No!.... Just NO!

Yesterday, mid morning or so, I went out to the chicken coop to take the hen some bread for a treat. Her water was getting low so I picked it up to take it outside the coop to add some water. The door to the coop is wooden framed and on a spring, so I'm pushing it open with my left hand and as I'm walking out the door, with the waterer in my right hand, I feel something flit lightly against my right arm. At the same time I'm looking down to see what it was, I'm past the door and it's starting to shut and I just see a bit of a black wing land on the ground right inside the coop door. At first I think it's one of those big black moths.

I think, well, the chicken will get it, but I pull the door open just a bit to see exactly what it was

IT WAS A BAT! I let go of the door to shut it self back up and ran into the house to get dh, LOL. I guess it was pretty much almost dead, so we're assuming it somehow got into the coop and chicken had already gotten to it and it was trying to get out when I opened the door. If it had been trying to go in, while I was coming out, I certainly would have seen it in front of me. EWWWW!

Anyway, as dh is using the shovel to take care of it, I see Mrs Neighbor on her lawn just on the other side of the fence, with her old dog, that I know they said they will be putting down at the end of the month. So, I go out through our little gate between us, and ask if I can give the pup some love. Poor sweet thing (yellow lab). She can't walk much and Mrs said she's barely eating this morning. I got down on the grass and gave her some love and she gave me some kisses. It's so hard when a pet gets old. They have an appointment with the vet on Tuesday for the euthenasia. We told them with our last dog we had ended up going to the emergency vet to have it done. She asked if it cost much more and I said I couldn't remember now, but I'd try to look it up to let her know. Well, my online credit card statements only go back 24 months and we had our dog put down 26 months ago, so I couldn't find the amount and I just really can't remember how much it was.

I chatted with Mrs quite awhile. She did say that our other neighbor asked her if they were going to get a puppy after this one passed and she said "No!". She also brought up that they had to replace their furnace not too long ago - at a cost of over $26,000! Yikes. She's supposed to get back some energy rebates - $2500 from federal, $1000 state and $1000 from our electric provider. How long should a good quality furnace last?! Gosh, we lived in a manufactured home with a basic furnace and that thing lasted like 25 years. Their expensive furnace (like ours is now) lasted 16 years. I guess I'd better have this replacement cost in the back of my mind in another 10 years. Their house is 5100 sf and we were comparing electric costs. Theirs is quite a bit lower and I can only assume it's because their house is a concrete log home and that concrete is very thick and a good insulator. But, our electricity bill is also for our appliances and one of our hot water heaters, while theirs is gas. Her winter contract for propane is for 700 gallons. Mine is for 500.

I did not mention to her that there was a bat in the coop.....not when I had just asked her to check on the hen while we are gone! LOL. Since it's never happened before, I'm hoping it never happens again.

Oh, and Mrs told me she had been getting her dog's prescription filled through Chewy and had went online last week to cancel the next order for it and it asked for a reason for canceling, so she put something like "dog will be deceased". A few days later a dozen red roses show up, from Chewy! Now, that is amazing customer service, isn't it?