There are times when holistics are just no match for modern infestation. I suppose our ancestors lives so much more simply that pests had no real place to hide. Welcome to my nightmare right now.
What nightmare? Fleas. Oh it is too embarrassing. I've never had fleas ever, living in the country my whole life, you would think there would have been an instance, but never. I moved into this house and noticed fleas. We went straight to the vet and he set us up with Frontline for all the animals and some spray for the carpets. everything seemed to get better for a couple of weeks, and then, I started seeing them again. I called the vet, who said that was a second hatching and they will be taken care of if we keep applying the frontline. So I did, and in my spazmatica, I added in some flea collars, powder, various shampoos, diatomaceous earth, tea tree oil, zombie spray, crazy bleach concoctions, salt, everything I could to stop the onslaught. The Frontline never worked and the fleas were still there and seemed to be getting worse. I tried bombs that drove us and all the animals out of the house for a day...the fleas were still there. It has gotten to the point where they are landing on the humans when we watch TV, while we sleep, work. I vacuum, clean, spray, scream...nothing is helping. The final straw though was when my daughter and I walked down into the basement looking for some sheetrock screws. There was a square of cardboard on the floor that my son had placed when he was practicing his martial arts this past winter. My daughter decided to jump from the bottom step onto that bit of cardboard and started screaming. I turned around and she looked just like someone had poured a can of pepper on her. Her shirt, her hair, her legs were covered with fleas. I grabbed her and drug her up the stairs and quickly threw her outside where I hosed her off and stripped her down. I ran back into the house and closed the door to the basement and shoved paper towels under the door jam just in case they were climbing the stairs after us. I haven't been this freaked out since living in Virginia and meeting my first cockroach. This. Was. HORRIBLE.
I grew up with mice in the house, spiders...really, I'm not freaked out by bugs often, but this...this was the nightmare of nightmares. The sheer volume of fleas in that basement has me convinced they are crawling on me constantly. I called Orkin today. Evidently, flea infestations are second only to bedbugs in trying to get rid of them when they have managed to accelerate and the treatment will cost quite a bit, but this has got to end. They are coming on Thursday for the initial treatment and every month for 12 months. They will put a barrier on the yard as well as every inch of the house. We will have to leave for 4 hours and take all the pets, but they guarantee there will be no living creature in the house other than the ones I own and want in the house by the time they are done. Until then, I ventured back down into that basement and laid down every poison I could. A full 5 pound box of diatomaceous earth, a full can of garden guard, a full can of flea powder, a can of salt and a sprinkle of holy water. It looks like a flour factory exploded down there. Please get me through the next week...I'm going to hug the Orkin guy when he gets here. That is, if there is any of us left...
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