Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1249)
Hello Everyone!
A nearly sleepless night, A long day, Exploring the nuclear option for the pests & Lots of painting!
Alright, I am beginning my writing routine slightly early this evening... in the hopes that I can wrap it up early... and get a good night's rest. I am admittedly feeling more than a little 'worn around the edges' tonight... so bear with (or not) as I spell things out.
Last night I had a heck of hard time falling asleep... and it was well past four in the morning by the time that I was able to actually drift off. Even after drifting off though... I kept waking back up again... and much like the night before it was due to the damned fleas crawling on me.
I think that all total I got around three hours of very fitful sleep that was so full of intense dreams... that I do not want to even begin describing any of lest I get lost in doing so. It is worth noting, that even during that fitful sleep the dreams kept continuing where they left off each time that I drifted awake... and drifted off to sleep again.
After doing my usual Hive engagement routine... I decided to enact what I have been thinking of as the 'nuclear option' for dealing with the fleas and mites. Basically, I decided that it was well past time to drag the mattress outside... and paint the entire thing as a means to stop it from being the incubation chamber for the damned pestilence.
As I have stated numerous times before after being given the secondhand mattress when I first arrived here... I immediately noticed that it was loaded with pests and some time back I had gotten that 'bug proof' cover for it that lasted all of one day before it got torn. I am still mildly pissed at how chintzy that cover was for the forty bucks that I shelled out for it... but I guess that is neither here nor there!
Anyways, after getting some espresso in me I cleared stuff out of the kitchen area (so that I could maneuver the mattress out of the cabin without knocking a bunch of stuff over) and then I went outside and moved the sawhorses (and the lumber that was on them) onto the deck. I then hauled the mattress outdoors, plopped it atop the sawhorses... and got the ruined 'bug proof' cover removed from it in short order.
Not wanting to waste the chance to wash the cover I partially filled that barrel (that I washed laundry in the day before) with hot water... added some bleach... and stuffed the cover in there to soak. As ripped as that cover is I doubt that it is really good for anything besides acting as a sheet... but I decided that no matter what I should try to kill any pest (or eggs) that might be in or on it.
Once I got all my painting supplies from the shop tent, I set to painting the mattress... and whoa I gotta admit if I had known that the paint would bond to it that well I would have done it ages ago. When I had read about painting fabric before I had read that it would not bond (and would just flake off) without adding an additive to it (whose name slips my mind) but by this morning I was at my wit's end over the whole pestilence thing and did not care if it flaked off.
For the most part I was able to just use a paint roller to apply the paint... but around the seams (and the stitched dimple areas) I wound up using a paint brush to be able to get the paint everywhere that it needed to be. It is worth noting that I only applied a single coat of paint because I wanted it to dry out rather rapidly... so that I could get it back indoors in case it rained.
While the mattress was drying I swept and vacuumed the 'bed frame' (it is just a shelf made of lumber and plywood that the mattress rests on) because I had also decided to paint it as well. I basically did the same thing with that area and painted the cracks with the brush... and used a roller to paint the rest of the area including up the walls to a height slightly taller than the mattress.
All in all my efforts must have done quite the number on the flea population... because once everything was dry and I got the mattress back indoors... I have only had two fleas crawl on me. I will of course keep giving the dogs nitenpyram over the next few days... but at least for now my 'nuclear option' seems to be working as intended!
Since I had all the painting supplies out I went ahead and got that lumber that was on the sawhorses painted... and although those boards are a bit warped I am sure that they will come in handy for something at the new place. I am still unsure if I am going to clean up any more of the lumber from that stack behind the shop tent... but so far I have only used about a quarter of that five gallon bucket of paint.
Well, I think that I am going to keep this entry short and sweet... and get on with the editing and posting portion of things. I hope hat everyone is doing well. Ta ta for now.
!LUV
Glad you managed to wipe out most of the fleas! 😁👻🔫🏹
🤠☕👻🏹🔫 Me too! They were driving me fucking crazy!
😅😅🏹 I can imagine! Would freak me out so bad, I'm not good with bugs (except spiders maybe, they're cute sometimes.)
Yeah they suck! It sure beats dealing with ticks though. During that first series (the one that I video documented) I was pulling ticks off me and the dogs non-stop.
Most likely the new place will have ticks also until the chickens can wipe them out. Trying to wipe the damned pests out while I am here so that I do not bring them with me. Gonna have to make a 'no hippies and their dogs' rule at the new place so I do not wind up with them again! 🤠👻
😂🏹🏹👻That actually sounds like a pretty good rule!
This was a smart idea, I would have never thought of painting a mattress, I hope you got them all and can get a good night's sleep. Can you put duct tape over the mattress cover where it is ripped and flip it where it is on the bottom of the mattress?
With the price of lumber, you should take all that you have room for, painted, cleaned, or not.
I have been meaning to ask if you power down our accounts, will we still be able to write on Hive or does it just take what money it is worth away? I was wondering this because I do not know if I should make another account. I like to write on here and have made friends and enjoy reading their posts. I am not sure how it works. Also, I thought it over and if it will help you, go ahead and use my Alive tokens, you having them is more important to me.
!ALIVE
!LOLZ
@jacobpeacock! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @ myjob. (2/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want, plus you can win Hive Power (2x 50 HP) and Alive Power (2x 500 AP) delegations (4 weeks), and Ecency Points (4x 50 EP), in our chat every day.
lolztoken.com
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@jacobpeacock, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of myjob
(2/10)
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I thought about doing that with the mattress cover but decided that the paint was a better approach.
I considered that with the lumber but a lot of it has termites in it and I do not want to take them to the new place. I have not done it yet but once I have all the lumber that I am taking in a single pile I am going to put termite traps (that have poison in them) around the pile to kill them all before I go. The termites here are super bad.
Currently my plan is to Power Up enough (on both our accounts) so that having enough should not affect our ability to post or vote. I think that there was a change to where Resource Credits determines how much you can vote and post but am unsure on it.
Either way I plan to make sure that our accounts will have enough of both that it should not affect them. There is no need to make another account unless you want one for some reason.
The reason that I did a full Power Down on them is so that the payout each week is as large as it can be. Like I said before though... I plan to stop both our Power Downs before the thirteen week cycle is done.
EDIT: Okay on the ALIVE tokens but for now I am going to leave them alone.
Thanks, I was unsure how it worked so as long as you know what to do it is ok with me. I do not want to make another account, I just did not know if I would need to do it.
So you are not putting the cover back on it? I was saying that because I thought you were going to keep a bearer between you and the paint, I was not sure if the paint would leak through a sheet.
I am going to put it back on it but for now I have a sheet covering it. When I reinstall the cover I was just going to flip it over and put the rip on the bottom. The cover had not dried out all the way yesterday so I had not done that. I should probably do it before dark today but I dunno if I will get to it or not.