mourning my upside-down friends

Firstly...the bats. It is so strange not to hear them making their summer home in our barn at night. To see the few, confused creatures that are still alive, flying about during the day in a mad search for food, salvation...and to think that they, too, will soon die and we will have no upside-down friends guanofying our stuff in the barn, eating our mosquitos, and occasionally sneaking into our house to swoop by our heads while we're watching a scary movie, is just heartbreaking. They have been part of our Vermont life, and we adore them, and now my heart aches for them. The bat population in New England will be decimated by white nose disease this year, coincidentally (or not) very similar to the colony collapse of the bees...this is one theory:

"Some researchers say the evidence of emaciation and the unprecedented numbers that are emerging early from hibernation, apparently in a desperate search for food, could be suggestive of chemical interference with hibernation metabolism or of an insufficient availability of food for the bats to store enough fat to last until spring. Extensive spraying of some pesticides might be capable of altering metabolism. Or such spraying could severely diminish the amount of insect prey that bats require before entering hibernation. Northeastern states have experienced a major increase in pesticide use to combat West Nile Virus during the past few years." from this article

Fucking chemicals. I will not go on, as I'm feeling quite a bit more misanthropic than usual, and I'll spare you all my piss and vinegar. If you want to read more, click the link above, as there are more theories being explored and without my bias. Just this, if you will...

"...many of America’s largest remaining bat populations and the ecosystems they protect may be at extreme risk. When ecologically and economically essential creatures as diverse as bees and bats begin to die off in large numbers, there may well be a “canary-in-the-coal-mine” message that we cannot afford to ignore."

Secondly, I am alone.
Felt shall commence. Pictures later.

Thirdly, I lust for THIS, if you must know.