I’m just back from a week away visiting family in Michigan. Peter, of course, had to stay here to care for our 26 chickens, 9 goats, 1 dog, 1 cat, and innumerable plants. And, oh yeah, do a little paid work too.

I had a great time during my whirlwind trip (from a suburb of Detroit to the Upper Peninsula to the northwestern Lower Peninsula and back to Detroit), but today I got to snuggle chickens (well, only the couple who will let me snuggle them), kiss goat noses, bury my face in cat belly fur, and be kissed by a dog whose little stump of a tail was wagging so hard that his entire body wiggled.

I arrived home last night at around 11 pm (that’s 2 am in the time zone that my body had finally adjusted to), ate the delicious dinner that Peter had prepared, and tumbled into bed at midnight. A short while later we were both awakened to the sounds of the cat chasing something and the dog barking madly.

Just as I was contemplating looking to see whether the cat was after a mouse or only a moth (we ? and the cat ? sleep on a mattress on the floor of our loft; any prey larger than a moth would need to be dealt with), I felt something scurry across my (naked) chest.

It was far lighter than than the cat would have been.

I sat straight up in bed and said, “I think a rat just ran across my chest!”

Peter grabbed a flashlight and shined it toward the sounds of pouncing. It took a minute to figure out what we were seeing: on the floor at the foot of our mattress was an upside down bat.

Anu was pouncing on it and it was making weird little noises. Somehow it was able to right itself and fly away to hang near the ceiling on the other side of the room.

Peter then had to climb the ladder, maneuver the bat into a box, and take it outside to let it go. I got to sit in bed and hold the cat, and watch the whole thing through my haze.

The little guy was pretty cute, and made all sorts of ferocious bat noises at us. I wish one of us would have thought to take a picture, but at that point I think we both only wanted to get back to sleep.

That was definitely a first ? we’ve never had one in the house before. We’re guessing he came in through the attic. I’m sure he was just as stunned at finding himself trapped inside of a house as we were at his presence. Anu gets props for being such a good huntress, though we’d really like to keep the bats around and would prefer that she stick to the occasional mouse or rat.

It sure is good to be home.

(No, that’s not sarcasm ? I love all of the random encounters we get to experience out here!)