You can't fool me. That's the sun!

Yes, it finally stopped being gray and chilly and turned gorgeous today, and what better way to celebrate it than to lay out in the sun for a while, then hop on the Harley and go adventuring, and out to dinner? It was beautiful, and we ended up exploring all kinds of back roads -- is there anything better than being the only one out on the road in the country, with breathtaking scenery and the wind in your hair? -- and the warm breeze was heady with the scent of some kind of sweet olive tree that grows wild and smells like a mix of wisteria and honeysuckle. Oh..my..god.

And then, when we got back tired and happy, and were hanging out in the living room watching TV, I start seeing cats heading with purpose into the dining room, which is right off the living room. I don't think anything of it, as I figured they saw something intriguing out the window and wanted a closer look.

Wrong.

We're laying there all sprawled out and all of a sudden, this...creature comes swooping into the room, circles and I'm looking straight at it and said, "Hey that's a bird! No! Hey! That's a BAT!" and you never saw two people roll off couches and onto the floor so fast in your life.

Here's where it gets very Three Stooges yet again. Total chaos, with us scrambling and cats zooming everywhere, and the bat totally freaked . Now, I like bats (it used to be just in theory till I moved here and they started coming in, and now I'm happy to say that I still don't want them hurt, even when they're swooping panicked around my living room) so I'm yelling "I need a bowl! Get me a tupperware bowl and a piece of cardboard!" because I wanted to catch it under the bowl, slide the cardboard underneath and tote it outside.

Only we don't have tupperware bowls at the ready, so my boyfriend grabs the Cool Whip container we just emptied eating strawberries and whipped cream (YUM) and I rip the back off one of my notebooks and I'm yelling "Open the door! Open the door!" thinking the bat will realize freedom is only a wing away and zoom out...but it doesn't.

Instead, I go down to my knees to avoid a very close facial encounter, then it zooms over and lands behind the TV.

Of course.

So I'm yelling "Don't let the cats out!" at my boyfriend who's holding open the door, "Don't touch that bat!" at the cats who really want in on the action, "I'm not going to hurt you!" at the bat and moving wires and amps and guitars to try and find the poor little bat who was NOT happy to be found.

Luckily, the Cool Whip container was perfect and the poor bat was so terrified it was easy to slide the cardboard gently underneath him, and toss him back out into the night.

Talk about an adrenalin spike. It was very cool, and we were laughing so hard we almost fell right back off the couches again. 

Did I mention I caught my first fish the other day? Catch and release, baby.  It was fun, but I'm better at hanging out enjoying the scenery and thinking up book plots while someone else fishes.