Our Cats Went "Batty" Last Night

So this advertisement appeared in our BryonySeries email (bryonyseries@gmail.com) a few days ago.

After Rebekah and I had a little giggle over the pet cat bat wings, she ordered them.

I didn't know until they arrived yesterday.

So last night, after a family movie and pizza, we tried the bat wings on our cats.

The cats weren't thrilled.

They kept hanging their heads and refused to look at the camera - no matter how much we coaxed them.

We snapped their photos anyway.

Keep scrolling for Bat Midnight, Bat Senna, and Bat Faith!

BAT MIDNIGHT

BAT SENNA

BAT FAITH

Name This Bat

Rebekah and I found this beautiful bat puppet puppet sitting by itself on a shelf at a Barnes and Noble store a few weeks ago.

We'd spent a wonderfully lazy Saturday while our carpets were being cleaned, wandering from store to store (those we could reach on foot, since Rebekah had no car) and had circled back to Barnes and Noble for coffee and book browsing.

And there this bat was, just waiting for us to take it home.

Which we did.

And it's now waiting for YOU to name it.

So be sure to stop out at the BryonySeries table at Panic at the Plaza between 5 and 11 p.m. Saturday at Van Buren Plaza in Downtown Joliet.

The bat will be hanging out with us, in the vicinity of the suggestion box.

Just drop your suggestion into the box along with a way to contact you.

We (and the bat) will carefully consider all names and choose the one best suited to this no-name bat.

Can't make it to Panic in the Plaza?

The one who successfully names this best will receive a gift from us, as a thank you for giving this new BryonySeries prop a permanent name.

Send your suggestion to bryonyseries@gmail.com by 11 p.m. CST Saturday.

And if you're interested in winning a free BryonySeries book, check out the green grapes and red grapes.

All This Baby Bat Wants to Do Is Fly | Animal Videos For Kids | Dodo Kid...

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Vampire Bat Facts

Vampire Bats Facts

The vampires Melissa Marchellis encounters in Bryony have much in common with vampire bats. Both flee when the victim awakens, and both contain saliva with particular properties: a numbing agent and an anticoagulant to allow the blood to freely flow. The similarities, however, end there.

Unlike the vampires in Bryony, vampire bats never attack and, when they do regurgitate a meal, it’s to share their food with a vampire bat that didn’t get one that night. Vampire bats, said Sharon Peterson, elementary school teacher, librarian, and bat expert trained by Bats Conservation International, roost in very tight colonies and display caring behavior toward each other. Adult bats, for instance, will groom other bats.

Other vampire facts Peterson shared include:

· There are three species of vampire bats: common vampire bat, hairy-legged vampire bat, and the white-winged vampire bat. All three live in Latin America ranging from Mexico to the southern areas of South America. They do not live in Europe.

· Two species of vampire bats drink mainly from the blood of birds. The other drinks the blood of mammals.

· Vampire bats can run short distances before leaping into flight.

· Vampire bats ignore the fatty areas of their victims. Instead, they settle on areas where blood vessels are close to the surface. That would be the feet in birds, on the hooves or near the tails for cows, and the fingertips for humans.

· Scientists are experimenting on ways to use the anticoagulating properties in vampire bat’s saliva as an alternative to traditional blood thinners. Unlike these medicines, the anticoagulant in bat saliva targets only clots.

· Vampire bats are very shy. They will not come near a victim that is awake.
· Vampire bats are not carnivorous. Other bats might scoop up a lizard or mouse and fly away with it, but not vampire bats.

For over ten years Sharon Peterson, along with her husband Dan Peterson and their two Egyptian fruit bats, has been giving presentations on bats. Sharon and Dan are both licensed through the USDA as Class C exhibitors. To schedule a presentation or for more information on bats in general visit http://www.incrediblebats.com/.

Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Vampire bat food sharing (explained by David Attenborough)

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Vampire bat food sharing (explained by David Attenborough)

Community News: July 30, 2018

Check out upcoming events in the Joliet area, as well as the awesome things people are doing.

