Crazy Week!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. It has been crazy at my house this week. Our roof was finished yesterday.

Now the paint looks 10 times worse than it did, and it looked bad before. Painting will be our next project.

In addition to the roof and insulation project, which lasted 3 1/2 days, the semester began at the College on Monday so my husband and I are back to work. School began for our son on Tuesday. For some reason he didn't get off the bus at his stop on Tuesday afternoon so we lost him for about 20 minutes. A parent's worst nightmare and this is the second time we have lost our child. (He was three the first time and I still get shaky just thinking about that experience.) Anyway, he was fine, just really confused and had no idea that he was even lost.

We had to completely empty our attic storage space so that they could do the spray foam insulation so we have boxes and bins of stuff every where waiting to go back into the storage area. The insulation project was pretty messy - dusty - so I have lots of cleaning to do and no motivation to do it.

I did get to do a little stitching this afternoon.

I am almost finished with my little Joy ornament.

I am really liking this one! I think it's a little large for an ornament but I can fix that. This one was just my prototype anyway.

Roof and Insulation Work Begins Today

The old roof is coming off today. We'll hopefully get the new roof tomorrow. They also started pulling out the moldy, falling down insulation in the attic space.

What is all that black stuff? Guano! Bat poop! Words are inadequate to express the grossness of this image. We are getting spray foam insulation to replace the old fiberglass. Along with a new properly installed roof, this insulation will, they claim, seal all the cracks so that bats can't get in to the attic next year.

Rectangles Sampler Quilt

Here is the completed Rectangles Sampler quilt.

And a picture of the back too because I always like to see the back of quilts.

My family and I will be going out of town this weekend so I may not be able or willing to post again until next week. We are going to Durango, CO for a family reunion (husband's mother's side of the family). I've only briefly met three people (not including my husband's mother who won't be attending) from this side of the family and that was over 10 years ago. So I'm not sure that it qualifies as a "reunion" for us. However, it should be fun.

At the very least, we will get a break from our bat situation. By the way, just one bat got in the house last night. We stood outside as they started coming out for the night and saw one spot along our roof where a few came out. My husband had a can of Great Stuff in the garage and he sprayed that in the hole and in all similar holes he could reach without climbing onto the roof. It was raining and I didn't want him to get up on the roof last night because the rain might make our metal roof too slick.

When will this end?

Two more bats in the house tonight! That makes 6 bats in four nights. I am really over this! The two tonight must be ones that didn't make it out last night. The newspaper seemed to keep them out last night. This afternoon Tony got back on the roof to inspect and reinforced a few places with duct tape. Our research said that bats can live no more than a week without getting out to feed, but if I have to live through another week of this I'll be batty (pun intended).

We've called a few roofing companies about replacing the roof and installing proper anti-bat devices. So far one is coming next week to give us an estimate. We do not want to replace the roof until the bats have left for the season. Now that we've kicked them out we don't want to rip off the roof and risk having them all move in again before the new roof is installed.

Actually, just a properly installed roof will prevent bats from moving in. We found out today from a neighbor that the previous owner installed this roof himself using a discarded old roof. Many of the modifications and alterations he made the this house are ... how shall I put this? ... questionable, at best. Now that I know he installed this roof himself, it is definitely coming off. Ugh, I see dollar signs attached to this project.

The Morning After

We had no more bats in the house last night after we went to bed - two was two too many. At times I felt like we were under siege. The bats were trying to get in by flying at the windows. We could see and hear them trying to get in along the roof where Tony put the newspaper.

They managed to pull out some of it but we can't hear them upstairs under this point of the roof so fingers crossed that they moved somewhere else. Hopefully, to an entirely new address and not just somewhere else at our house.

One of the two bats that did get in the house is laying dead (as a warning to other bats) in the road in front of our house.

We didn't intentionally try to harm him. I was standing on the front porch holding the door open and Tony was trying to herd him toward the open door, but he wouldn't fly out! Tony had to catch him in the net and he didn't survive the experience. I don't mind having them in the area because they eat mosquitoes, but the living room is a bit too close for comfort!

Bat Update

The newspaper along the ridge line of the roof is working! We've been outside several times tonight to check and the little guys are trying unsuccessfully to get back in. Unfortunately, a few individuals were late risers this evening and got trapped. Two found other ways out through the kitchen into the living room. Two bats in the house in less than 30 minutes is unnerving to say the least!

