BATTER UP!

Over 400 entries on this little tip site and still going! For the fun of it, I went back THREE YEARS ago to my first entry and my, oh my, how things have changed! To say life in the country is a tad different than the corner of Hollywood and Vine is an understatement as big as the country is vast. A city boy at heart, I love living in the country more than I ever imagined. Three years ago the mere sight of a mouse would send me to the Classified ads in search of a new place to live, the occasional possum in my driveway would force me into a double session with my therapist, and the only snakes I encountered in my day to day life were of the Hollywood Executive variety. To those creatures here on Gay Gardens I am merely a visitor in their homeland. They are everywhere. On day one of our New York adventure Joe pulled a mouse nest out from behind a bookshelf in our guest bathroom. I picked up the phone and called American Airlines. Then I took a deep breath and just went with it. While the 5' snake lurking on our front porch still scares me silly sometimes, I'm getting used to our neighbors more and more each day. I assumed we'd have tenants some day but never thought they'd have wings and eat bugs. Yes, it's true..if you plan a visit I might as well tell you now. We have bats living amongst us. Not in our home, thank God, but in the eaves. A few summers ago they swept down and took my by surprise but as soon as I realized they were eating the annoying mosquito's, gnats and horse flies that were surrounding my face, I relaxed. If you live in South Central LA chances are bats of the baseball variety are a necessity for survival, in our neighborhood bats are essential to having peaceful summer dinners outside. It is a little known fact that a single bat can eat up to 500-1,000 insects an hour and will consume 3,000-6,000 a night (where, oh where were they last night at our outdoor dinner party, I ask??). While it's nice to have bats around, what they leave around is far from nice! Bat feces is not only toxic if inhaled, but totally annoying. A friend of ours just had a brand new, gorgeous deck built (with help from yours truly) and the bats that nestle in here eaves leaf doo doo on the deck when everyone leaves. To solve this problem, I suggested she buy bat houses and place them away from her deck but close enough so they can kill the creatures biting your neck!
BATMAN:
Everyone from the Home Depot to K-Mart sells bat houses. They're basically bird houses for the fliers of the night. To get the bats to migrate from the house eaves to the new bat house, it simply needs to be constructed correctly. In northern climates the houses should be dark brown or black so the sun can heat them (inside temperatures should be 85-95 degrees) and have at least six hours of sunlight a day. In warm southern climates with full sun exposure, houses should be white. Mount the house at least ten feet off the ground (15-25 is ideal) and NOT on trees (bats like to swoop down and limbs get in the way). If you build it, they will come and those nasty bugs will go, go away!
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: one hour to construct and place
COST: build yourself for under $10 or K-Mart for $35
STRESS LEVEL: getting rid of annoying gnats: LOW