D for Delta, D for Determination

Last night as I lay in bed I thought about words that started with 'D'. It was like a word building exercise and a lot of words came to mind. Define, Demur, Deter, Decline, Delete, Doll, ... and it went on. Some words had potential but most just wouldn't work.

I woke up with 'determination' spinning in my head but I wondered as I walked the dogs, what would I write about it. Yes, this year I should be determined to reach my goals et all but really, that's not fun to write about. Or read about for that matter. :D So, I let the post be as I got to doing all I hadn't finished yesterday.

I have a tick and flea problem. No I don't mean on the dogs, it's on me. Ticks and fleas seem to like me more than the dogs. Yep it's eew, but that's how I know the dogs have ticks or fleas, I find them on me. It's why I'm crazy particular about the dogs and house being tick and flea free, I'm getting to almost be an expert on them. :P

With summer setting in and April showers making their presence felt, ticks and fleas explode. Not that they aren't there at other times, just that around this time they seem to start to show up with a vengeance. I think it's the rain and it's temperature change that does it, that perfect mix of heat and cool that they so seem to like.

Keeping ticks and fleas off the dogs and out of the house is like a life mission for me. I have a routine to my cleaning, mopping, changing sheets and more. And my summer cleaning has been due for a while. Over the last few years I've managed to keep the dogs and house relatively tick and flea free. Forget an infestation, just the thought of one sends chills down my spine. Seeing ticks climb walls is like a horror story to me.

So I clean and clean like a Monica. Over the last couple of years I've tried, tested and found natural remedies for keeping the little critters at bay. Natural methods give me peace of mind when using them around the dogs. Here's the routine I follow - I sweep the house to remove the first layer of hair and dirt, then I strip all sheets and start my rounds of washing, all beds get vacuumed and kept aside, then I vacuum all edges and skirtings around the house. This is followed by another round of sweeping before the mopping begins. When all is mopped, fresh sheets are laid out and finally all edges and skirtings are sprayed down.

Of course I do do one or more of the above regularly and on different days but this is my tick/flea regime and all of it happens on the same day for that. The vacuum bag gets cleaned and dusted thoroughly as soon as I finish, and it gets cleaned outside the house at a distance, so even if I did catch a few bugs I don't release them back inside the house. The mop water has extra salt and vinegar with the soap to deter the critters. And the spray is a mix of vinegar and neem oil to keep the bugs from getting into snugly holes and corners.

It's a long process, tiring and time consuming. And today it was sheer determination that saw me through it. I felt a few twinges in my tummy in the morning but the thought of the lone tick I found a couple of days back galvanized me, and I just kept going. It's a relief and joy that I feel now that it's done. It's a big to-do off my list.

But determination didn't only play a part in that. Considering that the routine took me about 5 hours to finish and how pooped I was after it was done, it took a lot of determination to finish this post. I didn't want to miss a day in my challenge.

So, how can D not be for Determination? ;)

Aside: If you'd like to know more about home remedies for Ticks and Fleas, do read my posts on them. I put them together the last time they freaked me out. :)

- Home Remedies for Fleas

- Home Remedies for Ticks