Also: Got boosted yesterday. Feeling it today.
We ended up picking up the husky puppy—her name is Pola—from the guy Saturday morning. He was pretty professional and consistent with his communications through the entire process, even warning that he'd had others looking to get her if I'd changed my mind.
Left the house around 0630 and got down there at about 0945. He was there and waiting with her, and she was absolutely precious. I did, however, notice that she had some dead fleas on her fur, and I was quick to brush them off. He picked one out and looked at it.
"I don't know what that is," he said. "But then again, she was playing on the floor in the car the ride over here, so it's probably just dirt."
Yeah. Okay.
I decided that I wasn't about to leave without her, so I passed him the money, and we got outta there. Wife spent the entire trip back picking fleas—both living and dead—out of her fur. We got home and bagged up our clothes in the garage and immediately threw them in the washer. She got a Dawn bath out there before we wrapped her up in a towel and brought her upstairs to the shower.
The entire ordeal lasted about an hour, and the entire time you could see the fleas breaching in her fur like dolphins in the sea.
It honestly would've been fascinating if it wasn't so horrific.
So I messaged the guy and told him what we'd found.
"We live out in the wild," he said. "The worst thing that you're gonna get are fleas. She's perfectly healthy. Genetically healthy."
I sent him a photo of some of the fleas we'd pulled, and he went ballistic.
Told me that he was blocking my number, and that if he'd known I was "going to freak out over fleas" he'd have just given her to the other folks.
"They're just fleas," he said. "It's no big deal. You're freaking out for no reason."
Shot the screenshot to wife, who then posted it on her chat group. The number of people she got mirroring his sentiment about fleas being no big deal was more than a little infuriating.
Imagine seeing a swarm of mosquitos outside and walking into them. Then imagine they're infinite in their replication, and you'll never be rid of them without someone else to intervene.
That, motherfucker, is something worth freaking out about.
Fortunately, we had a pretty good support network on our side that had past experience with fleas, and they were quick to recommend a drug called Capstar, which allegedly kills fleas near instantly.
Went and got a box from Petco, gave her a pill, and... can confirm: the fleas started freaking out and dying within the reported 30 minutes. By the next morning, she wasn't scratching anymore, and there was no further evidence of the infestation.
Problem with Capstar is that it only kills the adults and not the eggs they leave behind, so she gets the full week-long treatment, and the house where she's been gets sprayed down thoroughly with the flea spray.
All in all, no regrets.
In other news: the COVID booster was fairly straight forward. Made an appointment online, showed up, got my shot, walked out.
Injection site and surrounding area of my arm are sore as hell—like the first two doses—and I feel feverish. But, thermometer at home said I was imagining it.
Thermometer on the quarterdeck says I'm imagining it.
So.
We'll see what happens.