Fleas

I guess i really am a flea-bitten hippie now. It started harmlessly enough, Pepper went too long without Frontlone treatment. So we treated her when these horrible insects appeared. They, of course, like all sentient creatures in dire situations, were forced to find a new home: me. I found anit-bug/anti-flea stuff - mycodex- and sprayed the house. It promises "to break the flea life cycle and controls reinfestation for up to 210 days." This was three or five days ago. Today, I believe, it couldn't get worse. Flea bits are hundred times worse then mosquitoes, thistle, maybe worse then ivies of varying toxicity.

I did find a remedy (kinda). While hydrocortisone based products reduce itching and irritation by immunosuppression, products like Afterbite™, mostly Ammonia, reduces itchiness presumably by lowing the skin PH. I come to this conclusion because baking soda (CHNaO₃) is a fantastic treatment for wasp stings. Anywho, I was reading a book about curative baths and they suggested a tincture of black tea to ease the skin. Ok it's not really a tincture, but a tea bath - a slightly brownish tannin heavy solution of bathwater. I tried both types of baths. Yesterday the baking soda and today the tea. It's definitely weird to have your bath water smell like delicious breakfast tea. I was supposed to use 2oz of dry tea leaves but i only had one tea bag left and no scale. So accuracy is out the window in these experiments. Also, I neglected to record or mark a bath-water level.

The baking soda bath definitely made me feel slightly better.If only for 45 minutes. The tea bath was much more relaxing. I also noticed with grim satisfaction many (5) drowned fleas. Tomorrow I guess I'll have to come up with some more aggressive solutions.

I hate parasites. especially ones I notice or leave incriminating evidence of their leechiness. Sure, i might no need all my blood; but i certainly don't need hundreds of horrible bites always arranged in groups. if i were a more creative man i'd come up with a decoder for reading the crytic messages the fleas are leaving in their bite patterns.

I think the worst of it is that neither Pepper nor Ruby seem to be suffering as much as I.  She's very intent on not scratching and Pepper, well, she's a cat. You can never really tell if she cares or notices the bugs. I've been thinking if I'm going to live with body lice I should eat them when I find them. It only seems appropriate. Vengeance, really, an eye for an eye and the like. Bite me, bugger, I'll bite you right back.

I've always romanticized about being a pirate. I guess this is a step towards living the dream. Yet without a ship or a crew I'm only a roof-over-my-head away from being a creative homeless guy. I just hope

until better daze, Marcus