This one was written on Wednesday night and posted early today prior to us going to the airport. For all I know it is the last thing I will ever write. Airplanes crash on occasion, but far less than we imagine. Human beings are very bad at assessing the probability of bad things. It is curious to see what makes us fearful; we tend to pick and choose or fears and put more fear onto improbable events while not being wary about what is hazardous. For example: statistics show we are far more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident on the way to the airport than from the plane crashing. I continually see patients who refuse a medication on the grounds there is a chance of a certain side effect, but smoke cigarettes. They also buy lottery tickets, whose odds are miniscule, hoping this will pay off. This drives me bats.
Then there are the phobias. Nothing is so queer as another person’s phobia. I go into hysterics seeing a large spider but a scorpion in the just-opened drawer only evokes annoyance and outrage. Let’s talk about bats. Many people are frightened of bats. There is approximately 1 to 2 bat attacks per year for the entire North America continent* in contrast to tens of thousands of yearly dog attacks. You get the point. I happen to think bats quite cute if not downright comical. The dear little fuzz puppets! They eat massive amounts of insects every night (thank you!) and they fertilize agave plants. Every time I have tequila I raise my glass in thanks to some faraway bat for my drink. I would love to set up a bat house in the backyard but Someone is one of those types bats give him the heebie-jeebies.**
If you believe all the Mrs. Kravitzes on the neighborhood app, our quiet district is overrun with burglars and strange men driving around in white vans. The streets are full of javelinas. coyotes, rattlesnakes, and liberals wanting to take away the guns. To avoid pending doom it is best to barricade ourselves in with six months supplies of toilet paper and ammunition. Oh the horror.
Marie Curie said “Nothing in life is to be feared but understood”. I wish I had a similar quote for putting risk-assessment in perspective. One could easily argue all of life is a risk. As soon as we rise in the morning we face hazards all day long, starting with slipping on the way to the loo and chocking on our morning coco-puffs. This weekend I face air travel, highway travel, a nearby beehive, and right-wing Michiganders running around unvaccinated and heavily armed. There are little brown bats in the woods around Brother #3’s place. They are the least of my worries.
*Turns out these are almost always the bat biting in self-defense as someone was trying to grab or hit them with a broom. The bats are right to do so.
**When I lived in Chicago I put up a bat house in my backyard. When the neighbors questioned it, I told them it was for woodpeckers.
39 comments
October 21, 2021 at 3:53 AM
Colonel Panic
Not really on topic, but I bought a lottery ticket last week. Top prize was £184,000,000. I won £3.50.
October 21, 2021 at 8:02 AM
Urspo
hot puppies!
I have never bought a ticket given the odds.
October 21, 2021 at 4:00 AM
Jennifer Barlow
We see bats all the time in the warm months, swooping around just as the sun sets. I love them because I know they’re eating mosquitoes!
Enjoy your trip and your visits with family.
October 21, 2021 at 8:02 AM
Urspo
I am waiting for the boarding; mercifully there has been no ructions.
October 21, 2021 at 4:19 AM
David Godfrey
I would prefer to not see bats, there is a noisy little dog down the hall that I see weekly who is a much greater threat to my safety.
October 21, 2021 at 8:03 AM
Urspo
Stats show the dog is more likely to cause mayhem than the fledermouses.
I advise popping the pooch into a pie; they make fine eating.
October 21, 2021 at 4:22 AM
Moving with Mitchell
I love bats, but not when they get indoors (as one did while we dined at an upscale restaurant in DC years ago). Scorpions and tarantulas terrify me. But I’ll take any of those to ignorant, gun-toting Americans any day.
October 21, 2021 at 8:04 AM
Urspo
Right wingers are more scary than scorpions yes
October 21, 2021 at 4:34 AM
Todd Gunther
The next time you venture this way and we settle down for a nice cheese steak meal I will have to regale you with my experiences when bats would get into my parents house. I think we had 3-4 intrusions over a 19 year period when I lived there. Not too bad in retrospect.
They erected a bat house at the back of their house and I don’t recall that they had any more bat encounters after the house was put up.
October 21, 2021 at 8:05 AM
Urspo
The dears!
The key is to open the windows and turn off the lights and the bats (clever) will usually find a way out on their own. They really want out.
October 21, 2021 at 4:37 AM
Lori Hawkins
Safe travels to you and enjoy the time with all of your family!
October 21, 2021 at 8:05 AM
Urspo
I will do my best
October 21, 2021 at 5:01 AM
Dwight W.
I like Bats, I find them useful . Oh to be near one of the large caves when they exit for the night. I’ve pretty much decided a King Cobra or a Great White Shark will take me out. My odds are good so I assume it will be blood pressure and cholesterol. Safe travels , much fun and.no worries while gone .
October 21, 2021 at 8:06 AM
Urspo
When that bridge down in Texas was built people petitioned to send in massive amounts of poisons to kill the bats. Professor Tuttle pointed out they eat a lot of insects and it would be a tourist attraction. Now the bat bridge is big business and source of pride to the area. A happy story.
October 22, 2021 at 5:31 AM
Dwight W.
Austin seems to have many Charms , of course it’s Blue I think ,this Dr.. Tuttle was great and thanks for the heads up
October 21, 2021 at 6:05 AM
Debbie W.
