Moose's Archives - September, 2005

Entry the Seven Hundred and Fifteenth

02 September 2005

Bed Bugs

The mosquito issue was not a mosquito issue. It's a bed bug issue.

I'm getting little flying bugs in the unit, that's clear, but that's not what's biting me. Had a visit first thing this morning from a young lady who was having a bed bug issue in her 7th floor apartment, so they had offered to relocate her within the building to our floor. She had talked to another of my neighbors, with whom I'd discussed the bite issues I was having, so came to chat with me. Took one look at my arms and declared that I had the same thing she was dealing with.

This was about the time I was leaving for work, and I was running almost late for a meeting with my head political person, so didn't think to stop and check the bed right then. Did so when I got home, however, and sure enough, found an adult carcass and spoor, as well as a couple live little ones. Took the bed apart, vacuumed the frame and mattress (strangely, the bugs were on the frame but not the mattress), washed the sheets and pillows (which needed it any way), and tried to clean up as best I could around the area. Also sprayed the nastiest bug stuff I had all around our doors to try and create a chemical barrier to transmission through that entryway.

Called the building manager and left him a voicemail, as well as going down in person and filing a paper report with the resident services office. They'll likely get Orkin in on Monday to spray or whatever they do for these things.

Hopefully it's early enough (3-4 weeks?) that they haven't established too strong a foothold yet in the wood of my bed frame. The mattress is easy enough to replace, but if they're too far in the wood and we can't kill them there I'm screwed. I'm also worried that they've spread to more parts of the apartment, like the futon couches or Richard's bed. Ugh. What a damned mess. My bet is that it's coming from the apartment next door to the 'trick door' off my bedroom, which is why I'm getting the main brunt of the bites. I relayed that the building manager in a conversation earlier today when I first broached the possibility, and he said he'd have their place checked to make sure there's not a problem.

In any case, am incredibly grossed out and really, really annoyed that this has come into my place. Six years here with no incidents like this, and now suddenly I'm covered in bites. Incredible.

Entry the Seven Hundred and Sixteenth

08 September 2005

Maybe, Maybe Not

Orkin finally came yesterday. She thoroughly coated the bed frame with boric acid, steamed the frame as well, and did the same to the mattress. I cleaned up the floor and the visible edges of the frame, covered the mattress in the new allergy cover, and was good to go to sleep in my own bed, pest-free, for the first time in a month. Hard to believe this started back on the 12th of August (when I first noticed the bites).

She also went next door and treated their apartment. When she got in she discovered they had four beds set up in the studio apartment and that they all had bed bugs. Yuck. So my suspicions were correct, they were the source of the infestation. I kind of felt sorry for them, because they must have been dealing with this for well over a month, but on the other hand I'm pissed they didn't have the sense to report it when they first discovered them and get it taken care of then and there and not let it get to the point where it spilled over into my unit.

The whole experience has just thrown me off for almost the entire month. My sleep obviously suffered (both in my bed and on Richard's), which affected my exercise, etc. My mood's been crap as a result, and my libido's been in the cellar. I really had hoped this solved the problem for good because it was just hell dealing with the bites and related physical and mental stress. I wish I were more resilient in the face of such things, and sometimes I suppose I am, but after a while it just ground me down.

At the moment, though, I'm just fucking exhausted.

While we sprayed and treated and all that jazz, and I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing, about mid-morning today I noticed a spot on my wrist that quickly became inflamed and showed its true nature - a single new bite last night. Needless to say, I was just devastated. I so want this crap to be over and done with, no more treatments, no more futzing around with an exterminator, no more fucking bites. Hopefully the little shit crawled down into the frame and died of chemical burns like the rest of his kin. If not, I bought a huge container of boric acid at the local hardware store and will go to town on the area around the bed, praying I get whatever hidey-hole the little shit was using. I pray I don't have to use it, but I'll be damned if I'm waiting another week for Orkin to show up again, especially if I'm getting bitten.

Entry the Seven Hundred and Seventeenth

12 September 2005

Words Cannot Express

I am shaking, I am so pissed right now.

