Saturday, November 8, 2008

Infestation

Last night I was sitting on the floor rubbing Lady’s belly. Kim was on the computer, Craig and Cole were playing baseball outside and Reed was playing with his cars. A nice, quiet, peaceful Friday evening at home. Then I looked down and noticed something on Lady’s belly. There were little black spots, um wait… those look like, yes, fleas! It went something like this:

“Hey Kim, come look at this.”

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! INFESTATION!!!”

And the whirlwind commenced. Lady and her kennel were in the garage before I could stand up. Kim was on her cell and the house phone simultaneously, calling anyone and everyone who might have pertinent information on flea removal. She called an emergency management meeting. (That’s Kim and me talking in the kitchen). A plan was formulated to commence at 0800 Saturday morning.

0800 – Remove all possible flea infested matter from the house and burn it. (I was able to get this revised to washing it and it actually started about 0700 because Kim couldn't sleep thinking about the fleas.)

0830 – Stage family for supply retrieval at Petsmart.

0900 – Purchase Advantix (flea medicine) and Zodiac Indoor Insect Spray at Petsmart, proceed to Pete & Mac’s for rendezvous with Michelle to administer initial Advantix treatment.

0945 – Return to base for thorough cleaning and house spraying.

1030 – Proceed to YMCA for final soccer game. (It was a tie, our first non-win of the season. I think I was distracted by the flea extraction operation.)

1200 – Proceed to Lowe’s for Sevin-5 dust for yard coverage. (Plus 15 minute recon mission in power tool section.)

1230 - Begin outdoor flea eradication.

1400 – Complete washing of infested matter.

1530 – Final cleaning of garage and kennel.

And thus it ended, less than 12 hours after the first signs of fleas the operation is complete. It’s success has yet to be determined, but be assured, we will not surrender. It was an intense day, full of highs and lows, advances and retreats, but as the dust settles in the backyard and the carpet dries, we feel we have fought the good fight.

As I looked out the front window this evening I found that we had another problem, in the oak tree. Does anyone know anything about getting rid of this infestation?


3 comments:

Kar said...

Bursting with PRIDE over this well executed mission. Worried about the tree rodents. Trap and export to Centrasl Florida STAT.

Kerri said...

...the cutest infestation i've ever seen!

Anonymous said...

Did that last batch of kiddocide turn Coles' lips blue, lol?