Buggy

I might almost start to miss winters.  Or at least the seasonal cold that kills bugs. Right now we're fighting another infestation. The first was a few months back when we had to clean out the cupboards because food got stored in the wrong place and with only paper between it and the very hungry world.

This one is more complex. The first part was when Steve showed us bright red spots all over his legs and feet, itchy as hell. Nobody else was getting bit, and he thought it might have happened while he was asleep, so the response was to attack the bedroom. Bedding was changed, mattress flipped - and inspected - the floor picked up and laundry done. No bugs were sighted during any of that process, though whatever was biting him seemed to have stopped. After a few days of baking soda soaks and my antihistamines, his bites have faded to pale pink and the itching is no longer something he complains about.

Then it was my turn. While sitting in my living room chair, I started feeling? imagining? that tiny bugs were crawling over me.  A few red mites were spotted and squished, but nothing else was spotted. Might they be fleas that hopped away too quickly to be seen, much less caught? Were scattered hair follicles dancing around on their own? Were ghosts poofing in isolated spots on my skin?

OK, that last is ridiculous, at least to a person who doesn't believe in ghosts. I do however believe in the power of suggestion, and even after changing clothes and taking a shower, still felt creepy crawlies while in my chair. Not only that, the little bathroom rug I stand on while getting pills out of my medicine cabinet or brushing my hair seemed to have an abundant supply of invisible tiny things springing up from the fibers to tweak my leg hairs before become again incorporeal.

Finally, evidence of some activity presented itself. An occasional little oval brown beetle got brave enough to crawl across me every now and again. It didn't stop the invisible pests, but just apparently decided to come join the party. Sometimes I caught one, mostly an absent minded swipe at the 137th tickle of the hour. They smushed easily, leaving a dark brown smear.

Ick.

Once they proved real, I made a point of catching some. their top size seems to be appleseed, but in shape more uniform front and back. No pointy parts, just ovals. Some ovals were more fat than others, but still, ovals. Some internet research persuaded me they are black furniture beetles, as opposed to regular carpet beetles or furniture carpet beetles or bed bugs. I've saved a few in a bottle in case anybody wants to do their own research, since it's all kind of confusing. The Raid kills them, regardless.

Steve offered to pick up something to kill whatever they were, and came home from the local drug store with a can of Raid. Kills roaches, bed bugs, and whatever. Precautions on the label, though it took his eye to spot that the label peeled off its top layer so you could read those. Nothing unexpected, keep off skin, ventilated area, etc., and once dry, remove.

So, armed with a little knowledge, a little can of spray, and a little ambition, once Steve and I were ready for bed last night, I stayed behind and sprayed all the likely spots in the living room. We could leave the front door open (cool enough to not trip the AC) and close off our bedrooms from fumes. I took the can with me thinking that the bathroom rug might benefit from a spray... in the morning when I was ready to inhabit the living room again.

You know what they say about plans, right? I actually had my light on when I approached the bed after my shower. My pillowcases were covered with greasy looking little spots! Covered!

Picking up one to see what might be inside, I was greeted by a cupful of little brown bugs, scurrying away to safety. Those spots on the pillowcase were from when my head hit that pillow as I shifted from one to the pother as I rolled over in my sleep. Apparently when I hit the pillow, I really hit the pillow. Plus the bug under the pillowcase.

I did some checking around. They were under the sheets, under the mattress, crawling through the folds of the spread at the foot of the bed.... So now what? I can't sleep here and I've just sprayed the living room fairly heavily.  Steve's bed maybe? Go from a queen for one to a full size for two? In this heat? When Steve loves a comforter over him and I overheat with a sheet?

While pondering my (lack of) options, I stripped my bed, hauled all the bedding out to the patio except for the two pillows which went in the garbage can. Hundreds more beetles ran for cover with every new layer peeled away. It was going to have to be the living room couch. I opened the front and back doors and turned the ceiling fan back on to push fresh air, washed sheets, and read a few chapters while I waited out on the patio for the air to clear "enough." I hoped.

There are spare pillows and other bedding in the house, and I didn't bother digging out a sheet. This was warmer than my bedroom since the overhead fan was out in the middle of the room and the sofa, unlike my bed, wasn't straight under one. I was paranoid enough, however, to check under everything that I removed from the sofa that nobody had bothered to find a real place for, and each cushion, verifying no more bugs, before settling in finally around 3 AM.

I woke before garbage pickup, usually meaning 6, and was up for the day. Whee. With the list of further bug control and cleaning to be done, putting chores in logical order by need to use each room, the brain was off and running. A short nap got put in there somewhere, along with another post-spraying shower, a trip for new pillows and zippable covers both for the pillows, and for the mattress once clean and debugged, all chores fitted among all the extra laundry from the under-bed storage drawers, and... uff, no time for more sleep.

Do I get my own bed back tonight? Wait a minute, who said yes? Seriously? When's the last time you came back into a room thinking all the bugs were dead and found that they actually were dead? If you did, goody for you. We didn't. Apparently Raid doesn't kill the bugs it doesn't land on - though otherwise, instant bye-bye. By this afternoon I enlisted Rich's help. He's a perfectionist. I'd sent him in to vacuum up the carcasses, but he wound up chasing critters instead. And spraying again. And airing out the room again.

He says it needs more Raid tomorrow too. I believe him. But I'm stacking up folded blankets and sheets now before going to sleep on the couch. Hopefully a little longer this time.

Steve says he's going to do dishes tonite though. So... maybe a lonnnnnng nap tomorrow?