For real – it’s not like I could make this up.
In doing some house cleaning today, we (actually Weather- Girl) found a deceased bat on a high bookshelf. Sadly, this is not a super uncommon experience. We have an old house that I assume has a long history as a popular bat roost, and while I think (hope?) we’ve managed to humanely evict all the bats, we’ve found numerous bat carcasses in various places in the house over the years. They’ve usually been in the basement, as they’d make their way down from the attic through spaces in walls, become confused and unable to get back outside, and eventually die there. But there have been the odd exception, including the time I found a dead bat in one of my cowboy boots.
The fellow that raises the current question apparently hid behind some knick-knacks on a bookshelf, and died there belly up. Unfortunately something in his wings turned into glue during decomp, and we’ve got this patch of wing fragments and gluey residue on the shelf. This is a really beautiful bookshelf (part of a matching pair my parents had made for us as our wedding present), so I’m hoping I can somehow clean this gunk off without damaging the shelf. My first thoughts, though, tend towards soaking and solvents, none of which would be good for the wood.
Any thoughts?
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