Howdy! This is the Blog portion of our Newsletter where we will share our thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, leftover pizza, good juju, left sock, and any random tidbit for those who want to know us better :-)
So apparently we're doin' something right because Evil Forces are sending the 10 plagues to our house :-) You won't believe me, but the following is (incredibly) true. And you wonder how my wife stays sane and so upbeat at the store !?! Cause she's got a heart the size of Texas :-)
The adventure started with fruit flies. My father-in-law's got a stomach pump thing to help with his esophageal cancer (that's getting better every month, praise the Lord!). So he gets industrial strength Ensure to pump in there and the cans are a magnet for the annoying little critters no matter how well the cans are rinsed or where we store the recycling bin.
Soon one day my father-in-law noted a bee buzzin' in our basement. Or two. Or five. Except upon inspection they weren't bees but nasty little yellow jackets. Still Okay. Check the windows (there are only two small ones being a below ground basement with no doors). Swat 'em and move on.
Then a flea bite. Or two. Or ten. On me. And seemingly no one else? Apparently, I'm sweet and quite the insectoid delicacy... Not a biggie - senor Kitties were going outside more and we were slow in getting the flea collar on them. Got the fogger, Frontline, and spritzer doodad. Piece of cake.
The yellow jackets were dying on the floor, apparently starving, and at times there were a few buzzin' around. So Manly Man went downstairs again and vacuumed up the corpses. 115 in total. Yes. 115. I couldn't believe it! Geez, there's got to be a nest around somewhere. But where? Explored all over downstairs, went into bushes outside the windows, bought several "wasp/hornet/yj" traps at Lowes (completely useless, by the way) and installed them in several locations.
Mr. Snake paid us a visit on our front porch shortly thereafter. A cute little garden variety, no more than 8 inches, but you'd think it was a 20 foot rabid python (my family is not exactly the pioneering, outdoorsy type). Caught the fellow and released him faaaaar away from our house in the neighboring field.
The next few days I tried to go down at night to search out the yj stronghold... here's the flaw with that approach: they like the lights. So as soon as I turned them on about a dozen started flying everywhere. Mr. Manly Man is smarterer than buggeroo, so me turn off lights. I'll use a flashlight to find them! Me so smarter! NOT! Please refer to previous note about their attraction to the (only) light source being held by the smarterer Manly Man. If you want to see a grown man fly, put him in a basement at night with flashlight full of yellow jackets and watch him go up the stairs 12 at a time...
By this time there are another 200 or so yj (yellow jacket) corpses on the floor...
I FINALLY found about a dozen yellow jackets snuggling on a joist near some insulation one evening. AHA! WHAMO! I spray the living daylights out it that night with the ol' faithful shoot-em-at-20-feet-away-you-Manly-Man-with-a-can-of-yj-doom-spray! Got 'em! The following night I go see the damage and begin to pull back the insulation to be swarmed by no less than 30 yj. See previous note about man learning to fly.
TWO more cans of 20-foot-away-yj-death-in-a-can saturating the insulation and KABAM! Round 17 goes to Manly Many! Wait a night and see another 50 or so are now homeless, snuggling on another joist. KABOOM! and they drop like flies (that chemical is amazing, but I didn't' stick around to see their displeasure).
Today I went down and looked at the carnage. I found a nest at least a foot long in the insulation and there are no less than 400 dead ones scattered around. That's borderline extremely dangerous had I known the infestation was so established. But by Grace above no one in my family, including Manly Man, was stung once. I'll count 'em and let you know.
Sound unreal, doesn't it?
So Char and I are lying in our bed last night on the second floor of our modest house and I'm on my stomach doing a Soduku puzzle about 11pm, and she's next to me reading. I look up and blink. Did something just move on the headboard?!? Hmm. What's that? A sock? A stuffed animal I hadn't seen before? WOAH. OK, whatever it is it just moved. And there, no more than 18 inches from my face is another snake. On our headboard shelf. At the top of our bed. I couldn't help but laugh. My first thought (calmly and serenely) was thinking my marriage bed would never be "marital" again!!! I asked Char to go over to the bathroom and *then* let her in on the gig (which she handled very splendidly, I might add :-), and Mr. Garden snake's brother was easily caught and reunited many, many yards away with his sibling. We deduced he got into the garage and got a free ride with any of the 5 baskets of clean laundry that we dumped onto our bed that day and sorted/folded more clothes than should be legal for little boys (we *are* the owners of a clothing store, of course :-)
After (quite) a thorough search of all crevices, sheets, and stuff in our room, we prayed about it and laughed some more.
So plagues or not, we're fighting the good fight and doing our best for y'all. Can't say I'm looking forward to the locust blight, but we won't be deterred from being (as our large banner so succinctly puts it) the Biggerest, Bestest, Coolest Consignment Store in NoVA!
But we're not so egotistical to know we need your prayers, too :-) The adventures continue... wait... did you hear something? RIBBIT...
:-)
Brian
Best Regards and looking forward to serving you,
Brian "Sir Brixalot" Meny
Owner
Little Lords and Ladies
Kids Resale Boutique
14088 Sullyfield Circle, Suite F
O: 703 488 9948
E: info@LittleLordsandLadies.com
W: www.LittleLordsandLadies.com
H: M-F 10-6, Sa 10-4, Su Closed
