Bats!

It's 10:25 PM. The oldest son is already in bed - he gets up every morning at 5:30 AM for band practice. Did I tell you he's drum major this year? It's so cool for him, really. He's the one on the right. I'll get a picture of him in his spiffy white uniform once marching season is in full swing. He's proud to be a band nerd. And I'm proud of him, too.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Son #2 is at hockey practice with his dad. He won't be home until after 11. I loathe this schedule. He's got football practice every day after school until 6. On Mondays and Wednesdays, he has hockey practice from 9:45 until 10:45! This is only the second week of school. Homework every friggin night. I don't know how long he'll be able to keep it up. Lucky for me, he is a very good student as well as a dedicated athlete. But this is his freshman year in high school, and he has chosen to take a very aggressive schedule with many pre-AP course. I know he can handle it, but can his body keep up with his mind?

Now..... about the bats. I was just out on the back porch. The neighborhood is quiet. About half a block away is a streetlight. From the back porch I have the perfect view of a bat swooping in on the bugs gathering under the light. The squeeking is unmistakable. I used to hate bats, but I've learned to appreciate them. We have a huge bat colony here in Round Rock. It's not as famous as the one in Austin, but it's very impressive. What's so impressive? Well, until you've driven down I35 at their time of mass exodus and seen the wave after wave of bats flying out, you can't appreciate it. It's just so cool. It was part of the elementary school curriculum when Greg was in 3rd grade. We all went to stand under the McNeil Street overpass and watched them leave one evening. It's creepy, and yet it's amazing.

So I've learned to love bats. They are actually a tourist attraction in Austin. The Congress Avenue Bridge attracts people every night the bats are here (from spring until fall) to watch the nightly exodus. Even our ice hockey team is called the Austin Ice Bats. Pretty cool, isn't it?

So I sit in the dark (I never turn on the back porch light) and watch a solitary bat ridding my neighborhood of flying pests..... and I can appreciate this ugly flying rodent for what it is. "What it is" is a pretty cool specimen of Mother Nature adapting to urban life.