RAINY DAYS: The quantity of rain this summer has given renewed
relevance to a previous RTS subject – St. Swithin’s Day.
“My dad’s birthday was July 15 which is St. Swithin’s Day,”
writes Denny Ordiway. “They said if it rains on St. Swithin’s Day,
that it will rain for the next 40 days. I think May 15 was our St.
Swithin’s Day this year.”
“Before my dad passed away 17 years ago, I asked him if it
rained on his birthday and he said it never did.”
If you can believe it, we have had six inches of rain in July
alone as of about noon Thursday. That comes on top of six inches we
got in the month of June. It’s odd because we’ve had a lot of rain,
yes, but we’ve also had a lot of very hot and muggy days this
summer.
Hard to believe that some places in the country – the world –
are experiencing severe drought. Too bad we can’t share. Or, maybe
just trade a little. California can have some of our rain, and we’d
get some of their hot and sunny days.
GOING BATTY: Remember that list of wildlife “myths” we wrote
about in the last couple weeks? One was that bats do not get
tangled in humans’ hair. We have some evidence to the contrary.
One of our reporters was peacefully asleep one day this past
week when she was awoken by a tagging at her hair and head. Alas,
she flipped on the light to discover one of the furry mammals was
somehow part and parcel to her long-ish hair.
Would this be a nightmare, or what?
She managed to whack the creature once and then her husband
polished it off.
Knowing that bats can be a carrier of rabies, she made a few
phone calls but discovered that without being bitten transmission
of the disease is not possible. Apparently, a bat bite is something
you would remember and she didn’t.
We have to think that the bat landed on our reporter’s hair
unintentionally. After all, most of these cute little animals are
not aggressive and seek only to avoid us.
Even so, as one individual said, some of those old wives tales
have a foundation in reality. Let is be said that we would not go
into a bat cave without wearing a hairnet.