Local pet events: July 29 through Aug. 6 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/27/local-pet-events-july-29-through-aug-6/ahivlz4/

Pets of the Week: July 30 

Click on the caption of each photo for each pet's description.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/07/22/3bf1d458cbb140c09e4a3191c3397c04/index.xml

Beware of bats, exposure to rabies

IDPH offers tips for keeping people and pets safe

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/27/beware-of-bats-exposure-to-rabies/a3nfb0w/

Lockport library to host first LEGO robotics league

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/30/lockport-library-to-host-first-lego-robotics-league/aoj191v/

Lincoln-Way to host free JROTC Summer Drill Camp

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/30/lincoln-way-to-host-free-jrotc-summer-drill-camp/ah6icjk/ 

Photography contest and exhibit coming in August at Goose Lake 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/30/photography-contest-and-exhibit-coming-in-august-at-goose-lake/a69gob1/


Check out the following free newsletters:

Sign up for the Will County Go Guide

http://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/will-county-go-guide/#//


Sign up for the LocalLit Short Story Newsletter

http://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/locallit/


Sign up for The Munsonville Times

https://www.bryonyseries.com/munsonville-times

Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Man Faces Worst Nightmare | My Extreme Animal Phobia

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Man Faces Worst Nightmare | My Extreme Animal Phobia

Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, Oct. 22 through Oct. 27

Best news today is below, a copy and paste from my WriteOn Joliet highly esteemed co-leader Tom Hernandez:

"The inaugural WriteOn Joliet Anthology, "Write Where We Are" is now available on Amazon.

"This collection includes pieces by Denise M. Baran-Unland, Maureen Blevins,Holly Butler Coop, Emily Duncan, Diana Estell, Joshua Henderson, Tom Hernandez, Beth Higgins, Sharon Houk, Mike Markley, Sue Midlock (writing as Sue Mydliak), Colleen Robbins, Jenny McCue (Russ), Stephen T. Saporta, and Duanne Walton.

"Help us celebrate this achievement at our Anthology Release Party at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17th at the Book Market in Crest Hill."

Hope to see you there! We'd love to meet you and talk to you about our group.

And now, onward to features.

Where to find my non-bylined works? Why, on this blog, of course.

I recently began assembling my brief posts and calendar listings into one convenient file and posting them on Facebook in the evening, so readers can easily choose the ones they want to read.

Now if you don't want to wait that long, you can find the Gotta Do It calendar, as well as the pets, health, faith, and arts and entertainment calendars, under the sections tab on the left hand side of http://www.theherald-news.com/. Click on "features" and the topics drop down.  Gotta Do It runs under "people."

Community news: Again, under the sections tab, under features, and by topic. Updates are posted on these days in print and web and in web on other days as I have the time: Monday (pets), Tuesday (health), Thursday (faith), Friday (arts and entertainment), and Sunday (people).

Daily updates: I do post the briefs and calendars on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries. And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.

Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. Your support is greatly appreciated.


Joliet man is clean, employed and helping others in their recovery

“I was there to get a fresh start,” Roosevelt Burton said. “I listened more and I had a chance to speak more. I realized I could decide to change my life. All the things they [Stepping Stones] had in place – the rules, the homework, the paper work – all played a part.”

http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/10/19/joliet-man-is-clean-employed-and-helping-others-in-their-recovery/aw1fdfj/

An Extraordinary Life: Joliet man was a hero in his own way

Salim attended the Terra Sancta School in Jerusalem, where he even assisted the teachers, Kahlil added. Education, for Salim, would be his ticket to a better life. 

