And stopped at the Oregon Coast on the way back down. Nice to be out of the smoky skies we’ve had here. The most striking thing was to see a city where the economy continues to boom (think Microsoft and Boeing). Real Estate hasn’t really crashed there. The restaurants are all busy. It has a very different mood than home. Good to be back though. Erin took care of business here while I was away, and wanted me to replace my latest post about fleas with something else. Anything else. Well here’s a Seattle shot.
Fleas
Apparently, I spent much of my adult life sheltered from what must be a daily reality for some. I showed an inexpensive bank-owned house yesterday evening to a curious buyer. Among other issues, it was infested with fleas, a quick Google search for “pest control experts iowa” was so useful for this though. But up until the most recent housing cycle, I had never seen fleas swarm one’s ankles when walking into a home with wall to wall carpet. I am unfortunately familiar with that now. It is still disturbing to think that humans live this way, and maybe even unimaginable for most people until you see it with your own eyes. Imagine Redding summer heat and no electricity for so much as a vacuum cleaner.
Yesterday started me thinking about the health implications, so I browsed over to the CDC website.
Ever heard of Typhus? (2 kinds) Tapeworms? Flea-borne Rickettsiae? I was wondering about plague (Yersinia pestis, known in history as black death) but that’s not prominently mentioned. From the site, “flea-borne diseases could reemerge in epidemic form because of changes in vector-host ecology due to environmental and human behavior modification” and “economic factors, as well as changes in human behavior, have resulted in the emergence of new and the reemergence of existing but forgotten infectious diseases during the past 20 years.” Hmm. Anyway, here’s the website if you’re interested:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol3no3/azad.htm -and thanks to the CDC for the image seen above.
It’s quite a sight to behold, fleas leaping from carpet to your feet and legs with such swarming gusto. As I witness how annoying fleas can be for humans, imagine the discomfort these little pests can have on animals? This is why understanding the difference between frontline plus and frontline gold products, for example, could help with the discomfort that the fleas may bring to your pet. It may also be a preventative measure, which could be beneficial. Pets can be a big factor in bringing fleas into the home as the pests attach themselves to the pet’s fur. If you want to avoid bringing them into the home, you may want to consider an outdoor dog kennel, even if it is just while you treat the carpets.
Not all bank-owned properties have fleas. Its not that bad in the winter, but on a hot day, they have remarkable mobility. It doesn’t even startle me anymore. Maybe it should.
The one that still haunts me is the house in south Redding/north Anderson last year, where it was apparent that the evicted had been doing child day-care. I saw the home pre-eviction when there were kids there, and then a few days after they had left. Along with fleas were the largest rats I’d ever seen. That one was brutal. My sheltered life left behind.
Not my Starbucks
News that 600 Starbucks will be closed has recently been accompanied by articles of various towns rallying behind their favorite Starbucks to try and keep it open. When it was announced that this store on the corner of Cypress and Civic Center was being axed, no such outcry seems to have been heard.
There are loads of alternatives to this one if you really need that latte, some just a block away.
Fire sale RV spotted on 273
Cursed home for sale
Ran into this while showing bank-owned homes to a buyer yesterday. It’s at the front door. She said it was a curse on the house.
She said “I know how to remove the curse,” to which I replied “So do I. Tear off the paper.”
And she said, “Well it’s a bit more complicated than that.”
Maybe so. Too bad for the seller.
Happy Indpendence Day 2008!
The Fourth of July is always a large celebration in Redding. This year it is decidedly low-key because of all the forest fire activity going on. They canceled the big fireworks show, for instance. That’s usually a big deal around here, but the cancellation seems totally appropriate given the fire situation. Anyway, when morning arrived it was so lovely outside, we rode our bikes on the River Trail and I took a few photos. We didn’t have to drive a hundred miles, and our fun was all human-powered. That’s what I love about Redding, all this beauty, all inside the city limits. Click here to see my photos. Meanwhile, we are barbecuing burgers with family for the rest of the day. Happy Independence Day to you!
Smoky days
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Lightning caused fires fill our skies with smoke this week. One observation is that every piece of property has the same view -none. Smoke, the great equalizer! In fact it’s getting to be downright unhealthy (hack, cough). I was showing property to a couple from Florida and they said it looked like L.A. Oh, the unkindest cut…. anyway I hear it may rain in a few days, and that would be welcome. The photo below is of the County Administrative Building in the haze, sporting a wan orange disk of a sun, that would otherwise be blinding. I took some scary photos of the Motion fire above Shasta Dam. Take a look. Photos at http://www.RedHotHomes.info/Gallery/Fire2008/
Fire is a fact of life (and death) in the Northstate. Be safe.
Saturday is Farmer’s Market Day
Breakfast for 10,000
We attend the Annual Pancake breakfast in Roaring Gulch (Redding) 2008
I don’t know of any other town that does this. Really fun!
We ate our pancakes while sitting across from Shasta Voice’s Mary Machado and her husband. Really interesting conversation from these civic movers and shakers.
It was a really hot day, but we dressed western, minus the hats.
