This is Dixie. She is very skinny she came to me on Friday night. I’ve treated her for worms and now I am working on fattening her up! She is a German shorthaired pointer. I’ve had hunting dogs but not a gsp so if anyone has experience with them let me know. She doesn’t come when she’s called if she is distracted. I’m thinking that if I run with her this will help. My experience with hunting dogs says a tired bird dog is a well behaved bird dog.

FLEAS!!

I’ve recently moved back in with my Dad. (whenever I say that I think of the Seinfeld quote ‘Ya things doing great, I’ve got a terrific girl, I got a great girl, making a lot of money, and if everything goes according to plan I’m gonna be moving back in with my parents soon.’ ) My dad is in his late sixties and is a very conservative republican FARMER. I’ve been living in the city of syracuse for 7 years or so. I have become very accustomed to city life. I like sidewalks, large crowds of people, apartments, cable, electric stoves, places to go, heck I even miss my job working 6-3am at a call center! Now I have to go back to the childhood terrors of having to chop wood, stack wood, re-stack wood, re-stack wood again, bring in wood, start a fire to have heat and/or food, shovel poo, feed stinky animals (mr Ralph the mini goat is the worst pet ever. He has this crazy OCD tick that makes him wipe his stinky face on everything. Oh yeah, and he pees on his beard to make it MORE stinky) and last but not least clean up after my Dad who has the worst habit of leaving everything he was using when he was doing something right where he used it. Also I have to kill and prepare 12 roosters this weekend because he’s gotten attached to them. I feel bad but we need them for food and more than one or two roosters causes problems. Needless to say I’m a little stressed. I am so determined though to get this place running like a car that vin diesel would jump out of a plane for. So the struggle continues.
Throw into that explosive cocktail I go to bed about a week ago and I’m cuddling with my precious kitty Lana (seriously I bottle fed this cat. She sleeps on my neck only because I won’t let her sleep on my face) and SURPRISE!!! There is a fricking flea crawling up my arm. After brutally killing the little parasite I instantly turn the light on and inspect my poor baby for evil little hitchhikers. And there they are. I found four on her belly. My kitty has never had fleas ever. She’s never come into contact with other animals, she’s never been outside. I didn’t sleep that night. The next day we drive half an hour to walmart and get flea bath, the drops which are supposed to last a while, and foggers for every room in the house. I bathed the three cats (OUCH!) two ferrets and the dog, rushed them out of the house and bombed the crap out of every room. Everything seemed peaceful for a few days. Then one night while watching tv. I feel a little itch on my ankle. Sure enough. They’re baaaaaaaack. Like a little army of iron vampires they invade again! Another sleepless night of googling how to eradicate a flea infestation. I’ve been reduced to bathing the animals as often as the product allows for their comfort until Friday when we go back into town and I’m getting about 5 cans of upholstery spray a different brand of foggers more flea bath and advantage. The good stuff. And I’m going to mow and spray the giant yard. Bring it on flea army. I look forward to killing you all!
What does Dad say about all this? “Sprinkle some diatomaceous earth all over the whole house and vacuum it up.” Um. No. I am not sprinkling dust all over a 5 bedroom house that I just spent two weeks cleaning. Also they could be anywhere. Crawling in the walls. Under the carpet , in the folds of your 90s style couches. No. Not happening. Crazy man. I love him though.
So I decided to start a blog to keep me busy and this has (unfortunately duh) been the only thing occupying my thoughts lately. So. Yeah. Sorry about that. If you’re still reading this. And if you are congratulations! Either you’re that weird stalker guy (you know who you are) or you really like to read! Good for you! I can’t afford to give out books or anything but I did just read “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. I know it’s a kids book but I think it’s one of those no-matter-how-old-you-are-you-can-get-something-out-of-it books and I figured it was about time. I like strange books plus my Mommy and I are doing this book club thing together. She lives in another state so we do weird stuff to stay connected. What’s next you ask? (or probably not) I’m thinking “Watership Down” by Richard Adams. How about you?