Bugs: New Solutions

Well, the critters are continuing to spread. They are also continuing to die. And we are continuing to find ways to fight.

After reopening my bedroom, having treated it for over a week with a pair of no pest strips, two things were found. First, dead bugs were all over the floor. (This was three days after they quit escaping under the door into the hall, where they got pinched and flushed.) Second, as things were moved around, crawlers appeared. So, some progress, not enough.

We - meaning Rich and I - repositioned a couple things to enable better air access, and reclosed the room for another week's work. Second, just before that, my chair was removed. First, not having seen any bugs on it yet, to its usual spot in the living room. Second, 20 minutes later, out to the patio. This was after I squished the bug which had just fed on me when I sat on the chair. We think (thought?) the few bugs which dropped off on the trip out were destroyed.

Another half can of Raid was spent on the chair, though I had to wait for the winds to subside. I'd been getting more spray than the chair had. The next morning it was obvious they hadn't all been killed.

It took me a couple days to come up with what we hope is the final solution for the chair: the car! No, not driving it out and dumping it somewhere. I recalled that heat of 115 degrees kills them. Plus it's summer in Phoenix. Plus the chair easily separates into two parts, something I recalled when remembering my little hatchback hauled it home from the furniture store years ago. If it fit then...

Next morning, Rich and I hauled the two pieces around the outside of the house to the driveway, and into the car. Today is its second day of sitting out in the sun to bake them dead dead dead. Any that escape the chair in the process will just bake a little quicker. They say cars sitting in this sun easily reach 130 degrees, so don't leave babies or pets inside. Bed bugs DO NOT QUALIFY as either. Trust me!

So that's one new way to fight them. Rich came up with a second, when he couldn't sleep last night after squishing a bloody on on his pillow! Like he needs that too! First one in his room. He sent me a link to a steamer, and after a couple questions and watching the video accompanying the website, I ordered it. We'll have to wait till somewhere between July 2 and 7, but it should be a solution to a lot of areas when we can't wait for fumigating a whole room due to having to live in it.

As a bonus, this will work for steaming clothes too. Maybe I will finally toss that iron that hasn't been used for ten years but which I insisted on hauling down here anyway.

But now I have to go vacuum the rug. I insist it's the source of all those invisible massless somethings which crawl all over me and promote furious itching, every time I sit in this particular spot. Showers help, and I make sure to shower every night before sleeping since that seems to be the only way to be able to actually get to sleep. I dread seeing the water bill. Everybody's showering once or twice a day these days, and the laundry....