Of Storms and Bats

Today was a bit eventful. There was a rather furious thunderstorm that knocked out the power for over an hour. It left the pets in a curiously varied state. Ginny started acting exceptionally friendly, and Albus started freaking out about the noise of rain being blown into the chimney. Ebon curiously put his head up and then went back to sleep. He later got up to investigate why I was taking the pictures I've posted below.

Albus being verbally upset about the situation

Him in front of the offending chimney, listening

Hey? What are you doing? Is there food involved? You usually give me food when I'm good for the camera.

A very happy, content little Ginny

Ginny, who I haven't mentioned much on this blog yet, still surprises me sometimes with her behavior. Today she was amazingly relaxed. Normally she is terrified by loud noises, but the thunder didn't bother her at all. I suspect that it's one of the several behaviors that make me think she does understand how good she has it now. She was born in the forest near my house and when we picked her up she was very skinny and very sick. She also most likely knows what it's like to be soaked to the skin and cold during a thunderstorm. Today, she was dry and warm, curled up on a comfy couch while the storm raged outside. She rubbed all over my hands and was purring happily.

A few nice things came out of the storm. First, there was a rather brilliant sunset:

Not bad for being taken from a moving car. And no, I was not driving

Secondly, there were so many bats in the air that I couldn't even count! I think I saw over fifteen of them in about a half mile area, swooping and diving after mosquitoes and other insects. It was a perfect time if you, for whatever reason, were looking for mosquitoes. After a very heavy rain, they go into a breeding frenzy so that they can lay eggs in the temporary pools that are formed. As a result, all of the animals that feed on them take advantage of it. That's why there were so many bats. I love to see bats around mainly because of the fact that they eat mosquitoes. They're also beautiful to see flying around. The flight patterns are quite different from birds, so it is very easy to pick them out. I tried my hardest to either get a picture or video of the bats, and this is the best that I could get. Can you spot the bats?