A few little intruders

We have recently been graced by the presence of a few little friends around here. Some pleasant, and others, not so. The first to manifest itself was this little guy.Yes, that is a bat in out basement storage room. How is it that I cleaned that room from top to bottom a few weeks ago, and missed him hanging there on the wall? Well, I discovered him when I was getting some rarely used dishes for a gathering, and almost bumped it as I was rearranging things. I was a little freaked out, I must admit, but not so much as if I was a mouse or some other pest. I knew KC would be excited to see it. He has some fascination for bats since they are not considered pests and eat mosquitoes (giving them a special place in my heart too, but I still don't want them in my space). So he came down to survey the situation, and after a few "Whoa, cool." comments, we were starting to worry it would wake up and fly at us or something. But as we looked closer, we noticed the dust particles hanging from the poor guy, realizing he was probably dead, and had been for a while. Again, how did I miss him before? Anyway, KC made some sort of bat catching apparatus in case it was alive, and switched to a zip lock bag when there was no catching required. I'd be okay if his friends didn't pay us a visit any time soon.

Another visitor, that I quite enjoyed, but this floppy-eared friend. We think he lives in the rubble in the neighbor's yard (old tires, garbage cans, etc.). KC said he's seen a little bunny come in and out from time to time, but I first saw it when visiting relative of another neighbor knocked on my door asking if our bunny in the front yard should be put in a cage or somewhere it couldn't get hurt. I just told him that the bunny knew the territory and it was fine with us if he wanted to much on the weeds. His daughter came over to see it, and I couldn't resist a couple pictures. I like this one of his ear up because he did that when I made a little noise to get it's attention. He was so comfortable and let us go all the way up and pet it without being scared in the least. He's welcome around here anytime.

The third and final intruder I'll mention is little Iris. Okay, she was actually invited, but I wanted an excuse to write about this cute little girl. I've been babysitting Wade and IJ for over a year now, so I really feel like part of their family. I brought IJ here one day instead of staying at their house. She is starting to think about potty-training, so her mom got her these cute little undies to get her excited. She doesn't really want to wear them, but she does want to take them everywhere she goes. I love how when she came over, she was so excited about the little table I got, and went immediately to it, placing a pair of the underwear at each chair. Why?When I was making lunch, I caught her playing house (talking to herself) a few times, and popped my head in to see. Of course she smiled and got all shy, but she actually loves to get caught. When I was changing her very stinky diaper, I told her "Iris, this is so stinky! You should go in the potty so I won't have to do this anymore." To that, she pointed at the stinky diaper, and said, "I did that in you room." I loved that, but when I told her mom, we decided, that is when you know they are competent enough to understand the basics of potty-training. I also loved doing these braids in her hair. That day, she sat completely still and happy the entire time I did it. I just love how it naturally did the cute little Dorothy-esk curls at the ends. I just love her locks. And what is this wink?! That girl cracks me up. There's so much more to say about this cutie, but I'll stop here. Now, I wonder what other funny guests we'll have around here in the near future. I was just told that there will be some in mid-November. Namely, Amber and Melody! Hooray, they are welcome for sure!