Pole Dancing In The Dark

Well, lookie at that

I just realized that I had a blogiversary coming up... so I went looking through all my old archives and realized that I didn't have one coming up, it is today. So, Happy Blogiversary to me. For four years I have been online journaling/blogging whatever you want to call it. It seems impossible that it was so long ago, It seems impossible that it was only four years. How the world has changed, how I have changed, how life has changed.

All those old journals are now just mere memories. I archived the entries and deleted each one. (Well, I didn't archive the blogspot one.) I have kept in touch with some of the people that I met at my first journal site, including (and most importantly) Linda and her hubby.

I could recount how displaying my life in such a public way has influenced the way I look at myself and my writing, but it would all be a lie. It hasn't, other than pissing some people off, scaring some away or getting to know new virtual friends. So, I guess it isn’t a complete lie. I’ve traveled far to meet some wonderful people and met up with others in my hometown. Each experience has given me a different way to assess my life and myself as well as the world around me. Each meeting has left me a richer woman.

But enough sentimental blathering. I have decided (as was tradition long ago) to post the very first journal/blog/online diary entry I have ever written.

DediCATed to my bat chasing muse, the one that got it all started.

From August 1, 2001:

Much to my amazement, there was a bat in my belfry this morning. No, seriously... well, ok... attic is probably a more appropriate description. Now, this is not the first time I have ever seen a bat, but it was the first time I had ever seen one so close... and most certainly the first time I have ever seen my prim and proper but dysfunctional part Siamese cat chasing one. But I guess since a bat is just a mouse with wings, she was just heeding her call to of the wild. Which is fine, except I don't want to have to be the one cleaning up the mess if she ever actually caught it. Nor would I want to clean up the guano from some obscure hard to reach corner. Nor would I want to have to find it by following my nose to some teeny crack in the drywall after it started decomposing... so the choice seemed very simple to me...

wake up the hubster, and make him take care of it...

Now, mind you, I am not one of those helpless female types that goes screaming everytime an uninvited guest happens into our happy home... I kill my own spiders, thank you very much, but since men are born as the hunter/gatherers of the tribe, I felt it was his job to corral or kill the offending party. To be honest though, neither one of us were big on killing the helpless little creature, because it may not have known the rules. He might have not taken the left turn at Albuquerque like he should have, but by no means does that warrant the death penalty. (besides, we have more offensive invited guests... and we haven't killed any of them... yet... but none of them are worthy of us spending jail time on anyway.)

Hubster was still half asleep when I exclaimed that our petite kitty was chasing a bat, and jumping around like a lunatic to try to catch it (which was the whole reason I even investigated the attic) and he thought that I was being delusional... it was, after all 5 AM in the morning. But once he verified the supposed sighting, he got dressed and shut himself and kitty in the attic with our little rodent guest. He said he just wanted to catch it and let it loose outside and I did agree with him... but... what if the damn thing had rabies? Is the little guy worth getting a series of shots in the stomach? (Do they even do that anymore?) And at that point, the critter would have to be killed anyway.
So, after knocking the poor thing senseless with one of my dress shoes (trust me, you could take out a grown man with one of my shoes) and then losing it for a few minutes, my husband called down to me to come up with a flashlight and help him look for it.
I got dressed
grabbed the flashlight
went up the stairs, and spotted it right away.
In the darkest corner, behind the cat toys.
I pointed it out to him and he kept saying
"No, that is just the toy mouse they keep hiding. You bought it and gave it to them."
"Yes, and I am telling you right now that you cannot confuse one of the toys with a bat. They don't have wings, and they are all plaid... this one is brown."
he pushed the object in question with a piece of packing foam rubber, and it turned and started making this indescribable noise. Hubster turned and looked at his rather smug wife at this point, then picked up a 2 x 4. Well, we all know the end of this story... poor little guy...
We both feel really bad about it.
But the cat was rather arrogant the rest of the morning...

Posted by Ethne at August 1, 2005 06:21 PM