Charon

Morning.
Virtual orchid meeting was good and the fire gathering was stupendous. My clothes smell from wood smoke and they should be in the wash but they're bringing good feelings.

Today I'm making and distributing tick tubes around the property. Cotton balls soaked in permithrin and dried & stuffed into toilet paper tubes & tossed just inside wooded areas. Mice come and take the cotton back to line their nest. Ticks that get on the mice die. Permithrin only kills insects and isn't absorbed by mammals. Not harmful to mammals even if eaten. Done this for the last three years and knocked the tick population down to almost none. Well, with the help of opossums. They are tick magnets and eat 97% of the ticks that get on them.

Lucinda2

Glad that you had a good meeting and enjoyed the fire gathering Charon.

My dog is a tick magnet too. Unfortunately, she does not eat them. Sometimes they drop off of her and into our bed then attach to us. My husband woke me up at 5am recently shrieking like an old lady because he had a tick attached to his tummy. Luckily, I am pretty handy with the tick tool.

Good luck with adopting a puppy. You too can have the joys of a tick-infested bed.

venuscat

I get really really squeamish over tics. I worked in a vet clinic for years and gosh those things are revolting. So I started reading yesterday and ran screaming....so to speak.

Charon

Morning.
Lucinda, you can get meds that will keep the ticks (and other insects) off your dog. I couldn't deal with having ticks in my home, let alone my bed.

Having second thoughts about getting a dog. With CV-19 having so much unknown, the "let's open up" experiment with no data, no theoretical basis, no planning, and no plan B, and the fact that if I get it I will refuse to be put on a ventilator, I'm feeling it wouldn't be fair to bond with a pup and then dissappear (pass). It would be especially unfair to do that to a rescue dog.

I turned over all the flower gardens to Mrs to do as she wishes. I got tired of the battle with her to allow me to remove things like feverfew and forget-me-nots which spread uncontrollably from seeds. I kept one small sliver that has my Dad's crocus for myself. I will be able to keep that section as I want. The rest of the monkeys are Mrs problem now. It's her zoo. What a relief. I'm not fond of weeding and now I have just a wee small patch.

venuscat

What a beautiful avatar dear Charon. s

I understand re covid. I think that is very responsible of you. So much love and I best get outside and let the sunshine in. xxxxx

Charon

Morning.

I'm not convinced it's responsibility and not making excuses or depression. When it comes right down to it I have five acres, half open and half wooded. Anything I really need can be delivered or picked up by my kids or Mrs. I can easily avoid CV-19 even if it never goes away. If the right dog appeared and I fell in love I'd bet my worries would take a backseat in an instant.

I allowed myself to sleep in this morning instead of forcing myself to get up. I feel better. I tried taking my morning meds when I was awake about 5:30am. Didn't work. Was still sleepy at my normal time to get up. I'm going to set an alarm for 10pm or 10:30pm and go to bed then and see if that helps in the morning. I'll figure it out sooner or later - or I'll just accept a different time slot to be awake.

Growing in the flower garden now:


https://i.imgur.com/rLCacZt.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BjAXk1h.jpg

venuscat

Oh you have primulas. My favourites. I can't get any more right now.
Oh my gosh....so many.....just magnificent. s xx

Lucinda2

The dog does have an ingested tick treatment from the vets. But it doesn't stop the ticks from attaching, it kills them off when they feed. That means that any that I don't find and get with my tick removal tool die whilst feeding, takes about a week I believe. But she is a big fluffy dog so she gets them caught in her curly coat too so I suspect those are the ones that end up in our bed. We have tried the tick collars and other external treatments but they don't seem to help at all (possibly because she is large and very fluffy). But take heart Charon, my last dog never had a single tick in 12yrs. He was a short-haired dog. Plus, I like everyone to sleep together. But, a lot of dog owners draw the line at dogs on the bed.

Venuscat, I used to be like you about ticks but my dog picks up so many of them that I am quite unphased by them. In the UK they don't carry too many diseases either. Lymes disease is the main nasty one, but it is very regional and the ticks in our part of the country don't carry it so I am fairly relaxed. Sorry I am talking about ticks again! I will get my coat.....

Charon, I am like you insofar as I agonise about every decision. But a dog is going to bring so much joy to your life. I can't imagine life without a dog. Sometimes I think that I would like to downsize when I retire and spend the winter months in Australia. But I really couldn't do that because I can't leave a dog for 3 months every year and it would be too big a sacrifice to live without one. My vote goes to get the dog.
Nothing to report here. I am mainly very busy working. I am still oversleeping every day but it doesn't matter too much with me being self-employed so I am not breaking sweat about it. We have a street WhatsApp Covid support group and we are having a street fish n chip delivery tomorrow. I am looking forward to that!

It is springtime in your garden! Lovely.

My love to you all. x

venuscat

Mmmmmmm fish and chips. Proper fish and chips. Can't wait till I can go to London with Nick and have some. s

Lucinda2

Will be so nice when we can all hop around the world again Venuscat. Safely, of course.

Charon

Morning.

Well, I had to withdraw the application for Mopsy the Brittany Spaniel. Mrs had a hissy fit and in her domineering way forced me to cancel the chance to get a dog I could love and that would love me back. One more straw on the camels back and this one may be the last. I have grown so weary of paying for the single worst decision of my life.

venuscat

I am so so sorry dear Charon. s xxx

Charon

Morning.

Decision made. I will not continue to pay for a dreadful mistake I made more than 40 years ago. Now I need to figure out where I'm going to move to.

venuscat

Here to talk dear Charon. I didn't want to say too much yesterday; this is such a hard thing to go through. I gather you have been thinking about this for a while and your kids are grown up. How do you think your wife will react? Is this something you both want? s xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Charon

I tried to reply but I kept getting the bogus warning that my message was too short.

Dee74

I'm sorry about the dog and the state of your relationship Charon.Huge decision.
Do you think it might be better to cool down and not to act in haste tho?
Sorry about the posting hassles too - if you keep losing posts maybe write your post out somewhere else first and then cut and paste?
D

venuscat

Yeah, not fun when you lose your post and it is important. s
So let's try again....and if anything goes wrong please PM and we will have a huge chat.

Just so much love dear Charon. You are a lovely caring man and I want you to be happy. s xx

Charon

I give up. The "improvements" to the site are trashing every post I try to make.

Charon

...

Charon

I believe that after
trying for over 40 years to make this work and putting up with a
narcissistic control freak I should be allowed to decide that the
camels back is broken. I'm fairly intelligent with a masters degree
in biology and a very successful carrer in computer analysis and
programming. I'm not stupid - though one might wonder, considering
that I stuck with this so long.