Even before I’ve had a chance to recover from my third week at school, week four begins amid rashes and strange rumblings. Wednesday of last week marked the beginning of an infestation of filthily insects out for my blood. I felt sorry for Honey, my landlady’s cat, that day because she looked miserable, scabby and anemic. I can safely say I now know how she felt. A brief encounter with Honey a week earlier had netted me a rather nasty “rash” on both my forearms which I chalked up to cat dander allergies having never suffered flea bites before.
Itchy but determined I continued about my routine until my basement suite became ground zero for a serious flea invasion. The final straw came as I removed my boots after a long day of classes on Thursday, my ankles were covered in bites identical to the irritation on my forearms. The next morning I was swarmed while I was trying to enjoy my morning coffee, the area rug in my den was full of fleas so it had to go. Friday was awkward, itchy and all through class I was petrified I was going to give everyone fleas.
My week was a total write off and I knew the weekend would be more of the same but I knew I had get rid of the fleas. Not wanting to resort to fumigating the place (especially after I failed to find any flea bombs) I had to find alternative methods and since my Landlady had disappeared I was on my own. Using a pie plate with soapy water and a candle in it I placed several ‘flea traps’ in the various rooms of my suite, turned out all the lights and hoped for the best. In theory the light attracts the fleas and they drown in the water because of the soap in it… in theory. I caught maybe half a dozen in three traps and considering a female can produce 20 eggs a day I was loosing the battle. In the nick of time my landlady arrived with several cans of flea spray and thus began the onslaught of a chemical warfare fueled genocide. In a frenzy of vacuuming, sweeping and toxic clouds the vicious brutes met their tortured ends.
I tend to hold life in high regard but when it comes to dealing with vermin I do what needs to be done. Sunday came and I had no fresh bites, the weekend was nearly over and apart from playing exterminator very little got done. It all did not matter in the slightest because the fleas were gone and everyone was better for it, even the cat. After seeding my suite with enough fleas to make my life miserable for several days Honey was quarantined and has since received many flea baths and is now her regular feline self.
2 comments:
dude, harsh. You realize the traumatized survivors of this flea holocaust, living on some mangy mutt downtown, are telling their twelve million children about their Hitler, and his use of chemical weapons....
Liam,
It's funny that I happened to visit your blogspace during a week in which I myself have been having issues with my cell phone provider.
I am with a provider (who shall remain nameless, to protect their sorry hides) that continues to confound me with not only their general ineptitude with customer service, but with the mind-boggling complexity of their plans. Cell phone providers purposely make their plans as confusing as possible. Maybe some people have the patience to sift through the seas of information available about various packages, but I do not. All I want is a plan that provides me with maximum long-distance usage, and a set monthly bill (ie: no freakin' hidden charges, or fluctuations in my bill). Pretty simple. But alas, all of the major providers (and I have been with two of 'em) offer plans that are a hodge-podge of "My Five, unlimited evenings and weekends after 6, after 8" etc. Pure mumbo jumbo designed to make things as vague as possible, and enhance your chances of making a call to your buddy working the oil sands in Fort MacMurray outside of your allotted hours.
My last paln was the best plan I have ever had, but I owe it all to my girlfriend at the time. Said provider had sent me the wrong phone, and my former gf called them up and threatened to cancel both of our plans, at which point said provider coughed up 1000 long distance minutes a month to both of us in what they referred to as a "retention plan". Funny how they can offer you a simple, easy to understand cell plan for a low monthly fee when you threaten to pull the plug on your business with them, eh?
Anyway, on to your main point, I myself have been contemplating switching from my current Nokia to a Blackberry or IPhone. However, any models I have ever tooled with have left me with similar impressions to yours. I like flip phones, so automatically both the bb, and IP have a strike against them. Furthermore, you are indeed correct in surmising that they are lousy to type on.
I am impressed with both your blogspace, and the quality of your blogs. You write with a degree of flair, humour, and dry wit that makes for an easy read. I look forward to reading more as the semester progresses.
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