More Bats

Lee Shoal of the Creaking Planks shares this useful Yukon instruction manual for "building a bat nursery home."   If only building bat houses could help the bats of Maple Ridge! There have to be some bats LEFT before you can house them; from my Googling, it seems like many bat species in North America are threatened with extinction, or at least a massive depletion in numbers. First bees, then bats... does anyone detect a very scary pattern, here?

By the way, inspired by the bats of Japan, which I frequently saw when riding my (three-wheeled) bicycle home from the school where I taught, I wrote a lyric years ago that I would love to see adapted into a country or bluegrass song, if anyone wants to do it. Get in touch and I'll sing it to you, so you know the tune (I want to know it's found a good home). There should be a fiddle or a banjo in your band, to make this work properly:

If I Was a Bat
by Allan MacInnis

If I was a bat, lord, if I was a bat
I'd eat lots of mosquitoes
Til I got really fat
I'd come out in the evening
And fly around so free
If I was a bat, girl, would you still love me?

If I was a bat,
I guess I would be blind
to all your imperfections
or at least I wouldn't mind
I'd hear your voice ring clearer
for all I could not see
If I was a bat, girl, would you still love me?

If I was a bat
I'd fly by every night
I'd hang outside your window
Til it started to get light
Then I'd creep into your attic
And sleep so safe and sound
If I was a bat, would you let me hang around?

If I was
If I was
If I was a bat
If I was a bat
How would you feel 'bout that?