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November 27, 2005
Nature: Things to Be Thankful For
Nature, it turns out, is not always bad. There are far more things to love out there than things that come into your room that you have to squash before they suck your blood or carry away your girlfriend, oh man I hate those f*!$@*!*& !$#^@$7 die die die 1$&&!#%.....
Sorry. Where was I?
Oh, right:
[image here]More on nature and sunrises in a bit once I get further in the Aspen series.
inline-image=http://comics.com/comics/hedge/archive/images/hedge200511295147.jpg
Posted by David Richmond at 4:12 AM EST | TrackBack
Cockroaches and Bedbugs
One of the many travesties of failing my blog-mandate this fall is the resulting lack of cockroach-blogging. As my roommates know, I've engaged in a series of skirmishes with Periplaneta americana, culminating with an enemy agent's infiltration of my bed during an activity normally meant for two, not three, and certainly not two plus one of another species. (Turns out it's quite hard to kiss a cockroach. Damn buggers move too fast.)
On the plane home for Thanksgiving, I watched the Family Guy episode He's Too Sexy For His Fat from the second season, and deeply sympathized with Brian's flea-plight, and with the exterminators. I highly suggest this episode for those interested in understanding my style of cockroach extermination.
But really, it could be worse.
I could have BEDBUGS. (quickly knocks on wood)
I had a few friends on 125th and Broadway or so who had to leave their apartment last spring because several of the bedrooms had bedbugs. The landlord blamed them for it. They paid for an exterminator. They got rid of them for a few months, only to have them come back in April. By then they couldn't stay in the apartment because they were leaving for the summer, and you can't sublet a room that has bedbugs, now, can you? Turns out they're not alone:
Infestations have been reported sporadically across the United States over the past few years. But in New York, bedbugs have gained a foothold all across the city.
"It's becoming an epidemic," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, the owner of Pest Away Exterminating, an Upper West Side business that receives about 125 bedbug calls a week, compared with just a handful five years ago. "People are being tortured, and so am I. I spend half my day talking to hysterical people about bedbugs."
Last year the city logged 377 bedbug violations, up from just 2 in 2002 and 16 in 2003. Since July, there have been 449. "Its definitely a fast-emerging problem," said Carol Abrams, spokeswoman for the city housing agency.
And then there's the glass-half-full crowd:
All this science is not much comfort to those in the throes of battle. Kellianne Scanlan, 30, a hairstylist who lives in Washington Heights, has been living like a nomad since last month, when she spotted a bedbug on her pillow, and then whole families ensconced in the frame of her platform bed. Despite the visit of an exterminator, the problem has not been vanquished, and every last item of clothing is sealed in plastic bags and piled up on the living room floor.
"My life has become all about bedbugs," she said as an exterminator arrived last week.
She said that to calm her friends and to ensure that she does not spread the bugs, she takes an extra set of clothing and changes when she arrives at their homes for overnight visits. "The psychological damage is probably the worst thing about it. I mean, how long will it be before I can sleep soundly and not worry about some creature sucking my blood?"
Still, for Ms. Scanlan, there has been a silver lining. The night after she discovered the bugs, she went out drinking, intent on avoiding her own bed. That evening she met a man at a bar, and, contrary to her usual instincts, accompanied him to his apartment. An encounter partly born of desperation soon blossomed into something more, she said.
"We've been together ever since," Ms. Scanlan said with a smile. "Thanks to the bedbugs, I've fallen in love."
And every night, before they go to sleep, does she whisper in his ear: "sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite"?
Posted by David Richmond at 3:55 AM EST | TrackBack