Swimming with Bats
Jul. 29th, 2005 01:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gerisullivanThursday evening, the human denizens of Fanhihall left on their trip to the Worldcon Across the Pond. I decided to stay over another night before taking Baskerville north with me, and I finally made my way into the swimming pool shortly after 8pm. I'd only been meaning to go swimming ever since arriving Wednesday afternoon....
After I'd done a few laps, I was joined by a small bat who spent the next 10-15 minutes doing the same. It zoomed along the length of the pool before rising for the turn and another pass. It even touched the surface of the water on several passes. I'd guess it was bagging bugs; I can't imagine it would have found the chlorinated water very tasty. Most of its swoops bottomed out a good 12-15 feet away from me, but when its flight path angled a bit more in my direction, I decided I didn't want it any closer and splashed at the water from the corner of the deep end, where I'd been hanging out, enjoying the show. Making just that much noise worked. The bat moved on from the pool, coming back a minute or two later for another quick check, but no more surface swoops. There was a second bat flying about, and a third, but they stayed up at tree height rather than joining in the evening's poolside exercise program. The pool bat must have done at least 40-50 laps, and was much faster on every one than any of the couple of dozen slow laps I did.
Many thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batwrangler. Earlier visits to your bat wrangling tips and photo log pages added greatly to my enjoyment at the bats' presence, and to my informed caution as well.
After the bats left, a few fireflies came by. That was nice, too.
For a different kind of nice, I followed my swim with an indulgent soak in the new Jacuzzi and bubble tub here, followed by a shower and shampoo in the new over-sized shower with the three different shower heads. That cleared every bit of chlorine away and then some. Three cheers for bathroom renovations!
jamesb, if Irish Fandom had tubs and showers like these, their only reason for inventing Ghoodminton around the end of 1952/beginning of '53 would have been for the pleasure of washing the competitive sweat off after smashing (and being smashed by) their best friends and opponents. Just so you know I haven't forgotten That Project. I expect to send the file your way on Friday.
After I'd done a few laps, I was joined by a small bat who spent the next 10-15 minutes doing the same. It zoomed along the length of the pool before rising for the turn and another pass. It even touched the surface of the water on several passes. I'd guess it was bagging bugs; I can't imagine it would have found the chlorinated water very tasty. Most of its swoops bottomed out a good 12-15 feet away from me, but when its flight path angled a bit more in my direction, I decided I didn't want it any closer and splashed at the water from the corner of the deep end, where I'd been hanging out, enjoying the show. Making just that much noise worked. The bat moved on from the pool, coming back a minute or two later for another quick check, but no more surface swoops. There was a second bat flying about, and a third, but they stayed up at tree height rather than joining in the evening's poolside exercise program. The pool bat must have done at least 40-50 laps, and was much faster on every one than any of the couple of dozen slow laps I did.
Many thanks,
batwrangler. Earlier visits to your bat wrangling tips and photo log pages added greatly to my enjoyment at the bats' presence, and to my informed caution as well.After the bats left, a few fireflies came by. That was nice, too.
For a different kind of nice, I followed my swim with an indulgent soak in the new Jacuzzi and bubble tub here, followed by a shower and shampoo in the new over-sized shower with the three different shower heads. That cleared every bit of chlorine away and then some. Three cheers for bathroom renovations!
jamesb, if Irish Fandom had tubs and showers like these, their only reason for inventing Ghoodminton around the end of 1952/beginning of '53 would have been for the pleasure of washing the competitive sweat off after smashing (and being smashed by) their best friends and opponents. Just so you know I haven't forgotten That Project. I expect to send the file your way on Friday.
