Been out of touch
I had some welcome company, preceded by some unwelcome company, a flea invasion (I have no pets), followed by a couple of weeks of my immune system doing its worst and me napping a lot.
The flea war and aftermath went on for weeks. The fleas who gave up the ghost relatively soon. I'm allergic to flea bites (and many other things) and was covered with nasty looking bites, a swollen face and asthma. Enter powerful bug toxins. Whoopee, fleas gone! But the spray got me. OMG! More and nastier rashes, headaches, and being rendered nearly un-functional. Genuine poison. No wonder the fleas are gone. Still having headaches and some memory problems. I will never, never, never do that again. Yes, I followed the instructions but not my gut feeling about not DIY-ing. My advice, hire a professional, stay somewhere else and hire someone else to come in and shampoo rugs and clean, stay away. Far, far, away.
My youngest sister Susan came to visit with her youngest Nikos. Her eldest Sophie is home engaged in that honorable summer activity of working to help pay for college. They arrived after the great flea invasion and war.
The weather here has been quixotic. Record high of 100° in June with a low of 44°. Unexpected rain and a cool 4th of July. The surrounding wheat fields are happy. Susan and I had fun exploring.
We visited the Blue Mountain Lavender Farm. The whole place smells delicious and is humming with bees. They serve a wonderful lavender lemonade. We cut fragrant bouquets. After we left I was sorry I hadn't gotten some plants too. Being July I wasn't sure I wanted to water constantly to make sure they lived through the summer. Next year. I'm full up right now watering my newly potted plants on my patio.
The next day we wandered around rating the various wheat fields around our airport. This is a shorter variety than I grew up with. I imagine it is a more efficient crop to raise and harvest. I don't know. I am an artist from the west side of the Cascades. What I know nothing about growing wheat and I am okay with that. I'm allergic to wheat, not gluten, wheat, it's a grass and all grass varieties make me wheeze and my nose run. However growing asparagus or blueberries, count me in, I care. Don't ask me why I moved to a wheat growing area; I can be dense but both my sons and all nine grandkids live here. I live on antihistamines and high functioning air cleaners. So as you see below I can get up close and personal anyway. Very different from home but beautiful.
Many sights (and wineries) are near these particular wheat fields that exist within the city limits and next to the local airport. There are many "golf cart zones" in Walla Walla, downtown, in my old residential neighborhood, and around Whitman college. I am in favor of them and hope they spread so I can look forward to replacing my car with a golf cart if I can no longer drive. I get excited just thinking about it. Doesn't take much this month to do that. I also got excited over watching season 2 of "Marco Polo" and the announcement of the September arrival of "Longmire." I digress.
My son Chris joined us for the fireworks. In the distance are the light standards of Walla Walla Community College where the show and most of the crowd waits. We preferred the more distant long-view. Plus from here you can also see the show in Milton-Freewater, Oregon 15 miles to the south. And, yes, we are all looking at our phones. Ack. Except Susan who is taking photos with hers.
The flea war and aftermath went on for weeks. The fleas who gave up the ghost relatively soon. I'm allergic to flea bites (and many other things) and was covered with nasty looking bites, a swollen face and asthma. Enter powerful bug toxins. Whoopee, fleas gone! But the spray got me. OMG! More and nastier rashes, headaches, and being rendered nearly un-functional. Genuine poison. No wonder the fleas are gone. Still having headaches and some memory problems. I will never, never, never do that again. Yes, I followed the instructions but not my gut feeling about not DIY-ing. My advice, hire a professional, stay somewhere else and hire someone else to come in and shampoo rugs and clean, stay away. Far, far, away.
My youngest sister Susan came to visit with her youngest Nikos. Her eldest Sophie is home engaged in that honorable summer activity of working to help pay for college. They arrived after the great flea invasion and war.
The weather here has been quixotic. Record high of 100° in June with a low of 44°. Unexpected rain and a cool 4th of July. The surrounding wheat fields are happy. Susan and I had fun exploring.
We visited the Blue Mountain Lavender Farm. The whole place smells delicious and is humming with bees. They serve a wonderful lavender lemonade. We cut fragrant bouquets. After we left I was sorry I hadn't gotten some plants too. Being July I wasn't sure I wanted to water constantly to make sure they lived through the summer. Next year. I'm full up right now watering my newly potted plants on my patio.
Susan resting from her labors as a lavender gatherer. Or gathering wool, a respected summer occupation.
The next day we wandered around rating the various wheat fields around our airport. This is a shorter variety than I grew up with. I imagine it is a more efficient crop to raise and harvest. I don't know. I am an artist from the west side of the Cascades. What I know nothing about growing wheat and I am okay with that. I'm allergic to wheat, not gluten, wheat, it's a grass and all grass varieties make me wheeze and my nose run. However growing asparagus or blueberries, count me in, I care. Don't ask me why I moved to a wheat growing area; I can be dense but both my sons and all nine grandkids live here. I live on antihistamines and high functioning air cleaners. So as you see below I can get up close and personal anyway. Very different from home but beautiful.
Many sights (and wineries) are near these particular wheat fields that exist within the city limits and next to the local airport. There are many "golf cart zones" in Walla Walla, downtown, in my old residential neighborhood, and around Whitman college. I am in favor of them and hope they spread so I can look forward to replacing my car with a golf cart if I can no longer drive. I get excited just thinking about it. Doesn't take much this month to do that. I also got excited over watching season 2 of "Marco Polo" and the announcement of the September arrival of "Longmire." I digress.
Susan.
My son Chris joined us for the fireworks. In the distance are the light standards of Walla Walla Community College where the show and most of the crowd waits. We preferred the more distant long-view. Plus from here you can also see the show in Milton-Freewater, Oregon 15 miles to the south. And, yes, we are all looking at our phones. Ack. Except Susan who is taking photos with hers.
Sun begins to sink.
And the shows begins. Great fireworks. We froze because we were lightly dressed and the temperature dropped to 62° at the airport. Happy 4th of July anyway. We were together and happy.
posted by Celia | July 16, 2016
6 Comments:
Oh, what a lovely entry about family and ugly fleas. At least you now know what to do to avoid the horror of what happened. No fleas here, but we have flocks of parrots that G argues with every night. So good to see you.
Did you find out how you got the fleas? Where did they come from? Such a crises with the poisons!! Lovely area of the world to visit, though.
Welcome back. I am glad you wond the flea battle.
Time with family is the best. I understand your desire to live near family in spite of the wheat issue. We moved to live near our family. Every day with them is a gift.
Nice photos that make me wish to get over to Eastern Oregon, but bummer on the flea invasion. I think there are safer insecticides but know little about that. I am sensitive to chemicals. We haven't had the 100º days but we've had cooler than usual nights like in the 40s which has made our garden slow to grow. Last night was the warmest night we've had but the day wasn't that warm... An odd summer
Wow, sorry to hear you had a flea infestation. I have a friend that is very allergic, and they seem to seek her out. She will get bit just walking in a field and no one else in the group will.
Beautiful part of the country you are in, and I am glad to see you are feeling better.
I'm certainly late in responding to this post. Very nice journal entry. You are so fortunate to see your sister. Mine lies in Baton Rouge and I haven't seen her in a while. Thought about you as I watched the last season of Wallender. Wonderful and sad.
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