Yesterday we found a bat roosting under the umbrella which goes over the outdoor dinner table. Actually, we found two, but the first one flew off before I could get a picture of him. I believe these are “little brown bats” (myotis lucifigus), but correct me if I’m wrong. We’ve seen quite a few of these bats in our old caving days. (Eleanor and I used to spelunk in upstate New York when we were active members of the National Speleological Society.)

A little brown bat looking at me. Click for larger.

We love bats. Our old house had a bat house on the side, which I bought from a vendor recommended by Bat Conservation International. I always like to see bats flying around at night because I know they are eating bugs by the pound. A small colony of harmless bats nearby is the most efficient mosquito killing device you can have — and they are free!

I was sorry that the bat couldn’t stay in the umbrella. After I took a few photos he decided to find a quieter place to sleep, and flew off. I think they have a colony somewhere near the house, because we are seeing them every night at dusk. If you take some time to learn about bats you’ll be amazed at what they can do, in terms of flying and capturing bugs.

We have moved the trailer. Our neighbor was perfectly happy to have us stay indefinitely in her driveway, but we needed to dump the tanks and get propane so it was time to hitch up and tow over to the nearest campground. After getting the holding tanks empty, the water tank full, and a fillup of propane, we brought it back to my parents house and shoehorned it into their driveway. I hope I can get it back out later!

The Airstream is squeezed in behind the house.

The trailer will stay there for the rest of the month. Since we aren’t using the trailer for much more than sleeping now, I expect one tank of water to be sufficient for the entire time.

Today we are leaving for Bailey Island, Maine, to visit Adam and Susan and spend a week in their cottage. This is one of our rare times of living outside our Airstream. It’s important to get some variation in lifestyle, at least for us, when you live in a small space for long periods of time. I plan to use the bulk of the week to work on the book, while Eleanor intends to go visit some long-lost friends of hers.

Emma loves the tube! Click for larger.

Emma took a spin on the ski tube yesterday afternoon, which was a good chance for me to get more experience with the new Nikon lens. In a perfect world I would have bought a 28-200 zoom but anything close to that was much heavier than I wanted. The new 55-200 is great when I need it, but it’s too long for a lot of shots. I hate switching lenses while hiking or boating but there will be circumstances in which it is necessary. For action shots of Emma on the tube, the new 55-200 lens was perfect.