I am of course talking about the common flea.
It appears that my cat has got a bad case of the little buggers. Last week I noticed some on her when I was giving her a good pet-down and I immediately checked her over. There were quite a lot and I became horror stricken. She never gets fleas (chalk that up to over-obsessive behavior on my part in getting her a new flea collar every 5 months since she was a kitten). So why now? Am I doing something wrong? Are fleas suddenly immune in my yard? Is it just a super bad flea season?
My questions were answered when I drove down to the grocery store at 9pm on a Monday night to get a new flea collar and perhaps some other flea-killing device. The store was OUT of flea collars and had very slim pickin's of flea prevention chemicals. A trip to the pet store the next day and I noticed there were 5 other people in front of me in line buying flea sprays and shampoos.Okay. Point taken. It appears we have a bit of a flea epidemic this season. My cat now has a new flea collar, some of that one-spot chemical stuff on her, flea powder...she's nothing short of a walking pesticide bomb. And yet I can still find fleas on her if I check closely. Ugh. I also went on a cleaning rampage throughout the house to prevent it from becoming overrun with the hopping suckers (there's no nook the vacuum cleaner hasn't touched now--including all the furniture and pillows--and everything that was able went through the wash--I slept in a sleeping bag last night). I really *really* hate fleas. Where oh where is that cold frost that I'm dying to have arrive?
In other news (and I reckon it's hard to have a nice transition from fleas to art, but oh well), it's been a long, long work week and I'm completely burned out. I have today off and then it's back to the grind for another 5-6 days until I can get another break. I was hoping to do some painting today, but between the mighty Flea War and the hours I've been doing at the day job, I'm just way too tired. I've spent the vast majority of my day-off making my way through a hefty stack of comic books lent to me by a good pal at work (bless his heart, this is just what I needed).
And then there's this bomb of a room.
Somewhere in there is my "studio space". Needless to say, I don't go in there unless there's something I really, really need. It's a soul-sucking pit of doom--though there are jewels thrown hither about amongst the X-acto knives on the floor and the tinsel tree and futon mattress (boy, does THAT ever need to go). How on earth did I ever let it get this bad?
Part of the problem is I don't have any shelves. Apparently, I need shelves. My goal is to get it whipped into shape after my trip to England so I can start using the space again instead of just spreading my painting madness into other parts of the house (my dining table is currently overrun with painting supplies). After looking at other design blogs, I'm feeling pretty inspired to tackle it. Plus, it will be so nice to have a well-organized room where I can spread out the canvas and paint away.I do have one piece of art to show you before I hit the comic book pile again...
I managed to paint up a ceramic candlestick holder after work the other day for my living room and love how it turned out. I kinda want to do a couple more with other odd little scenes on them for more parts of the house.Sorry I don't have much to show you at the moment. I promise there shall be more soon, just as soon as I can get some time in!
Have a great weekend, folks!
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5 comments:
Whoa, total deja vu! We JUST went through our own flea fiasco with our cat Jedi! He's an indoor cat and NEVER goes outside and yet, he got fleas! I too noticed them at around 9PM and immediately went to the grocery store, got a flea collar and flea spray for both cat and home. I washed everything, vacuumed everything, and then spent hours doing research on killing fleas. It seems that the Frontline stuff you get from the vet works best and you'll still notice some fleas for a while as they will hatch out, get on your cat, and then die. But the cycle should end soon. (or so says my research) FLEAS SUCK! (literally)
Haha! That sounds EXACTLY like me! I spent hours doing the research thing too and scared myself half to death with all the cons on the flea pesticides. But you gotta do what you gotta do, right? It appears to be working swimingly, and hopefully within the next week or two all will be well. Man do fleas ever creep the hell outta me...
PS. Kudos to an awesome cat name, by the way. :)
Caesar got fleas when we went to the Oregon coast and stayed in a rental. I was VERY displeased, but you know what's worse? Ticks! Blood-sucking, parasitic ticks! He got some of those when we were living in Austria, and I had to yank them out using tweezers. Poor baby...
I hate fleas so much! Frontline seems to be the only thing that works on Biddy, and even then if I forget to 'top her up' in time they come back for more. She was totally flea free for years and then I think she picked them up from the house next door because all of a sudden she was a total fleabag.
nice candlestick by the way!
Thanks, Camilla! :)
I'm really lucky in that none of my pets have ever had a tick before. Yuuuucckkkkk.
I think fleas are by far my least-liked insect/parasite. More so than spiders. And that's really saying something.
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