Whew!! I had some bloggy plans today but things didn’t work out that way. Instead I spent my day cleaning. I vacuumed EVERYTHING – twice – nooks , crannies and all. Mopped, dusted some, threw about 75 magazines out into the recycle bin, really when am I ever going to look at them again? They were just taking up space! I did save my back issues of Backyard Chickens, Taste of Home and Organic Gardening because I use them as references and love flipping through them it the evening. It does feel good to purge sometimes!
I also kicked some major laundry butt! Then I took on the cats. Oh the cats! Last week I discovered just how badly the cats had fleas. Yikes! Apparently the Hartz flea drops I bought at Walmart are absolutely useless… GRRRR! It was really really bad. SIGH. SO we put them outside for the weekend. (In a comfy pen with lots of toys and stuff so they were just fine.) Then took on cleaning the house. I also salted all the floors and let it sit until today… weird I know but I read a lot of stuff online about fleas and people say that salt works so I tried it. Re-cleaned today. Then I bathed all of the kitties in Dawn dish soap, the plain blue kind. I completely and totally covered them with it and let it sit for five minutes. They had so many fleas that they were turning brown from the fleas exploding from the soap. EWWW GROSS! Then I submerged them up to their heads in a mop bucket full of warm water for a few minutes. LOL! I wish I had six hands so that I could have taken pictures to show you, they were just so pitiful with their little heads sticking out of this bucket of water.
I did them individually, bringing one at a time in from outside and washing, rinsing then picking the dead fleas off. I had been worried that they would fight and claw and try to get away but they were so good and sweet and just let me get them clean. Cleo was the worst but she was even half decent and only clawed me twice on accident, it really wasn’t fun for her to be held in a bucket of water I guess! Even Ginger the fat dog got another bath today with the Dawn dish soap. She’s getting to be a load to try to lift into the tub though, I though I put my back out but I got it done! Now I have four happy, clean, flea free ( I hope ) animals! I used the blow dryer to fluff them back out and they are happy to be back inside again. I just can’t believe how well the dish soap worked! It seemed to kill them almost immediately and it isn’t a nasty old pesticide so that makes me happy, although if they come back too badly and I have to use something stronger I will. I can’t stand fleas!
I have other big news from my real life too. Does anyone remember when my Mom and Lee moved into town last year and I was so sad? Well they decided that they are not cut out for life in the old folks home apartment building in town and are moving into the doublewide beside us! I can’t tell you how excited the kids are that Grandma & Grandpa are going to be right next door. They have missed being able to walk over and visit and talk with them. It will be nice to be able to see them everyday and chat whenever we want too. Hopefully mom and I will start walking again before that nasty four letter word starts to fall again this winter!
Tomorrow the annual fair starts!! Woot! We’re excited! I would like to live at the fair for the full week so I can eat a Doughboy everyday, pizza, pepperoni balls (drool!), fresh pulled peppermint Taffy and delicious smells around every corner! Of course we love to play games and check out all of the exhibits and animals too! I will probably be missing for most of the week but will try my best to blog a little! I do have several more giveaways and reviews I hope to have up this week for you but please don’t shoot me if I forget. The Funnel Cakes are calling!
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I have been fighting fleas, too. I moved into a house with an infestation. So far, no luck. I just keep doing the salt and diatomaceous earth, flea dips, dawn and vacuuming over and over to keep it manageable, but I think I am going to have to give in and have the place bombed. Grrrr!!!
I hope it gets better for you! We’ve never dealt with them before so I’m really praying that they don’t get worse here! I have DE on my list to pick up. It helps on the chickens for mites so should d good for fleas too!
Good luck getting rid of fleas – no fun.
Our fair here is kinda lame.
Thank you! I hope to beat them! Our fair is small but touted as “The biggest little fair around” :) It marks the end of summer and beginning of fall and is usually the last big thing we do before winter so we try to spend as much time there as we can!
Oh, pepperoni balls! Have 1 or 8 for me too! I miss them.
I will have many for you! I was so surprised that Pepperoni Balls are a regional thing! It’s weird that they aren’t popular elsewhere! So good!
I am joing ithe feal club too! I bath our dog twice a week, even give him Frontline and that crap doesn’t work at all. I hope when the weather starts to cool down it will go away.
I know that when we had the extra money to get drops for our dog Frontline never worked for us either (although my mom and lee swore by it for their dog!) We always used Advantix with good results. Money is tight now though :(
I am itching now… darn fleas! I would suggest doing your house treatment & check the animals for another bath in 6-10 days, when any new eggs will hatch… you can also add some powered borax (look in the laundry soap section)to your salt. vacumm over & over & empty outside! yuck!
Does your fair serve roasted corn on the cob? have one for me & taffy too, please! Our county fair is every labor day, weather was to nasty to go, for us this year :(
Ewww yuck, itchy gross fleas. I don’t have pets, but I can imagine ’cause I was watching an animal show and one of the rescue places was washing pooches that had fleas. It was so terrible and yucky! I’m glad you were able to get everything, and everyone!, clean and I hope those nasty little critters don’t come back. Good luck.
Yea, for grandma and grandpa being close. I wish my family at least lived in the same state. :-)