I love bats – but I accept that they do indeed look scary to some. Bats have their place in the world, and they do their job of eating the bugs that like to bite us.
Have a safe and peaceful journey!
October 21, 2021 at 8:07 AM
Urspo
Some bats look scary; more of them look cute or comical to me. The dears !
October 21, 2021 at 6:21 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
But . . . but . . . you can’t win if you don’t have a ticket!
October 21, 2021 at 8:07 AM
Urspo
True that. I put all my dollars into mutual funds which have a better likely payout.
October 21, 2021 at 7:22 AM
Old Lurker
The Mrs. Kravitzes are not wrong. Your neighborhood is full of coyotes and probably some javelinas, and they would in fact like to take away your guns.
Couldn’t you build a bat house in the back and tell Someone that it was for woodpeckers? I am sure he would find that convincing.
October 21, 2021 at 8:08 AM
Urspo
You are correct he seldom goes out there so I could erect a large gym set and wonder if/when he notices. Alas there is no good spot in the backyard for a bat house. worse luck.
October 21, 2021 at 7:34 AM
Parnassus
I hope that Harper does not attack people on those infamous “walks” of yours. If Someone does not want a bat house, maybe you can build something to encourage more Liberals in the neighborhood.
–Jim
October 21, 2021 at 8:10 AM
Urspo
Before the app, no one really knew who was what. Last election there were some Biden and the opponent signs and some people are now remembered that way. All the paranoid/angry GOP types are on line so it looks like they are the majority – probably are here in AZ.
October 21, 2021 at 8:09 AM
Anne
People fear flying more than driving because most of us only fly once or twice a year yet drive every day. It just doesn’t make sense to be constantly afraid of driving your car.
Please don’t vilify all conservatives and applaud all liberals. Life is not that black and white.
October 21, 2021 at 8:12 AM
Urspo
Indeed so! and well said
Every time our senator has an ad how good he is doing I mutter ‘liberal rubbish” I’ve been known to defend politicians whom I despise on the grounds their actions are sensible.
I try very hard not to put people into us. vs. them. We got too much of that nowadays as it is.
October 21, 2021 at 11:02 AM
Sam
Ok-on the bats. 6 years ago, my brother in law was bit by a bat when he opened the umbrella on their patio set. Multiple preventeative rabies shots, and we don’t joke! Than, just a year later, my husband was mowing and pushed the mower into a cluster of bushes-out flew a bat, and he felt a prick. Not being 100% sure if it was a scratch, or bite, he went in. He too had to go through the preventative treatment.
October 21, 2021 at 5:04 PM
Urspo
how unfortunate. No fun that.
October 21, 2021 at 12:33 PM
Sassybear
I am so afraid of everything that I am no longer afraid of anything.
October 21, 2021 at 5:05 PM
Urspo
Good for you!
October 21, 2021 at 1:17 PM
Paul Brownsey
“statistics show we are far more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident on the way to the airport than from the plane crashing. I continually see patients who refuse a medication on the grounds there is a chance of a certain side effect, but smoke cigarettes. ”
Could it be that people are concerned about the *additional* risks, over and above the risks they have acclimatised themselves to? Most of us travel in cars or at least have to cross roads every day; flying, for many of us, is much rarer. If we flew every day and flying became our accustomed risk, maybe THEN we’d be terrified of cars.
October 21, 2021 at 5:06 PM
Urspo
Familiary conveys assurance; unknowns and and differences evoke a sense of risk .
October 21, 2021 at 1:47 PM
David Godfrey
I met a colleague for breakfast this morning, and there was a mouse running along the windows next to our table, neither of us screamed.
October 21, 2021 at 5:08 PM
Urspo
Lucky fellows to have a wee mousey
October 21, 2021 at 3:21 PM
Pipistrello
Look at those fuzzy little faces! I also find them very amusing. As is a woodpecker house. I might have thought that prospect would have the neighbours up in arms in fear of a racketty dawn chorus each day.
I hope you arrived safely and these weren’t your final words.
October 21, 2021 at 5:17 PM
Urspo
I write this comment reply from Michigan. The flight went OK; mercifully there was no shooting.
October 21, 2021 at 8:55 PM
janiejunebug
I don’t understand smokers or lottery ticket buyers, and they probably don’t understand my love of dogs and Diet Pepsi. I have never encountered a bat in person and prefer not to do so. Rats and mice are hideous creatures and a rodent with wings disgusts and terrifies me. But it no longer bothers me when a lizard gets in the house to sun himself on the windowsills and run around in the living room.
Love,
Janie
October 22, 2021 at 8:35 AM
usstorageunit
I have often mused on this: bloodwork. The one side of my brain knows it is no big deal. It really doesn’t hurt. It may be uncomfortable for a few minutes, but nothing to get upset about. Meanwhile the other side of my brain is screaming NO NO NO IM GONNA PASS OUT IF YOU DONT GET AWAY FROM ME RIGHT THIS SECOND. and yes, I get woozy just thinking about bloodwork.
Glad you made it to MIchigan ok. 💜💜💜
October 22, 2021 at 8:21 PM
Richard Portman
You will be ok. If the plane crashes, you will die as an honest spo.
October 22, 2021 at 8:47 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
I have never seen a bat that I know of. But, I prefer not to have one get near me. I have always thought my old house attic would probably be full of guano. Of course, there was no basis in fact. Have fun with the chickens in Michigan.