Monday Morning with Bats, Ida, & My Beloved Pool

Remnants of Idea just landed in Gallatin Co, Kentucky and turned day into night. Lightning and Thunder just happened almost simultaneously.

Cats are scared and can’t seem to find anywhere good to hide because of the storm and all the workmen here. One peed on my table in the kitchen….. UGH…. That has never happened. That is plain old scared.

Bats are also upset. I have a 45’ cherry picker in my yard with two ole fool roofers on it. Now the bats have been waking up at night only to find their home has been closed. So the bats make their way downstairs and I have to perform military like moves to trap them into one room with an outside door to get them out of the house. Can’t wait for the bat houses to be installed.

And the pool got mad last week with a flash storm and turned green within about 4 hours. As an obsessive pool cleaner I was mortified. I drove uptown, bought six, 40 pound bags of pool salt and a shock treatment. Picture this—-An absolute crazed woman (me) furiously pouring all that salt into my pool and THEN, because I can’t let it settle on the bottom for fear of it eating through the liner, I’m brushing the bottom of the pool in a frenzy. Water is everywhere. I’m not in the pool, I’m at the perimeter with a giant pole brushing the bottom like I’m trying to resurrect Christ himself. Like if I brush fast enough through slow moving water – a miracle will happen and my pool will become blue again. I was soaked all the way through with my clothes on and this went on for two hours. I am not exaggerating when I say I burned 1,500 calories in about two hours because I tracked it on my Fitbit. Talk about hauling ass…. After all that, I gave it a shock treatment. And felt so badly about it. I felt like I was tasering my best friend. But the next day, she was blue again. And we spent hours together alone all day Saturday. So she knew I was here for her. (yes – still talking about the pool)…. So I can only guess after Ida remnants today, my little baby will want to act up again.

Impromptu (+ bats)

As I finish cleaning the pool, I hear my aunts voice coming through the yard. She had just finished book club and walked over to my house. She and I had a flurry of conversation topics. We went from shutter talk, to porch railings, to bat poop talk and then of course, saw a NOT baby bat hanging around.

Next thing I know, I’m getting her a ladder and she’s inspecting my windows and told me she bought copper chains so I’ll never have to replace the ropes in my old windows. (that was definitely not on my to do list….)

And then, my cousin Malinda shows up to chat. Somehow my night ended with me driving my aunt home four blocks and walking back barefoot because I didn’t have a chance to put on shoes.

And let’s not forget I’m knowingly sleeping in a home with bat poop and bats.

As if I’m not batty enough

While repair work continues on my 1869 home, the question has come up – What do I do with all my bats?

A bat house of course.

I didn’t know having a bat house on your home was even a thing. But since they eat mosquitoes I don’t want to kill them. I just need to rehouse the 100’s that are currently making my home, their home.

One of 100’s who claim 504 as their home.

My demise or my triumph

This house could be featured on a new reality television show. “What’s Wrong Now” grrrr

So the low flow light came on again on the pool pump. I tried fixing things …. nothing worked. I gave up and decided to turn it off and just wait. I turned it back on later and the whole thing had shut off. So I went over to the outlet and tried hitting reset. But it wouldn’t reset. The button just kept pushing back out.

Meanwhile, my HVAC was making really loud noises. So I turn off my AC just in case something is seriously wrong.

So I’m like maybe it’s the breaker. I go down in the cellar, which is normally bone dry, and it’s wet. Like there is a small puddle down there.

I try and ignore that (for the moment), and check out my breakers. All look fine. Nothing amiss. I switch some just to double check and yes, all is well.

I try to reset the outlet again…And still nothing.

So the pump to the pool isn’t working/turning on and I’m scared to turn on my HVAC cause it sounded like… We’ll have you ever seen the movie, A Christmas Story? When the dad goes down to fix the furnace and all these crazy noises are happening? That’s the sound my HVAC was making. It’s like the noise of angry kids clanging around.