What a day
We finally called pest control, and not a moment too early. We've been battling mites (I think) since late April. At first we thought it was fleas, even though we've never seen a flea in this house and the boys are strictly indoor cats. So we did major laundry, treated the cats with Advantage and hoped for the best. It's been three and a half months of intensive laundry work and constant torture for me including not being able to sleep at night because of the bites. Why did I wait so long to call pest control? Hm, sharp as a tack, I suppose. But this past week has been utterly unbearable (can I say that? is there a degree of unbearability?). So the guy came, sprayed, sprayed and sprayed some more, then placed three boxes with bait in strategic positions under the house for the rats. Ah yes, we've got those, too. And he found two ant nests as well. Don't you love nature?
Well, we do love it, actually. It's the reason we fell in love with this old house: character and trees all around. And we get interesting nocturnal visitors. Most frequently it's raccoons, but the other night we got a skunk. A rather unpleasant sounding name for such a pretty creature. We've got quite a few in the neighborhood, to the point that walking in the evening can be a challenge for sensitive nostrils. I wouldn't want them gone, though. I wish I had time to take a photo the other night; the skunk was showing off her tail while staring at Kelvin and Piper through the dining room's floor-to-ceiling window. Referring to animals as he or she is a habit I can't shake. Every name in Italian has an assigned gender so, regardless of the skunk's actual gender, any skunk is called puzzola, which is feminine (la puzzola).
Today is all about the bugs. I've been doing laundry since 9AM and it won't be over until tonight. I am washing all the beddings, sofa covers (one regular and one giant sofa), cushions, towels and more. To be on the safe side, I also bombed the bedroom with one of those foggers. I can smell the stuff and feel my eyes itching all the way to my office… guess the towels under the door didn't do much to seal off the room. I sure hope this pays off. I haven't dared to sit on the sofa since Sunday because that's where I got most of my bites, so all my evenings this week have been on the office chair.
Tomorrow will be all about working out. Well, sort of. We ordered an elliptical machine from Nordic Track and it'll be delivered tomorrow. I am really excited about this. Building websites is not exactly an activity that promotes fitness. I am only bummed because almost certainly I'll have to miss a spin-in at Andrea's. We'll see.
And Sunday morning, a friend will show me the basics of quilting. Finally, a *whole* weekend without work!