Charley was kicking it in her room last night defying the harness, and irking me, when all of a sudden I saw her jump, look wildly around, jump again, and then her head erratically followed the trail of something running on or by her. It looked as if somebody was using the red laser pointy thing on her.
I went over and bent down to peer inside her room, and was absolutely horrified to see a brown frigging cockroach. I know that people in this apartment complex have complained about infestations of cockroaches in their unit, and I would proudly (and probably smugly) say I’ve never had one. Never have even seen one, here or in the whole state of Washington. But, saying emphatically, I have seen and had them in California, and boy, they sure are nasty.
Now take a look at me. Oh my friggin gross out. They were in her room. Which is right next to the bed. Where I, and her sleep. Where my clothes are. Holy friggin gross.
What really upsets me is that a year and a half ago a pipe inside my bathroom wall broke, causing my bathroom, the person next door, and everybody below to take on water damage. The LORDY land people came in and gutted my bathroom to get to the pipe, and they have never repaired it. There are still 3 gaping holes in the bathroom, and halfway down in the hallway, the drywall is gone. A few months ago I saw one roach climbing into my bathroom through one of the holes, which I complained about, killed it, and then heard or saw nothing for a while.
Now I am tearing my place apart. I’ve looked through the internet for household ways to get rid of them because the spray costs a lot, is very toxic, and the buggers tend to come back. I had to clean them up once in California, and I knew if it was anything like then I would need a lot of gloves, paper towels, bleach, soapy water, etc.
It turns out it is as bad as in California. I just got down from my shelf above the cupboards and moved some items. A friggin colony was having tea time, and they were also having play dates. I am still getting over the heebee jeebees.
I’ve looked up several things that I am going to try, and I will turn this experience into a teaching experience if anything. I will try everything, and I will write on which ones were easier, ef·fec·tive, cost, etc. That is the least I can do to make this situation seem somewhat o.k. It’s not, but ….eccchhhhhh I am jumping at everything at this moment, and I itch. Barf. I gotta go load up on lemons, baking soda, Borax, diatomaceous earth, a blow torch, mini grenade……
At least I can thank Charley for alerting me, even if she was being a butt all day long. She didn’t want to put on her harness, and I didn’t want to walk her without it.
We just got back from the store to get some Baking Soda. I guess I’m to put 1/2 sugar, 1/2 Baking Soda, and another little cap of water out in a corner where they could be hiding. Roaches, so they say, like sugar, they will INdulge on the sugar, not realizing it has the soda in it. When they go to get water, KABOOM!!! Then I have to clean up the carcasses. The whole thing is completely nasty.
Maybe I may re-instate my old house cleaning business license and make it a clean your roaches up cleaning place, but just state it is only for the first total clean-up. From what I’m starting to learn, there are many steps in this process to be rid totally and completely of these gross bugs. I’m just on the part of throwing away anything that was in my cupboard that wasn’t in an air-tight sealed container. Which is fine, spring cleaning has begun…
Part 2 a few weeks later
After I have washed every single item of clothing and bedding, shoes, and inside every drawer I still see a few trying to scurry into an unseen exit. Charley notices them more than she did only because I think she knows my shriek equals I’ve just seen one. I will shriek and furiously start looking for my squirt bottle of bleach and water with lemon juice. After that I grab a cupful of Diatomaceous earth and sprinkle it once again around every place I know they have been coming from. After reading everything I could online, and from previous knowledge these are the only things that I’ve really seen that work.
CHARLEY WAFFLE 