You just think we are avoiding a superhero name for copyright reasons, but, no, Frankie defended us from an invading batmouse.

Every evening, Hu-Dad settles into bed to read for an hour or so. Frankie has long declared reading time to be his time, so he claims the bed and snuggles up with the Hu-Dad.

During the summer, we open the sliding glass doors to the covered porch, close the screen, and enjoy the fresh summer air. Of course, sounds of various creatures float through that screen, but we are tired and usually don’t react.

Usually.

Tuesday evening, as Hu-Dad was deeply involved in his novel, Frankie sat up and stared at the screen. Hu-Dad put his hand on Frankie’s back and felt the muscles quivering. Frankie launched at the screen.

Scrambling out of bed, Hu-Dad convinced Frankie not to go through the screen. Hu-Dad searched the porch and the yard trying to find the cause, but saw nothing. He convinced Frankie to calm down, decided nothing was out there, and stood up.

And he saw it. In the upper corner of the screen tucked into a little ball was a bat.

Now we love bats. They are terrific creatures who eat lots and lots of insects. Hu-Dad’s only rule for them is that they must stay outside. Every year, in August, at least one bat will violate that rule and get inside the house. This, as you can probably imagine, creates far more excitement than we should have.

Hu-Dad is now trying to figure out how to convince the bat to fly away without exciting six Siberian Huskies who might decide to remove the screen. No screen would certainly make it much easier for the bat to enter the house. The only problem is that the bat is on the outside of the screen, so Hu-Dad needs to open the screen door, chase the bat away, and close the sliding glass door – all without letting a bat inside or a dog outside.

Preparing for these gymnastics, Hu-Dad taps the screen and the bat magically transforms into a mouse.

Ok, we might be overstating the case. It was probably a mouse all along just tucked so tight at the top – yes top – of the screen that Hu-Dad just assumed it was a bat. But now the mouse can’t fly away, but must run down the screen right in front of Frankie’s nose and scamper out into the yard.

The next several seconds are a blur. Mouse runs down the screen and across the porch. Dogs go nuts. Hu-Dad reaches out and closes the sliding glass door.

With that, Hu-Dad crawls back in bed, realizes he is no longer sleepy (how did that happen?) and reads for another hour with his faithful canine companion by his side.

---

The end of the week is approaching. Can’t believe it is Thursday already, but here is this week’s Throwback Thursday video – Trouble With Siblings

Tomorrow is Film Friday. Don’t forget to go to our YouTube channel and subscribe so you never miss a new video!