Batmitton

It's almost spring. The snowdrifts are melting, and there is green grass underneath! Yaaaay, I can hardly wait. I must get out the ladder, though, and climb up to block a hole in the eaves of my house. It lets the bats enter my attic, then they sometimes make their way into the house.
I hate those things. I know they are good for the environment, but they're not good for my heartrate. The place was totally infested with them when we moved here. They migrate south in winter, but always return to their same hangout in summer up here in the north. Our house had rough pine lap-board siding on in, which provided an inviting roost for the vermin. It sounded like they were having a convention in there. Smelling worse than rats, they were making a big stink.
One of the first things I had the kids do after we got settled in, was to get up there and remove that siding. We have a walk-out basement on the east side of the house, so my son was up in the tractor bucket and my daughter was running the bucket controls from the seat of the tractor. JD would pull a board off the side of the house and the bats would pour out and swoop down on Jesi, as she swatted at them with her hat. What a fright.
I used to keep a ball cap and a badmitton racket by my bed. Often at night, after the lights went out, I'd hear swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, then I'd grab my hat and racket and take in after the bat. We had found a racket was the best way to get them. One little whack, and down they came. My son said we had invented a new game, Batmitton.
I was glad when we finally got them pretty much flushed out and I sealed up the attic. I killed two of them in the house last summer, however, so I was looking to see where they were getting in and I noticed one little board off the eaves. It doesn't have to be very big. Those darn things can flatten themselves out and go through a hole about a half-inch wide.
They'll be back around about April, so I've got a few weeks.