Vampire bug addendum

First, apologies to cousin Hooly, who has scolded me for failing to mention how I made fun of her for her motel ritual (executed with attitude) of checking for bed-bug sign (as seen on TV), discarding both bedspread & blanket, and choking when I touch the carpet to do a little bit of yoga to stretch the kinks out. Guilty. Yet, while acting superior and making fun, I was also absorbing her teachings a bit. While traveling alone, I have in fact been moved to check for bed bug sign (as seen on TV). I admit I don't always do it, but most of the time I do. I am not, however, as spooked by possible semen stains on carpet and bedspread as she is. But she was right-on about the bed bug thing. I don't know for sure if that's how we got them, but it's very possible. I also realize now that it wasn't from my most recent trip. They have had time for too much population growth and mess-making, and Grumpy has complained of bites for a few months. We thought it was mosquitoes or something. Bed bugs never even occurred to either of us until I actually grabbed one and turned on the light to see it close up. We are lucky to have woken up to them before they spread all over the house. None have been found (yet) outside the bedroom. As much time as we spend on cushy chairs in the living room, they could have also survived there.

Yesterday I had a shopping spree at a new furniture discount place called The Dump. With the old bed now residing in the back yard, awaiting bulk trash collection, along with my beloved leather Barcalounger recliner, once my mother's. Not only has it finally broken, but every time I sit in it I get neck itch. I've decided dust mites must have invaded the cracked leather of the head cushion. I get the same neck itch when I rest on my favorite down pillow, the same one I carry with me traveling. I've been wrestling with this itchy rash on my neck for many months, in denial about the cause. Doctor goes "hmmmm" when I show it to him, and no prescribed remedies have had any effect. Naturally, as I keep rubbing my neck on my favorite things and simply have not been able to process my own first-hand observations. Well, down pillow will now be washed excessively (hot or cold, not warm, according to internet sources) to kill the mites (and hot-water washed and hot-dried after, and possibly during, all future travels). And I'll get one of those covers. (Bow to cousin Hooly!)

Oh, back to the shopping. New bed and new recliner. Queen-size bed this time, though I'm not sure we really want to be that close. Whatever happens, we will be moving, together or separately, and that damn king-size bed is a monster to move. This "dump" store has a big long sheet about returns, buried in which is the finger-shaking warning that mattresses & box springs cannot be returned if their plastic wrap is torn (health concerns!). Naturally, when one transports the set home, one inevitably tears the wrapper. (How otherwise? As the world turns.) The recliner carried a label identifying it as a former "nailed-down" floor model! haha Well, that's okay. Wherever the nail holes are, I can't see them. It is nowhere near as awesome as the Barcalounger, but it is pretty darn good. Out of the double row of recliners offered, it was the most comfortable, least ugly, and of course most expensive, but not that much.

Yesterday I finally was able to bring myself to enter the bedroom with vacuum and Formula 409 and a thick row of paper towels to whisk away dead bodies and clean the bloody bug fecal matter off the baseboard, floor, and wall before going shopping for a new bed. Need I mention that I will be checking almost daily during the next few weeks for bed bug sign. Exterminators will be back after two weeks to spray again for hatchlings. Maybe we'll wait that long to actually start sleeping in there again. Now that I have my new recliner, I can put up with Grumpy occupying the only other usable furniture (my pride-and-joy leather sofa) in the room as his "hospital bed."

Listening via npr's website to Nas and Damian Marley at Bonnaroo -- wow! I do like the reggae/hiphop/old Marley integration.