Plague Outbreak at the Youree Residence

Boils. Dead rodents. Fleas. Fungus. Boxes.

Like the famed Old Testament story, we seem plagued with less-than-stellar infestations and maladies of late. Let me explain.

Boils. I have more than 20 mosquito bites covering my body, which were placed there by--apparently--the mother of all insects.

Dead rodents. Our neighborhood opossum went on to his "eternal reward" under our deck. This occurred sometime in the last 7-10 days. We began seeing flies hovering around the back door, and then we smelled it on Thursday. After two hours of removing and replacing boards from the deck today, the Moses-esque hero from Cridder Critters found the rotting rodent and removed it.

Fleas. (Ew--how I wish I wasn't typing news of this reality.) The aforementioned opossum was, of course, the carrier of seemingly MILLIONS of fleas, who are now frantically trying to find a new host. Our deck and back yard is infested . . . as in horror-film infested. Take a step on the deck or yard, and you, my friend, have multiple fleas on you. We've had a few inside too, but we've vacuumed like crazy and have stopped using the back door/yard since determining the source. The pest control fella from Zap Exterminating was scheduled to arrive today at 3:00, but he was unable to purchase enough treatment materials. Bless his heart, he drove to Dallas this evening to secure the chemicals. We hope he can treat the yard and house tomorrow, but with a heavy chance for rain, I'm not getting too optimistic. In that case, Wednesday can not get here fast enough.

Fungus. While Anna's scalp is practically back to normal, we are still stripping her bed linens daily, taking oral medications, and washing in special shampoo to keep that invasive ringworm fungus away for good.

Boxes. And yes, all of this is happening while we are attempting to pack up the house into four stacks: garage, storage, apartment, and yard sale. Like the Israelites, I have hope, faith, and an idea about the Promised Land; but I can't seem to get out of dodge.

Pharaoh, please, let the people go.