65 times around the sun … YEA!

Earlier …

Happy birthday to me!!

Coffee on the front porch … with Emmett … Auggie is out as well and the dregs of bedbug laundry…

Happy, Happy birthday to me :)

I am beyond blessed and happy this birthday morning!

So. Bedbugs?

I think so as in I am being bitten in the night (Emmett is VERY itchy) and I have ruled out fleas and mosquitoes, so we are left with bedbugs.

After extensive research … I dunno! I have seen none of the signs: rusty blood/bedbug poop spots… on sheets or my bright, white mattress. But, I’m not sure what else it could be.

I first thought mosquitoe bites, but so many and overnight and no waking up to the whining of them … plus, at this point of Summer with heat and dry, it is very RARE to have mosquitoes here.

Fleas … rare also, plus Auggie and Emmett are both on Flea/Tick preventative. AND I brushed them both on a white sheet … nothing. AND Auggie had his yearly checkup on Friday … flying colors and all of that plus no mention of any skin anomalies.

What’s left? Revenge of the spiders ( I am not a spider fan and if they make an appearance inside … history), or bedbugs. Considering the regularity of the bites (nightly) and amount ( a LOT!) … I am left with bedbugs.

Whatever, I decided bedbugs. I first laundered all bedding and hoped for the best.

Sill being bitten, I decided on a DRASTIC course of action: Full on steam clean, throw out some old pillows/bedding, launder or dry at high heat all other stuff.

Here we go!

Bedroom mid steam clean. Steam/heat is recommended. I steam cleaned the mattress, the platform base (I have a platform bed, no box springs) … platform is slats with plenty of air! Anyway, I took my bedroom apart and steamed the platform, the mattress, baseboards, walls, ceiling trim, floor, furniture … the bedroom was steam cleaned after an all over vaccum.

Airing out after the steam…

Same thing in the “boys room” which has a mattress/box spring day bed.

A lot of mouse poop, dust, etc. behind the day bed … but no evidence of bedbugs ???

BUT, I did find a long lost toy…

Lousy photo, but Emmett was thrilled at the toy find and has been keeping it close :)

All of the pillows and bedding got tossed outside. Per my reading, it is very easy to allow for the little buggers to transfer, hence … everything outside. Some things will be trashed, but some are to be laundered and dried at HIGH HEAT.

Yikes! Well, I have high hopes for no transference inside … We will see.

The boys’ room: vacuumed, steam cleaned and awaiting laundered bedding … while currently being blocked off to at least Emmett.

Kind of crazy. This is my first issue with overnight bites and considering the woods, dust, pets on everything … I don’t know what lead to this catastrophe!

As in the boys’ room, my bedroom awaits clean bedding.

I hope this works, but per my reading it sometimes takes multiple cleanings. I’ve ordered some residual bedbug stuff, some bed leg traps AND an ultrasonic device…

GAH!

Stay tuned. We’ll see how the fight goes.

Wednesday. Hump day :) Downhill to the week end!!

Midday today, it was woodpecker central!

This was 1 of 2 Pileated woodpeckers right outside my “office” window. And they were joined by a Gray Flicker. I could not capture all, so you will have to take my word for it.

The Pileated woodpeckers (Woody Woodpecker :) ) are fun to see and hear … they have a distinct call. BUT, they are also a bit destructive and can quickly kill a vulnerable tree … circle of life…

Weather wise, we have had the cold whoosh front and at 5:35 p.m., on August 12, it is 64F and falling!!!

A warm fish pie is in the offing for supper!

A cat day!

And in the background, you can see 64F!

Work week is going well.

In the life background: COVID-19 stuff…

And then, I saw:

I follow Gone with the Wynns on YouTube and I highly recommend their channel. Jason and Nikki Wynn are extraordinary story tellers, photographers, videographers and overall super-nice and upbeat persons!!

BULA is a Fiji word. It means so much: hello, life is good, hail fellow well met, etc., etc. Google for more. But, the main thing is the “leave your worries here” box.

We all need a worry box to deposit our worries, don’t we??

Wednesday thoughts: deposit worries in a box, close it up, walk away and have a glass of wine or tea or coffee or whatever … with your dog, with your cat, with both … on your front porch or wherever you can sit peacefully … by yourself or with whoever.

Cheers.

Bonus: A recent video from the Wynn’s. They are on Fiji. Headed back to their boat, which was hauled out on Tonga for last year’s cyclone season … they got caught in “Borders closed” due to the pandemic. Their channel explains all … here is a link to the video.

Too early ??? Not for me!

The days are noticeably shorter … darker mornings, longer dawn and dusk and as we’ve had a wonderful cool off … I’m hoping for an early Autumn. I might be a little disappointed as there is a warm up to 90’s plus for next week. Maybe the forecast will be wrong.

Meanwhile:

Morning half moon high in the sky as Emmett and I were out this morning.

So, we are actually only halfway from Summer Solstice to the Autumnal Equinox.

But, a girl can dream!

Another beautiful and cool day!

I mowed the yard … maybe for the last time! It looks pretty nice and I’m happy that I had this cool day to do it. Honestly … if it had NOT been cool, I would have just left it!!

Anyway, done and I’m happy and hopefully will only need to do a bit of “cleaning up” of various bits that decide to grow.

Meanwhile …

For the record, I have a “Cats” glass also … today happened to be a dog day!

There is a weather phenomenon known as a singularity. It is something that regularly occurs on a specific ( kind of specific) date. Montana has an August singularity which is a drastic cool down with a windy cold front occurring in the 8/20’s.

So.

August 6/2020. A cold front with whooshy wind and some isolated thunderstorms and thankfully a night of gentle and then downpour kind of rain.

After the front and the rain, it felt like the yard and trees and woods said “Oh, YES!”

I said the same. After several days and nights of A/C’s on nearly 24/7 and fans … lovely cool. AND even better, lovely rain!!

Today, Saturday, 8/8 … after a 2nd night of no A/C or fans and lovely cool, sleeping weather … is it an early singularity?

I dunno, but I am not complaining and all of us are enjoying.

After a cool morning, I headed to town for my Farmer’s Market run … then home to an overcast, but delightfully cool day…

***For the record … Friday and Saturday topped out at 67F. Overnight lows in the upper 40F. Bliss as far as I am concerned!