Sourie de Campagne's Open Salon Blog

Bats? Buh-Bye

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:11:30 -0500

Much has been made of white-nose disease and its damaging effect on bat populations. I say, "Let 'em go."

True, bats eat mosquitoes. Also true: You could live a lifetime and not meet one person who likes mosquitoes.

However. We're not killing bats through recklessness or callousness. We're not killing them at all. (On the contrary, we've enacted laws against harming the little rabies spreaders.)

If humans were responsible for wiping out these flying mammals, it would be only sporting to repair the damage as best we could. But, unlike countless other species, bats seem to be dying without our help. And unlike bees (beset by colony collapse), bats do nothing to keep us alive. So why rack our brains for ways to keep the little devils here?

You have to wonder whether scientists and conservationists would get up in arms over the potential demise of the rat or spider. Well, OK, scientists and conservationists probably would. But sympathy—let alone funding—might prove scarce.

We weren't around to intervene in the case of the dinosaur, and that worked out fine. Better than fine. They're gone and we're here, getting along quite well without 'em, thank you.

Buh-bye, winged freaks. It was frightening while it lasted, but it's time to send you flapping off into the sunrise.

Where Have I Been?

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:10:31 -0400

...Working on some blog items that aren't ready to go, but mostly deciding whether this still makes sense for me. I enjoy it, don't get me wrong; love the writing, the connecting, the...je ne sais quoi. But...time does not equal money. As the owner of a large, old, mouse-attracting house, I need to figure out what does.

Ciao for now, amis.

Green Mountain Haiku

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 16:09:00 -0400

Ears of corn for sale

At the gas station-market.

Only in Vermont.

She's Not There

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:07:27 -0400

I imagine the sun rose beautifully over the hills today. The weeds above the trellis had been cut back, I think, making for fewer bugs and therefore, fewer bats. My house, I hope, is empty.

Monday night, we made a production, D and I, of getting me to sleep early. It didn't work, and I got into the car on Tuesday morning and drove five miles before giving up. I didn't want to be a hazard on the road. Yesterday, worse. But I made coffee, psyched myself up for the trip and tried again. Failed again, too.

Have I mentioned the distance? Three and a half hours from where I usually live. Not impossible, surely. I'm used to that kind of driving; just not every week. And not in middle age. Maybe not since I smashed my Civic.

Longing for the mountains, the quiet, the birds, neighbors who know me by name. That, and a good night's sleep.

So...

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:07:56 -0400

...Do you think I was rude not to shake the pest-control guy's* hand after he'd picked up a mouse dropping and several other unidentifiable objects and rolled them around in his fingers?

*This is the new PC guy. The one I mentioned in an earlier post got divorced (as I also mentioned) and seems to have disappeared.