Deja Vu of the Nocturnal Animal Kind. This happened once before but apparently I didn't learn anything.

A close encounter of the nocturnal animal kind.

A bat got into my apartment last night. It was a stormy night with all the wind and whatnot. I wasn’t suspecting a thing until about 2:00 am, I heard the unmistakeable sound of something bumping up against the Venetian blind in my bed room.

Ironic, considering I had watched the Dark Knight with my kids earlier. I pretty much vibrated out of bed and into the living room where I retrieved my excalibur! (the kitchen broom). I turned on the lights and sure enough, this was a bat who took a wrong turn and was just looking for the exit.

He (I’m assuming it was a he as he didn’t stop to ask directions) flew in ovals in my living room so I opened my apartment door and the door to the porch across the hall. Ever mindful of my professional station, I just wanted him to find the door without my turning into Jim Lorentz (think about it aging Sabres fans).

Finally, after about four tries, he bounced off my broom and headed for the dark outside. I quickly closed the doors in a less than dignified manner for a man of my years and tried to not hyperventilate.

Given that it was raining, there is a slight leak in my living room ceiling and one of the building’s drains goes past my window, all those sounds seem to magnify immediately afterwards, rendering quality sleep an elusive thing after that.

“What if there is a second one???” “How the hell did the first one get in?” The mind races.

Of course, the rain outside the window, the leaky tub in my bathroom, and the leak the landlord is fixing this morning are all making greater impressions on mind at this point. Did the bat have a wingman?

Poking my broom stick into my closets (as I put every light in the place on) repeatedly reveal no other intruders.

Kept the broom by the bedside, just in case…

My apartment isn't bad, but the landlord took almost a year to repair water damage in my living room and the sun porch was unuseable during the entirety of last summer. I get a renewal notice that included another increase, including a raise for the parking garage. He must have a waiting list for that. There can't be an increase in expense there as the same two 15 watt bulbs illuminate it as when I moved in. If I had enough to do first and last months somewhere, I'd give some thought to maybe seeking other options, but I'm probably going to sign back up for another year.....sigh.