Have you ever thought about all of the places bugs can be in your home? We live in Florida. Florida has bugs. Lots of bugs. Big honkin’ bugs. Fortunately, I am not afraid of bugs. In fact, I have made my peace with most of them.
The “palmetto bug,” which is a euphemism for giant-flying roach, occasionally comes in through our doggy door. They are easily captured and squished, so that’s fine.
The “ghost” ants, are given that name because you can barely see them. I have heard them called “no-see-ums,” which is appropriate, but seems wrong on many grammatical and intellectual levels. So, ghost ants it is. They actually are kind of creepy because you never see them going to a place, but suddenly, there they are…on a plate left on the counter, in the cat’s wet food dish, up my arm and crawling down my bra. We spray for them, leave out borax, sugar and water for them, and still the ants come marching one-by-one. And so, we make our peace placing all dishes and cat food bowls in the sink with water in them and swatting them off of our arms and other body parts.
Recently, we have been fighting a different war on a different kind of bug. We have been fighting a war on fleas. Yes, I know summer is over and even down here it’s cooler, but evidently the fleas don’t know that and here we are.
Can I tell you, fleas are despicable creatures? They seemingly have no idea about right and wrong. No moral compass. If they did, they wouldn’t attack my indoor cat. Indoor cats should be out-of-bounds for fleas, right??? Phoebe, our dog, goes outside all the time and has never had fleas. Charlie Cat sits on a windowsill to watch lizards and gets them. And so begins our war on fleas…

First, poor Charlie Cat had a bath in Dawn dish soap. You have never seen such fear accompanied by a look of “What the heck is going on?!” in a cat’s face. I’m not sure what he was thinking, but I’m pretty sure, if put into human words, it was not something to be repeated in mixed company.
Then, I put flea fighting goo on both the 45 lb. dog ($49.99) and the 12 lb. cat ($27.88). And, yes, Charlie is maybe a little chubby, but I think he has big bones.
Next, I began a list. And this is where my original question began. I made a list of all the “things” I had to wash aside from Charlie ~ two dog beds, a couch cover, the daybed blanket, bathroom rugs, small entrance way rug and back slider rug, rugs under Charlie’s cat tree, and Charlie’s box. By the way, we did buy Charlie a very nice, very cozy bed; but he prefers his Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Variety 2 Pack box. I don’t know why.Vacuuming. The entire house has to be vacuumed because fleas love to hide in carpets, cracks and crevices. AND, when you’re done vacuuming you have to clean out the vacuum canister, because they can live and make babies in there, too!
Spray. I have ordered a plant-based spray. Everything has to be sprayed, the insides of both dog beds, the couch, the cat towers and windowsills, our comforter, Phoebe’s chair, my puzzle board, our bathroom under the vanities, our chairs, vacuum cleaner canisters…
As if all of that is not enough, I was informed by our granddaughter that fleas can live in cat litter. Why anything would want to live in a cat’s litter box is beyond me, thus proving the insidiousness of these beasts. These too will be cleaned.
DEATH TO THE INVADERS shall be my battle cry!
But, in the light of all eternity, it’s really not that big a deal!