A little of this and a little of that.....

   Exhausting!  So goes the battle with fleas.  I never thought that I would say that I am entirely sick of critters but this is a tad ridiculous!   Poor old Ms. Ez cannot find a bit of peace.  We treat her with the highly toxic stuff as recommended by the vet and yet, here she is being gnawed upon by fleas.  After they grow tired of her, they merely hippity hop around the house threatening to eat me alive! As much as I hate using the sprays, I finally relented.  Michael and I sprayed the yard and house...I choked.  It was all I could do to breathe!  I can only imagine what the dog was suffering.  It was most horrible but at least I thought we had rid the place of the varmints.  I told Michael that as soon as we can get into the marsh, I was going to pull up a ton of Fleabane to dry!  We really need to keep that on hand.

  Then last night, I heard Ms. Ez scratching and I found another flea.  Drats!  I cannot go much more of this!  All of this exasperating situation caused me to remember that last summer I had made a concoction.  Hmmm?  Early this morning, a large pot was steaming away on the stove.  I had thrown in just about every herb imaginable. Lavender, Rosemary, Sage, Cloves, Chamomile, Calendula, Peppermint, Citrus peel, Garlic along with a handful of Camphor leaves simmered in a couple of gallons of water.  Once this steeped for a while, I added six cups of apple cider vinegar.  As I stirred, the old line from MacBeth kept rolling through my brain. "Double double toil and trouble, Fire burn, cauldron bubble!"  This is stuff of nightmares! (Not really.  It was actually pretty nice!)  My "magic potion" was complete!  Once again, Michael and I worked as a team. He washed the dog's bedding while I washed the dog.  He sprayed the house while I mopped the floors.  All of this was done with my creation.  At first, Ms. Ez balked!  She did not really want to smell like a bouquet of flowers with a bit of fruit and veggies tossed in for good measure. After I sloshed the mixture on her, I started to rub it into her fur.  Ahhh, this she liked! I have yet to see a dog deny a good massage even if it was rather..ummm...aromatic!

  Since the bath and spraying, the old dog has slept soundly.  She has not scratched once.  Hopefully, this will do the trick and she will be flea-free.  At least I know that I have not done anything that will harm her even if she licks the stuff.  (There is not enough Camphor in it to hurt her.) Wish us luck!  Michael and I are not happy having to do this daily!  Double, double, toil and trouble......

One of those days

   It has been one of those days.  You know, those days when it seems that everything is crashing down around you.  Yep, that kind of day.  Late last night, I found a flea on my sock.  Nothing terrible, it was just a flea.  Then I found another and another and another.  Oh, geez.  Now that is terrible!  I decided right then and there that something needed to be done.  We do not need another bout with critters.  It was a bit confusing since I diligently douse the furry family members with their prescribed dosage of toxins each month.  I know this is not the healthiest remedy but all else seems to fail in preventing fleas.  Now this has failed.  Fleas have taken over the house!  Termites have taken over the walls.  Grasshoppers have taken over the lawn.  I AM SO OVER BUGS!

  After a full night of spraying chemicals about the living room, Ms. Ez, the freshly washed dog, and I moved to other parts of the house. She was a bit confused as to why her new sleeping quarters were the entryway so I left the door open for her.  She could have come and gone as she pleased but she was divinely cooperative and stayed in the small room.  This morning was the same.  Anything washable was run through the machine.  Those items not washable were just tossed in the dryer for a bit.  Floors received a good vacuuming and mopping to get up any residual mess.  Hopefully, this will eradicate the bloodsucking little varmints but if not, the whole process will begin again.  To say I am tired is an understatement.

  Once I finished, I wanted to head outside to get some fresh air but no sooner had I stepped out the door, it began to rain.  Just what I needed! I wanted outside!  I wanted fresh air!  I did not want rain!  In a way, this was the icing on the cake.  Blah!  I turned to stare out the window and had to smile.  On the window ledge, some happy daffodils were trying their best to brighten my day.  Mark had surprised me with a pot of the flowers a few days ago and today, they were as happy as can be!  Their yellow blooms made me appreciate the rain as without it, the flowers, trees and grass would never grow. I needed the reminder that all things are for a purpose. Even the rain.  (Maybe not the fleas, though!)

My Outdoor Aromatherapy!

