Going Batty

I have been seeing on several blogs lately where they are posting mantels and houses which display Halloween decorations. I have a couple of jack-o-lanterns, a cute little ghost cookie jar, a cloth witch with an apron that holds candy. All tastefully done and cute as can be.

When the kids were little and had friends over, we would go the fake cobweb route with a few plastic spiders. We had the skeleton and black cats.

But one thing I've seen in home decor this year that I never used was Bats. Decorating with bats? Not a-gonna happen with this old gal. I can handle a lot of things and can chase a mouse or kill a spider. But I cannot and will not ever be attracted to bats.

When I was a little girl and Daddy wanted to get us to come in at dusk in the summertime, he would tell us about bats and what attracted them. One thing he would tell us (because we were out there playing ball) was that if we threw the ball too high, the bats radar would detect it and it might swoop down toward the ball. Of course, then Jack and Andy had to throw the ball in the air to see if it worked. Well, that was all I needed to hear. Bath time here I come.

Then when I was 20 and pregnant with my twins, I lived in the 3rd floor attic of an old house that had been converted into three apartments. We had an outside entrance and climbed 2 flights of stairs to get to our apartment. The stairwell was lit by one small bulb. We came home late one night and when we opened the door and started into the stairwell, a bat flew out and zoomed low over our heads. I freaked out. I'll never know what kept me from going into labor or why my kids weren't scarred for life.

So I guess you can see why I do not have any fondness whatsoever for bats. I will not ever consider buying a bat for a decoration for anything. Too freaky for me.