If I wasn't so scared and freaked out by this it would be funny. I am "barricaded" in the guest room (door shut and quilt on the floor blocking the space under the door), sleeping with a badminton racket and one of our house phones downstairs. My husband is upstairs in our bedroom (right under the bat zone) with the other phone and another racket. We've closed the hallway door that separates the living room, dining room and kitchen from the bedrooms and upstairs tonight and I put a towel on the floor blocking the space under the door.

At about 2 am last night I went to the bathroom and I saw a bat flying in the hallway. By the time I worked up the nerve to reopen the door, I couldn't see the bat. I had to be really brave and go upstairs to get my husband up. We looked for an hour but could not find the bat. My sweet husband was so tired last night (and didn't believe I had really seen a bat since we couldn't find it) but he looked high and low throughout the house for it. We even woke up Parker checking his room. Tonight, I've got my racket to defend myself and a phone to call for back-up. This is war!

Rectangles Quilting motifs 1

I am working on the binding and label for my rectangles quilt. It is all quilted. I've taken photos of each rectangle to show you the quilting motif I used. I opted to just stipple the border and sashing.

Here are the first four rectangles.

Bed of Roses

Cucumber Vine

Daisy Chain

Pebbles

Some of these motifs I got from Leah Day's filler design project and some are my own design or popular designs. I'll show you more tomorrow.

In other news: We had another bat in the house on Saturday night and my husband was not home!!!! I ended up getting a neighbor to come help me get the bat out of the house. We are at our wit's end with this problem. We've made numerous calls to the local Animal Control Department and Department of Wildlife. They either won't help or won't return our calls for help. This does not meet the fire code but at this point I don't care. It is not a permanent solution.

My "bat man" is stuffing newspaper in the holes. He did most of the ridge line today but left places for them to get out tonight. After the bats have left this evening he plans to get back on the roof and fill in the rest of the gaps. You can see the sorry state of the paint on this roofing in the photo. When the roofers come to repaint/repair/replace the roof, we will have them install a proper filler to keep out the bats. Until then, I hope this works!

Gone Batty update

No bat tonight but I'm still sleeping down in the guest room. I got a tip, the name of a person I know (well, the father of a friend of Parker whom I have met), who works at the local Division of Wildlife. I will be giving him a call real soon.

Gone Batty

Have you ever been to Carlsbad Caverns or a similar spot at dusk to see the bats leave for the evening? Well, we don't have to go any where to see this sight. It happens every evening for a few weeks each summer right here at our house. We have a colony of bats that has moved in. They used to live underneath the flashing on our chimney until 2 years ago when my husband plugged up the gaps. So they moved into the ridge line of our house! Ever since I have been asking my husband to do something about the problem. The situation came to a head about dusk last night.

My son and husband were reading bedtime stories while the cat and I were watching TV. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something fly into the kitchen and then down the hallway. I turned toward the hallway just as it was coming back. IT WAS A BAT!! I jumped up, screamed and ran out the front door. My husband came running out to the living room. He said he thought that men with guns must have broken into the house by the way I screamed. I yelled at him through the screen door that there was a bat in the house. I didn't really need to tell him that because the bat was flying around the living room and dining room looking for a way out.

I stood outside while my husband shut doors trying to trap the bat. I'll spare you the details. Actually I don't know many of the details because I was outside. It took him about 15 minutes to trap it with our sons bug catching net and a magazine over the opening. He let it go outside and we tried to resume our normal routine. I slept downstairs in the guest room last night though because I just couldn't relax enough to go to sleep upstairs.

So how did the bat get inside? We aren't sure, but we have a theory. Our house is technically classified as a 1.5 story house. Which means that because of the steep pitch of the roof, only half of the upstairs is usable space. On either side of the house there is about 6 feet of space by the length of the house that is just storage space. To access this area the previous owners finished the upstairs using pine walls. At various places there are knot holes that you can put your finger through and pull to reveal a hidden door that accesses the storage area. We are guessing that it came through one of these holes. They have all been sealed now.

I am trying to find someone who can safely remove the bats, clean up the mess I'm sure they have created and then seal the openings so they can't get back in. The closest company I have found so far is located in Colorado Springs (about 120 miles away). I have contacted them but have not gotten a response yet. I don't know if they are willing to come this far. We called our local Division of Wildlife last week about the problem but you have to leave a message and they have not called back either! At this point I don't know what more we can do.

My son and husband are planning to go camping Wednesday and Thursday night. Normally, I would be eagerly anticipating their departure. In light of recent events, I'm not sure I want to left home alone! I will probably be completely stressed out at dusk tonight. I'm not sure I can handle a bat in the house two nights in a row.