Bats, bats,and little boys

At first, Iwasn't bothered by thebats. I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me. Just the other day, I even told Joel that the noise they make is a type of "white noise" that helps me sleep when the power is out and the fans don't work.

But as in life, things change. Lately it seems as if they are reproducing or inviting their extended family to move into our trees. They now completely cover our largest tree and are expanding into nearby smaller trees. Joel was mentioning our issue to another missionary here, and he had a neat solution that worked for them...water balloons propelled by a water balloon launcher! He did testify that their bats left quickly but had been in his tree for less than 1 day. Apparently he shot at them as soon as they arrived. Ours have been here for months now and may be more difficult to blast away.

We decided that even if it didn't work, how much fun this would be! So, yesterday afternoon we called Seb (since David was away and Ruth was resting). It takes two adults to hold the rubber band and one to aim. It was fun...

and effective We shot several (about 1 dozen) balloons that hit the tree or a clump of bats. My guess is that about 6 made it over in the neighbors yard. I was hoping they were home so we could explain we weren't shooting at them but our bats. I am sure they won't mind (since I'm also sure they'd be happy without the bats) I just don't want to confuse them by the tiny pieces of pink, yellow, and orange rubber laying scattered around their yard.

It was fun and even the kids had a couple tries.

Since there were still some bats who avoided the water balloons, we thought of a couple other ideas to scare some away. I thought of causing vibrations in the tree trunk so maybe they'd leave because they home was shaking. Joel went and found our ax and hit it hard (several times). It didn't really work as well as I imagined it might. Joel wasn't very surprised that it didn't work, but isn't he sweet for humoring me?

Dade is the one who came up with the best plan. He went to the kitchen and came back with two pan lids. The bats did not like the rucous he made (can't say I blamed them). He has done it several times today as well with good results. I'll try to video tape it and see if we can upload it. It's fun to watch him.

The second cutes boy on our compound (Dade being the first, obviously) is Andrew. I tried and tried to get his picture but he wouldn't smile at me for anything. This is actualy a nice hint of a smile (but I took it after Dara walked away).

If you bring Dara nearby, his face lights up. They are good buddies.

She has tried to teach him to ride her scooter, but since he's only 20 months old it's been harder than she imagined. He loves to carry their scooters around and push them the best that he can, and so far there haven't been any serious injuries as a result of her lessons. So all is well... :)