Bats!

Ooh, I wish I'd had this video for Halloween! It would have been perfect. Paul went to St. Nicholas Ranch this week for a clergy retreat (we lived there for three years) and someone told him about this youtube video. It is a sad fact that the gorgeous little rustic chapel is no longer in use. When Archbishop Anastasios visited the ranch, he spent much longer in the barn chapel than he did in the big, beautiful new monastery church. But many people are uncomfortable with the wildlife that live in the barn chapel and some refused to go in there. There is a group of bats that have their nursing colony in the barn, and many of them live behind the icons, above the altar, etc. even though we tried lots of things to discourage them from living there, even trying to seal off the chapel part itself so they could live in other areas of the barn. But every spring they come back, and every fall they leave. The barn is over 100 years old, some say closer to 150 years old, so the collective memory of going there to have their babies is probably quite strong in the bats.

Anyway, here is the video! It was made by some absolutely crazy camp counselors. This is my first attempt at embedding anything in my blog...we'll see how it goes!