began to laugh when I realized I was doing exactly that with a bat that had found his way into the house.
Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to remove critters nor will it be the last time. I’ve had encounters with squirrels, chipmunks, and other types of flying missiles.
I was totally unaware of the bat in the house. My pets alerted me that there was a foreign object flying around the house. With the lights off, I couldn’t see it, but for the next 15 minutes, I held a broom, swinging it, trying to swat at the bat. It was the first attempt of which would become many.
In the next few days, this scenario continued play out the same. Having absolutely no luck trying to trap the bat, I tried throwing a blanket over it, threw the broom, and other handy objects within reach, all to no avail.
As the days went by, the bat started to show up mid-afternoon flying around the house and would disappear into the kitchen.
How hard can it be to outsmart a bat? Clearly, he was much smarter than I.
This became a full-time job, as I tried thinking about the proper removal technique.
Finally...the right solution came to me…this time I did out-think this little black flying critter that was wreaking havoc in my house.
Waiting with bated breath for it to show up, and it did, I put my plan into action. Soon it entered the room and I closed all the exits. Having no escape route, I opened the front door, and out it flew!
It made me think of this quote by Steven Stennett, “Work the problem, don’t let the problem work you.”
Evidently, the bat was working me!