dbjc364's Blog

on the war of fleas.Going the non-toxic route. Got the flea comb,and after reading hundreds of remedies of how people approached this problem,it got me to thinking.While I wouldn't use Avons Skin So Soft or petroleum jelly or mineral oil,I thought they were onto something. Combing him twice a day now, I dip the comb in vegetable oil,not too much,but enough dipping to make the fleas stick to the comb and can't jump off. They are smothered and die. Then tap them off the comb into the bowl of oil,and keep a small container of water/towel right there handy also. I found that by just using the comb,they were jumping off the comb before I got them into the water,and the vetg. oil is non-toxic. I can rest easy knowing when he cleans himself he wont get sick now or down the road from it. I'm mostly aiming at his head because thats where their going,and I can get under his chin.He now looks like Fonzy,a little slickered up on his head. He still scratches,but no where nearly as bad and doesnt have as many as before. I only got 3 of them last night,versus 7 the night before. He doesn't even like being combed,but I think doing it faithfully twice a day,he's starting to get use to it,and it only takes about 10 minutes. The number of fleas in the water pans on the floor have dwindled down also. Today I do another good vac job. Hubby working on the deck-has the top boards on one side up,now it actually looks like somethings happening there.Today he works on the 2nd side. And we really don't know what we're doing,just reading of other deck roof plans. And its a bit tricky because of the other roof. And then theres that little thing called money. I bought the first round of $110.00 of lumber,and I was lucky I had scraped that together. Thats as far as I got. Its quite possible I wont have the money for the metal roof by the time the framing is up,but we'll go as far as we can. But usually the money comes along from somewhere,so I'm not stressing about it. If nothing else,I'll have a pergola for this year. We dont like just sitting in the hot sun,or having the bugs at suppertime. The sunsail is only 1/2 effective. We'll probaly still have to get some snow off the area,but not nearly as much. Now the West Nile Virus has hit in Maine,so we're glad we're doing it. Its been semi planned for 2 years. I cleaned up the deck from his first mess,then moved the furniture out of his way for today. He has the tendency to think he can work around the deck stuff,and ends up knocking over things,like a bull in a china closet. Have Landon for a couple hours today,but he can work for a couple hours till he gets here,then after he leaves. Another quart of berries in the freezer,and a bowl to eat, a good load of string beans and 2 more cukes. I'm at 69 quarts. I will hit 70,as there is at least one more quart to go out there. Amazing. I find that I rather like my time out there anywhere from 1-3 hours each morning,wet or dry it doesnt matter,and if the phone rings,I wont talk to anyone till I'm done. I'm in the zone. I'll call them back later-I dont want to be bugged. Got all the mowing done yesterday,have to fill the gas can today. Can do a bit of wacking now. Cool nights now, and warm sunny days, weather is suppose to be good all the way into the weekend...