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Holly Rabalais's avatar

You had me LOL at #1! I spent most of my youth in rural areas and moved back to "country living" three years ago. In addition to our 85-year-old bungalow (that we are constantly working to make more comfortable and less...old-house-ish), we also own a 119-year-old three-story brick building that operated as a mercantile for 35 years then as a hardware store for another 70. We run it as an event venue, and the other day I went over to prepare for the next weekend's event (prepare=mop floors, clean toilets, and all those other fun things). When I walked out, there was an actual bat on the padlock plate that we use to secure the door. A BAT! Did you know bats are federally protected? You can't kill them. But you can take a broom and knock them off your door and into the street with no legal repercussions. Freaky little thing!

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

I'm glad I had you laughing! Your house and building sound fascinating, and I had NO idea about bats being federally protected. Freaky little thing, indeed!

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Jan Peppler's avatar

Awww I love bats! Yeah I know that sounds crazy. But for years I’ve thought it would be cool to have a bar box

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Holly Rabalais's avatar

We are trying to build bat boxes because our town has sooo many that need to GET OUT of buildings, but there’s this issue with too many projects, not enough time!🤣 But I got some really cool photos of it. I’ll have to work one into one of my upcoming posts.

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Pablo Andreu's avatar

I know people say bats are pretty harmless, but, like, movies, you know??

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Joel K's avatar

This made me laugh out loud multiple times. Who knows why I was so calm about the snake, but can’t handle tiny spiders. One of the many mysteries of the universe. ❤️❤️

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

Mysteries of the universe indeed. And thanks for chuckling out loud!

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Jan Peppler's avatar

When I was married, we both hated spiders. So the house rule was whoever saw it didn’t have to kill it. That person was already traumatized. The other had to deal with it. And honestly, this worked! Still get the heeby jeebies but not being surprised by the spider takes away a wee bit of the shivers

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

Good system since the surprise factor is definitely what causes most of the spider shivers, for sure!

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Jan Peppler's avatar

Oh my heavens!!!! That would have COMPLETELY freaked me out as well!!! And did you ever find out what the thud was? Yikes!

Thanks for the shout-out!

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

We never came to conclude what caused the thud... FREAKY AS COULD BE! And you're welcome, thanks for reading mine!

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Jan Peppler's avatar

thanks for recommending me!

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

You’re welcome! 😊

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

This is absolute nightmare fuel. 😳

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

Lol. Right?!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Literally the only thing I’m afraid of. I would’ve been many things in that situation; calm and charming are not on the list.

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

I actually shut myself in the bedroom during the middle of the commotion when Mr. Snugs was trying to shoo it out from under the futon with a broom...

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littlefire22's avatar

That snake story is crazy! We had a small squirrel gnaw its way through a window screen in the kitchen earlier this summer, but it was gone before we knew it was there. But that's enough for me to realize how freaky the snake-nado episode is. Thank goodness for Mr. Snugs' quick action. And, as usual, you relate the story beautifully. Glad you could flee to a snake-free pool! Hope you were eventually able to get back to Parks and Rec.

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

A squirrel in the house on the loose? Now that's scary! Thanks for reading and for sharing!

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Janis's avatar

Ok, so the first thing I must do after seeing your photo is sit down & put my feet up. I DO NOT like snakes, and you know I love most of our backyard/wildlife creatures (minus the squirrels). 🐦🦉🐞🦃🐿🦝

Your piece is captivating. Remember, it’s a jungle out there. 😍

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

Thank you for reading! And yes, it is a jungle out there in more ways than one!

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Pablo Andreu's avatar

My friends have a mountain cabin in the Catskills in upstate New York. We went on a hike, and I asked about ticks. They said, "Nah, it's too late in the season. Tuck your pants into your socks and you'll be fine. They never clamp on high in your body." You know where this is going...

Come back from the hike. We're having nice summertime adult beverages when I spot a tick crawling up my wife's shirt making a move -- albeit a glacial one -- toward the back of her neck. We remove the little bastard, but of course we need to do a tick check now. My wife and I go upstairs, strip down and check each other THOROUGHLY. Nothing. We're good....until she does a double take on my neck. A tick had clamped on. We had a tick key, so we popped the sucker off posthaste. Ended up fine, but they don't clamp on high up, my ass!

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

Oh damn! Ticks are awful to deal with. I’m glad you’re both okay!

I’ve only been to the Catskills as a child, but I’ve heard awesome things about it as an adult!

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Jan Peppler's avatar

Hey! SO happy to see this great piece appear on The Sample!! Fantastic!

And thank you again for the shout-out. Cheers!

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Jessica B. Sokol's avatar

Hi Jan! This is awesome, thanks for letting me know! And you're welcome, I hope we can collaborate on something in the near future. Cheers!

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