Friday, February 4, 2011

The Bedbugs have arrived

Our fine city has a problem....a bedbug problem.

A front page newsworthy problem.

I sit on the Board of a daycare and we had a meeting a few weeks ago with the guest speaker being a bedbug expert. Let me tell you...I was fascinated by these little critters!

I came home and told Tim and Cole all about them. I'll give you the lowdown:

  • One bite will last them 18 months
  • They will hide if a hotel room is not in use, they need a host...a host being you and me as we check into our room on that great vacation!
  • They have been found in library books here recently...and the experts suggestion was for everyone to switch to Kindles. Are the days of taking a nice smelly book from the library over and done with?
  • They like to hang out in the middle seats at the local movie theatres. So sit on the end of the first row (yeah right...and get a cranked neck)
  • They are not like the "old 1920's" bedbugs. Our recent crop are "resistant" to the chemical government allows us to spray to kill them...so heat treatment is best...and costly. 
  • Todays paper...bedbug found on local transit bus. 
I can go on and on about this....it freaked me right out....have I freaked you out too?

Last night Cole decided that bedbugs only bite people over 65. According to Cole, they can tell the persons age by the size and wrinkles on your hands. Ohhhh the mind of a 6 year old.

As we lay in bed chatting, I had a whole slew of questions for him refuting his theories...in the end he ended our conversation like this:

Mom, I don't know why they won't bite us....I am NOT a scientist.

Scientific or not, bedbugs are here, and are causing me some anxiety.

What's making you anxious these days?

11 comments:

  1. Oh how I LOVE conversations with my kids like this. The way their minds work never ceases to amaze me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I was just starting to think about vacation planning! This makes me lean toward just staying home.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh dear! I'm always leery of hotel beds....yuck! I love Cole's comment though, like duh mom!

    ReplyDelete
  4. those are my nightmare the thought terrifies me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. MY WORST NIGHTMARE! I am HORRIFIED by bedbugs...my friend had them and let me tell you they are no easy task to get rid of. Want to be horrified more? To get rid of them, they sprayed her apartment but, as you stated, they need a host. Soooo....she had to lie in her bed after they sprayed and be BAIT! they come out of their little hiding spots onto the bed (which was sprayed), feed on you and take the poison.
    i am really paranoid about them. I think Ty wants to kill me because i haven't been to a movie since the big outbreak in nyc during the summer. i never sit on the wooden subway benches...apparently they like those too. but i guess if they're gonna get you, they do. YUCK!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bed bugs also make me anxious...

    on a totally different note - so do kids playing on super high snowdrifts near a busy street...

    ReplyDelete
  7. The whole bedbug thing just makes my skin crawl. We have been avoiding movie theatres since the fall. Every article of clothing that is purchased doesn't make it in to the rest of house until it is put in the dryer for 20 mins (including the UGGs my daughter got for Christmas). When we went out east for a trip in October we stayed in about 7 different hotels and I "inspected" every single one of them much to the chagrin of my husband. We are going to Minneapolis for spring break and I am already a basket case at the thought of it!

    You might say that the whole bedbug problem has consumed my life and we don't even have the darn things in our house!

    I like Cole's theory that they only bite people over 65(not that I have anything against retired folks), that way I shouldn't have to worry about them invading my house...not for a couple decades atleast!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ugh....mostly I don't worry because I am taking the ignorance is bliss route.

    GAH.

    Ick.

    ReplyDelete
  9. one bite can last 18 months??? say what??? these things remind me of the cockroach, they will out survive humans for sure. I've heard of this kind of thing in hotels but never books and buses. that is a real problem. Good thing Cole has it all figured out! lol

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks so much for visiting my blog earlier...now found yours, I love blogs like yours as well...
    I am a trainer, past 30 years now and still loving it...but never done body building so interested to read your journey ~ mine has been in Dance and Aerobics ( all the areas )

    BEDBUGS...
    I thought they lived in everyone's mattress and pillows?????

    ReplyDelete