The Big Green House

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

 

Bugs (all sorts)

Today�s post is brought to you by BUGS. Serving all your infestation needs since before the dawn of time. We were here before you were, and we�ll be here long after you�re gone. Bugs: doing the work no one else wants to. Give us a call at 1-800-INSECTS, or visit our web site. Ha! Get it?

1) As you�ve no doubt heard if you live in the Seattle area, the tent caterpillars are out in force this year. Many of the trees we saw in Magnuson Park this weekend were infested. As it turns out, so was the old cherry tree at The Big Green House. Fortunately only one branch was involved, so I was able to deal with the problem. I think. I borrowed a pole saw from Science Manor, but I still had to climb up into the tree in order to cut the branch off; as it was falling it snagged on not one, but TWO other branches, so there�s a chance that the caterpillars just switched limbs. They�re gonna revoke my tree surgeon�s license.
2) Science Girl noticed a couple of yellowjacket nests in the eaves above the bedroom door of The Big Green House this weekend. If they were in a more isolated area, I would have been happy to leave them alone. Since they were right over the bedroom door leading to the back yard & near the bedroom windows, we decided that they had to go. I did the deed this morning, spraying both nests with some nasty chemical crap that will probably kill us all in the end. But at least we won�t get stung now.
3) Poor Lucy has the worst case of fleas I�ve ever seen. She�s got hot spots where she�s bitten all the fur off of parts of her back legs. I picked up some bitter apple spray that was supposed to keep her from biting herself � it left a bad taste in her mouth, but did not actually stop the biting. I�ve been bathing her once a week in an attempt to keep ahead of the little critters, but they�re relentless. She was scratching again within an hour of her Sunday bath. We went to the vet today; Dr. Darly prescribed Advantage for the fleas, an antibiotic because of the little sores caused by biting the hot spots, and prednesone to stop the itching. So with any luck we�ll soon be flea-free, and Lucy can relax a little.

bmarkey 5/27/2003 06:41:00 PM