The biggest problem in my life right now (aside from serious grief, of course) is fleas. Although the dog has left the house for a while, the fleas have not. I have been battling this problem for a while, and I'm sad to say that I don't appear to be winning. At best, I'm in a stalemate.
What I have tried, unsuccessfully: flea baths for the cat, flea bombing for the house (twice), frequent vacuuming, monthly flea topical medicine for the cat, diatomaceous earth on the carpets, and daily flea combing. What I have not yet tried: waiting until it is below freezing outside and the opening all the windows. Sure, that might burst my water pipes, but it would probably kill the fleas.
I have not yet given up on flea combing and vacuuming, as the Internet promises me that these methods will eventually work. Flea combing is a tedious, semi-disgusting job which I do every 12 hours. I used to hate it, but recently a group of friends (all physicists) convinced me to start counting the number of fleas I remove. They argued that this was the only way to see whether the problem was getting better or worse, and to measure the effectiveness of various treatments. This has been pretty cool - now I am not removing blood-sucking parasites, I am taking data! I am doing science.
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In other news, it was free museum day on Saturday. The Smithsonian organized museums around the country to not charge admission for a day. I'm not one to pass up an opportunity like that, so my friend D and I visited a historic house and gardens in DC. It was the kind of place that has an army of gardeners, and acres of formal gardens, and it was beautiful. I really like it that I've lived in DC three times, for over ten years total, and I'm still discovering places I've never seen before.
3 comments:
Did you know your father went to the AMA motorcycle museum on Saturday because it was free? Guess it covers a lot of different types of museums. Let us know when it happens next year. Great picture, by the way.
I think it is actually the norm that we rarely go and see the things there are to do in our own backyard. When granddaughter 1.1 was here and we researched all the things there were to do, we were amazed.
To what distinguished scientific journal will you be submitting your paper on the study of flea annihilation effectiveness in the Mid Atlantic semi-urban household?
We live next door to 'an area of outstanding beauty'. We should visit Cannock Chase more often -we always enjoy our visits when get there.
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