Once again, there is no sign that Orkin did anything in the room. Oh, there's a drop note in my kitchen saying that they entered the apartment, but no sign that any spraying went on in the bedroom where the pest problem is. When they sprayed last week, there was white residue left all over the floor and bed frame. Nada tonight. Nothing was moved, nothing was touched, and once again I'm left without my bed, with no outlet here after 6, and no recourse until the morning, after I've spent another restless night getting more and more pissed off about this situation.

I was civil on the phone call to the building manager just now. Barely. But every goddamn city agency with any sort of jurisdiction over this gets called tomorrow and complaints get filed left and right. I am past the end of my rope.

Entry the Seven Hundred and Eighteenth

21 September 2005

Better/Changes

I'm doing a tad better now.

After last Monday's little incident with Orkin, the supervisor came in and treated the place herself again. After that I went a week with no new bites. Then I woke up yesterday with a small track of new bites on my knee. Near as we can figure, a (hopefully) last batch of eggs was still there, hatched, and fed for the first time. The Orkin supervisor will be back on Friday to spray and what not again (and to treat the apartment next door again). In the meantime I cleaned all the sheets again and took matters into my own hands and thoroughly covered the frame in boric acid. Did sleep in the bed last night, and no new bites. Hopefully the dosing killed the new beastie who managed to get up on the bed.

The cats are thoroughly pissed at me because I've kept them out of the bedroom (because of all the boric acid). They're just going to have to stay pissed through Sunday or so when we get back from Roanoke and can clean up the acid again so they don't get it on them.

I'm still mad enough to spit, but at least I'm getting sleep, if not any exercise.

I've been redoing the main page of this site, experimenting with Word Press. Eventually I'll convert this part of the site over to Word Press as well to make it easier to post here when I want to. The hope is that this'll make me post more than I do now by making the process easier and more accessible. As it is now, while I can type on the Treo, I can't post here from it. That'll change once I get it all up and running. Eventually I'll have this site mirrored on my LiveJournal as well, so perhaps there will be less bifurcation between the two sites. I'll still be a tad more circumspect about the main page, using it to post more political or picture oriented stuff, but the journal, despite the change in format and user interface, will remain the same types of posts.

But first I have to get all the bugs worked out, and figure out how I'm going to orient the new site such that I don't lose the old archives from "the green days." ;-) Six years I've been keeping this journal online, six years of hand-coding the thing. Moving to automation is going to be a trip, but I'm liking the idea of not being bound to the computer here to post stuff.

Other than that I've been moody, am dealing with my first head cold since February (a record, I think, between colds - yay for entex pse, clarinex and flonase for my allergies), was all pissy at Richard when he got home finally from the latest travel, and just generally not a nice person. The bugs and the cold certainly didn't help. The fact that it's the end of the federal fiscal year, traditionally a very stressful time for anyone involved in budget (which I most certainly am, with a vengeance), and you've got a very tired Moose. No matter, I'll get through. Keep your fingers crossed that this was the last gasp of the bed bugs and I've managed to kill them off for good this time.

Entry the Seven Hundred and Nineteenth

22 September 2005

An Interesting Evening

This was definitely an interesting evening. First, I was standing at the bus stop this evening waiting to go meet a friend (who's asked be called "Imp") for dinner and a Metro supervisor came up and was checking the stop. Eventually he looked at me and asked if I were Moose. Surprised, I replied in the affirmative and it turned out that he was a new route supervisor and was checking up on complaints they'd gotten recently, including one of mine at that stop where I'd waited over 1/2 an hour for a bus to show up. Nice to see that they were actually out doing something about a complaint.

Then on the way up 14th Street, I saw where Ms. Sheehan had set up her mobile memorial to the war dead. The corner of 14th and Constitution was covered with neat little rows of crosses, in an eerie echo of the real ones set up across the Potomac in Arlington National Cemetery. That was hard to see, knowing that those represented men and women who had died in the service of our country. Of course, I get choked up at the real thing (Arlington), too.

Dinner was surprisingly good, and nice and small. After dinner Imp and I chatted a while and I got some things off my chest that have been bugging me during the last month and a half or so. It was a good experience, I needed to unload some of that, and was glad for the opportunity to do so. He was very kind, and I was very appreciative of his help.

Off this weekend for Richard's father's wedding.

I've gotten Word Press working on the main site, and gotten it to mirror over to LiveJournal, so the next step is redoing this page. I may work on that some this weekend if there's free time in the evening. Otherwise it'll wait until we return from the wedding.