Precipitation exasperation

Toronto Sun ^ | 2008-08-24 | Connie Woodcock

[Clive]

Precipitation exasperation

Enough with the stinking showers already ... and has anyone seen the darn meteorologist?

Is it summer yet? Or did I miss it back in April?

I know it's August, but here comes yet another rainy day. What a surprise.

Oh sure, the sun is shining as I write, but it's early yet and the grey clouds are already starting to pile up on the western horizon.

Our house guests from British Columbia are puzzled. When they left home, it was hot and sunny when it should have been rainy and awful. Now here they are in what's supposed to be sunny southern Ontario and the rain just keeps on coming.

It's rained so much, our driveway had to be graded, regravelled and compacted. Cost $300-plus. But we were lucky. Some people have had their driveways wash out onto the road and others have deep trenches carved into them, making them treacherous.

It's rained so much my tomatoes are drowning, my boots are mud covered and my car looks as though it's been off-roading lately. It hasn't.

The other day, we decided to take our guests to a local tourist attraction -- Lang Century Village, near Peterborough. The rain came pelting down when we were halfway there and continued, accompanied by thunder, throughout the visit. A dozen or so other people, huddled under umbrellas, slogged around the muddy roads. After all, you have to do something with guests, no matter how much it rains.

And speaking of thunder, it happens daily and our beagle is terrified of it. We've had a few sleepless nights.

The upside is the grass is green, my rain barrel is overflowing and we haven't needed air conditioning. The downside is the grass grows so fast it has to be mowed twice as often. The weeds, of course, are growing like ... well... weeds.

And then there are the bats. I'm not sure I can blame them on the bad weather but I will anyway as they seem to go together. I gather they're migrating right now and for a while there, they were stopping over at our house every single night. A real estate agent friend says we're the fourth family to mention a bat problem this summer.

GOING BATTY

The first couple of times, we treated it as an accident. My husband would get up, grab the broom or the tennis racket and chase the little thing around, while I and our daughter cowered in the bathroom.

But it went on night after night. We took to shutting our cats in the basement at bedtime. In the morning there would be a little corpse lying at the bottom of the stairs amid clumps of cat hair. One morning there were two. The cats didn't even bother eating them after awhile.

It took awhile, but we found a tiny opening behind the electrical panel and plugged it. We've been bat free for nearly a week.

No sooner did we solve one crisis than another appeared -- our well water test showed contamination, prompting a round of frantic calls to the health unit and large purchases of bottled water. Again, we're not sure we can blame it on the rain, but we can try.

So all in all, I've had just about enough. Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.

Has anybody seen Dave Phillips lately? Canada's best known weatherman recently claimed we could still have a hot and sunny August. But he's been wrong before. In fact, I can't remember the last time he was right.

And of course there's that other old saying: It never rains but it pours. And it's pouring right now.

[raybbr]

Hey, I get out. We just don't have any of that precip-whatever stuff here. Unless you count sand. ;-)

LOL Okay, take a shower and pretend it's rain. ;^)

[fanfan]

[Kozak]

Bats in your house also spread rabies.

[raybbr]

Bats in your house also spread rabies.

See post 17.

[old curmudgeon]

If you have bats flying around your head while you are watching TV, I would like to suggest that you probably should watch less TV and spend the time repairing your shack.

A properly maintained house will not have bats in the living areas.

[Candor7]

BTW, this weather pattern is quite common in other areas of the world, kmown in Asia as " Monsoon". It also means that we will have a long dry period, likely this fall.

So savor the water, you will have very little in months to come.

When this kind of water becomes active in the environment, we have what Thai people call the energy of NAGA. ( water dragon).

Naga creatures such as reptiles and insects dependant on high moisture in the environment flourish and come into our gardens and houses. Bats are a case in point.They follow the burgeonoing insect population created by increased moisture in the environment. They are here to help you.Then we have racoons, fish, snakes,lizards, worms, beetles, mosquitos, indeed all animals with a strong relationship to water, as essentially Naga animals.They flourish in monsoon weather.

To deal with this environmental dynamic, those living for centuries in monsoon countries create little ponds on their property, and bat houses. The little ponds, often just buckets set in the ground, attract the Naga creatures, rather than having them come in the house. They are usually set on two sides of a home in the lawns on the East and west sides, or on all four sides.

So there are ways to work with it, and we are but novices.

With this monsoon weather pattern , the Nagas are definitely here. Seeing them in Thailand one recognizes just how powerful their environmental effect is treated there.

Celebrate the Naga water dragon. You have no choice.

[healy61]

If I release a bat through an open door, does the bat find it’s way back into my house?

[Kozak]

While the percentage of bats infected generally ranges from 0.5 to 2%, according to the CDC:

Wild Animals

Wild animals accounted for 92% of reported cases of rabies in 2006. Raccoons continued to be the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (37.7% of all animal cases during 2006), followed by bats (24.4%), skunks (21.5%), foxes (6.2%), and other wild animals, including rodents and lagomorphs (0.6%). Reported cases increased among all wild animals during 2006.

and

28 out of 37 confirmed US cases of rabies (1995-2006) were from exposure to bats.

That does not mean people should have an inordinate fear of bats, but it definitely shows it's a bad idea to have them in the parts of a house where they can contact humans or pets. A major reason is if bats are out in daylight or allow people to come near, the chance goes up that the bat is indeed infected with rabies.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Bats are good. They eat bugs. They spread seeds.

They poop.

Bats in the bat houses outside are a good thing. Bat in my living room "spreading seeds" is not a good thing. Bats in the attic for several weeks "spreading seeds" is a very bad thing.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I know. We get one or two in the house each season, not a flood of them. But I hate them, none-the-less. Vile creatures.

We live in a 1906 Colonial Foursquare. We are in the process of remodeling/upgrading. I finally have flooring, not just packed dirt, LOL!

One thing at a time. And we don’t watch TV; no time between full-time jobs and self-employment ventures. We’ve planned the work and are now working the plan.

But thanks for worrying about me. :)

[Thombo2]

I can sympathise w/you.It’s been raining here(Fla)almost every day.Critters(snakes,tree frogs,rats,etc)that normally keep a low profile are out in force and lookin to stay dry.If it’s any consolation,bats are a nuisance and look menacing,but from what i understand they tend to be very clean.Chances of rabies are rare.Downside-if a pair find your home to their liking-they may choose to stay-and nature being what it is.....

[redhead]

Amen. We missed summer completely this year, too. We had new snow on the mountains on July 23, and have had a couple of days when the high was no more than 53. July was a cold, sodden mess, and August was little better. But the weather patterns are shifting to a more normal flow as it moves toward September, and we get a few sunny days in spite of Nature’s best (worst?) efforts.

[Larry Lucido]

Taking notes for the next time we shower together.

(And don't tell anyone there hasn't been a first time!)

[Allegra]

:-P