“He knew his mind could end up working for him,” Kahlil Diab, Salim's son, said.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/10/21/57b1835ba34541f4aeacb361b1dbec33/index.xml

New Lenox couple goes to bat for these critters

The Dan and Sharon Peterson, owners of Incredible Bats, will bring some of their live 14 Egyptian fruit bats and three African straw-colored bats, as well as a skunk and a tarantula to the Joliet Public Library's Halloween Spooktacular on Oct. 30.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/10/20/c03332497059402d9ea52219a18bf2ca/index.xml

Joliet treatment center celebrates life-changing partnerships

“It’s something like a halfway house,” Paul Lauridsen, executive director of Stepping Stones, said of the treatment center. “When guys come in, they have time to get readjusted in the community, get IDs, get jobs and get reacquainted with their families. It’s not like the old days when you took them to the prison gates, opened the doors and gave them $50 to get somewhere.”

http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/10/20/joliet-treatment-center-celebrates-life-changing-partnerships/a4znj2o/

Mystery Diner: Dancing Marlin in Frankfort offers upscale brunch experience

For those bringing children (we didn't), there was also a reasonably priced kids menu featuring French toast, waffles, pancakes, scrambled egg slider, fresh fruit, burger and fries and cheese flatbrad piece, all for $5 each.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/10/21/8eee33ff3c0647eb9042cde054032693/index.xml

Joliet church transformed from west to east

"Icons lift up our minds from the earthly to the heavenly," Reverend Stephen Bithos wrote.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/10/24/9b153e8534a64cf183d7c9803c62296c/index.xml


Joliet Junior College culinary grad is scary in the kitchen

Johanna Wyss, 24, of Orland Park, competed in the 2017 Halloween Wars on the Food Network Channel. She's baked for Robert Englund and Alice Cooper. And she owns her own company, Battycakes, where Wyss whips up wonderfully gruesome pastry creations.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/10/24/afc3ebff6deb490083ef5dacb6ced4fe/index.xml

Artworks: Local residents share favorite frightful foods

Foods include "Witches Brooms" appetizers by Dee Philiph of New Lenox; "Feet-Loaf," "Bat Wings," "Roasted Brains" and "Sauteed Inch Worms" and "Worms in Mud," by Nicole Puracchio; and "Severed Fingers" by Julie Blackburn of Romeoville.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/10/24/b590a04a7f134b4eb27e5d3b29d7ba31/index.xml

Man Faces Worst Nightmare | My Extreme Animal Phobia

Vampire Bats

Vampire Bats Facts

The vampires Melissa Marchellis encounters in Bryony have much in common with vampire bats. Both flee when the victim awakens, and both contain saliva with particular properties: a numbing agent and an anticoagulant to allow the blood to freely flow. The similarities, however, end there.

Unlike the vampires in Bryony, vampire bats never attack and, when they do regurgitate a meal, it’s to share their food with a vampire bat that didn’t get one that night. Vampire bats, said Sharon Peterson, elementary school teacher, librarian, and bat expert trained by Bats Conservation International, roost in very tight colonies and display caring behavior toward each other. Adult bats, for instance, will groom other bats.

Other vampire facts Peterson shared include:

· There are three species of vampire bats: common vampire bat, hairy-legged vampire bat, and the white-winged vampire bat. All three live in Latin America ranging from Mexico to the southern areas of South America. They do not live in Europe.
· Two species of vampire bats drink mainly from the blood of birds. The other drinks the blood of mammals.
· Vampire bats can run short distances before leaping into flight.
· Vampire bats ignore the fatty areas of their victims. Instead, they settle on areas where blood vessels are close to the surface. That would be the feet in birds, on the hooves or near the tails for cows, and the fingertips for humans.
· Scientists are experimenting on ways to use the anticoagulating properties in vampire bat’s saliva as an alternative to traditional blood thinners. Unlike these medicines, the anticoagulant in bat saliva targets only clots.
· Vampire bats are very shy. They will not come near a victim that is awake.
· Vampire bats are not carnivorous. Other bats might scoop up a lizard or mouse and fly away with it, but not vampire bats.

For over ten years Sharon Peterson, along with her husband Dan Peterson and their two Egyptian fruit bats, has been giving presentations on bats. Sharon and Dan are both licensed through the USDA as Class C exhibitors. To schedule a presentation or for more information on bats in general visit http://www.incrediblebats.com/.