The culinary and medicinal usage of herbs is something that has long interested me.  I find that food flavored with fresh herbs is much tastier than when using the dried herbs found on the grocer's shelf.  Also, homegrown herbs seem to be tad more potent when used in a healing way.   I want to have a huge herb garden!  My aim in this is a tad lacking in reality as my garden thus far is not nearly as large as I wish it to be.  There are still lots of herbs that would prove most helpful if I could only find the space to plant them!  For now, however, I will be happy with those that are flourishing in the small allotted area. Some day..some day..my herb garden will be large and overflowing with the most delightful smelling herbs around!  One of my favorite herbs is Florence Fennel.  Not only does this provide me with the seeds that I use in teas but, also, with greens and roots!  The root of the Florence Fennel is a wide "hand-shaped" thing that is most tasty stir fried and tossed with other vegetables or roasted with a bit of olive oil and then sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and fresh basil.  My daughter was the one that introduced me to the usage of Fennel Root.  As for the greens, I snip the tender ones to be dried and then use them as I would Dill Weed.

While out and about this morning, I noticed a new aroma in the air!  Sure, the Confederate Jasmine and Seven Sisters Roses are still in bloom but they are waning and I was sure this scent was not from them.  I wandered a bit..following the scent that wafted in on the soft Bay breeze.  That, itself, told me that my elusive, aromatic plant was on the south side of the garden!  Ahh..deductive reasoning! Actually, I already knew what was filling the air with fine aroma of what reminds me of licorice or Star Anise!  While I am  not a big fan of eating licorice, I love the smell and Star Anise is an incredibly wonderful herb! Sure enough, once I followed the path to where the Fennel was growing, the aroma was delightful......and there was a squirrel..nibbling on my Fennel!!!  Arrgh!  NO!!  I shooed the squirrel away.  He can go raid the bird feeders!  To be honest, the squirrel had not done a tremendous amount of damage to the plant as I truly believe he was more trying to dig up an acorn that was buried last fall.  The Fennel plant multiplied and covered up said acorn!  No gnaw marks were actually on the plant but digging had taken place near the root.  At this point, I noticed that the Fennel plant was huge!  It was higher than my head!  The yellow blooms that would soon turn to the coveted seeds swayed above me like some tall umbrella!  No wonder the yard smelled so good!

~Just as an added note which might come in handy during the warmer months.  The aromatic Fennel is said to be highly disliked by fleas!  Powder made from dried Fennel plant can be scattered about in stables and pet areas to rid them of the pesky (and harmful) critters.  I wish I would have known this a few years ago when we were fostering the pup, Sunny!  As with so many strays and rescued dogs, she was infested with fleas.  The rescuers, Elizabeth and Robbie, fought the critters and thought they had won the battle.  When it came time for Sunny to stay with us for a while, the fleas came back with a vengeance!  The ones she had and ones from the surrounding wooded area, wreaked havoc on our place for a few weeks.  Only a strict regimen of baths for the dogs and spraying with chemicals (much to my disgust!) rid the place of the pests.  Had I known then about the Fennel, I could have placed parts of the plants in the dogs' bedding.  Sure..Sunny and Ms. Ez would have smelled like black jelly beans but that would have been much nicer than the chemical smell!~

Flee Flea!

It was a most unpleasant experience! Son came downstairs with the news that he had found a flea in his room. Well, this could happen..after all, we were working in the yard all morning. I asked him if he had gotten rid of the critter and he responded that it wasn't there anymore. Again.."Did you get rid of it?" The answer was quite unsatisfactory...it was not there anymore meant that the flea jumped and he could not find it. Drats! Fleas! Not fun! A bit later, I found one on my laptop screen of all things! I suppose it was drawn toward the light but I do not like fleas! I started scratching! Things like fleas make me itch just thinking about them! Still, something had to be done! If we had a couple of fleas..we would have a million in a few days!

He and I spent the better part of today stripping anything washable from the rooms and running it through the washer and dryer. Then we set about dusting all the rugs and stuffed furniture down with baking soda. Not that this would kill fleas but it might just run them from their hiding places. The vacuum cleaner got a real good workout trying to suck up all that baking soda! After getting everything cleaned, I set about making a "flea spray". I cannot bring myself to over spray with the chemical pesticides that are recommended for such things as this. If we were highly infested with fleas, that might be a different story but for a couple of bugs, herbs might work.

Into the pot went a number of herbs and one squished grapefruit. This grapefruit had fallen from the tree and was quite icky. I needed some citrus to add to the pot so the squished fruit was perfect. A good helping of camphor leaves and some marigold leaves were the next things to be tossed in with the steaming citrus. To this, I added rosemary, juniper, lavender, oregano and sage. While the pot set to boiling, I slipped outside to snip a few fresh fennel leaves. With the exception of the camphor leaves, I could have very well have been making some potent drink! After all this cooked a while, I strained some and put it in a spritz bottle. Let the spraying begin! We spritzed everything! Oh, my! The house smells wonderful! I should have thought of this sooner...a bug deterrent air freshener! Again, this most likely did not kill the fleas (or flea..we have not determined if there was more than one!) but if it just makes them leave my house, I will be happy! Regardless..the house is cleaner than it has been in months..it smells delightful..AND...I have not seen that pesky flea again!