One hell of a day with chickens and bats

My day didn't really start yesterday until I pulled into the driveway after a busy morning at work and an afternoon doctor's appointment.

This is just how life is for most families ....

What greeted me in the driveway that was less than typical was one of our chickens walking funny (and no, it wasn't Lucy). After a closer look at Una, I realized the problem.

WARNING: Continue reading at your own risk. I would suggest putting down the food you're snacking on at your computer right now!

Una hadn't been taking care of herself and had so much crusted poop on her tailfeathers, she couldn't walk straight.

Bizarre but unfortunately, true.

I walked into the house, dumped my backpack and lunch box, rounded up the kids, changed into old clothes and grabbed some rubber gloves to set about giving Una a good soak in the water to clean her up.

She lost a few tail feathers in the end but she was walking more normally.

Mission accomplished.

Unfortunately the fun wasn't over at our house just yet.

Around 8 p.m. L. and I were sitting at the kitchen table reading our books and snacking on ice cream when something flew by us.

We both had a delayed reaction in coming to the realization that it wasn't an oversized moth or small bird.

Nope, it was a bat.

After she and I screamed, L. dove under the table so fast she did a number on her back.

She said she was so surprised she couldn't get under the table fast enough.

I went under the table with her (see I admitted it Fino!) while G. hid behind the counter. That's when Fino came fuming into the room yelling at me about the reason the kids are always so afraid of everything -- I overreact.

I mumbled some less-than-complementary words about husbands under the table before yelling at him to get rid of the (insert expletive here) bat.

Unfortunately the bat went MIA and the kids and I decided to take our reading material into the bedroom while Fino started looking around the house.

It turned out Toddy - the blind as a bat cat - found the bat hanging (literally) on the window in the kids' playroom and was meowing at it.

Apparently he has bionic hearing.

Our Hero!

Fino tried to catch the bat then gave that up and opened a window. With some active redirecting, the bat flew out of the house a few minutes later.

Ever had *one of those days?*

Bat in the house: Kids share the experience