If you're squeamish, stop reading now

Zach and I were settling in last night to watch 9, which I was going to have to take back to the library today because of that whole getting ready for a 4 day trip thing.  I got up to get something and just as I was ready to hop back into bed, I looked down and some some white crawly things all over my sheets.  Maggots.  Eeewwww!  I picked them off with tissues and went looking for the source.  My purple blanket seemed to be teeming with them so it went into the laundry basket by itself while I continued to pick up maggots with tissues.

Zach got off the bed quicker than a human being ought to be able to move and got a flashlight for me while I continued to pick up maggots with tissues.  He looked down and saw a swarm of them on the floor in front of the bed so I moved my efforts to that.  Finally I sent him to the closet to get the vacuum because I was going to run out of tissues before I ran out of maggots.

The whole time I'm collecting these...ew...creatures, I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out where they are coming from.  A few days before that Hannibal had been playing under the covers at the bottom of the bed so I thought he might have killed a mouse or some other critter.  Otherwise, I hadn't a clue.

So I started stripping the bed clothes and got them down to the basement to wash.  I was already washing clothes so I had to wait for the clothes in the dryer and the load in the washer to be done.  And it was already after 9 p.m.

The mattress pad looked clean so I just ran the vacuum over it and pulled the bed out of the way so I could look under it for something dead and rotting.  My bedroom is tiny and the bed isn't so moving it was a monumental task.  I was sweating bullets by the time I got it out of the corner and tried to maneuver it so I could see under it.  Finally I found the culprit.

An open and rotting can of cat food.

I've got no idea which pet decided to take a can of cat food under the bed but I suspect it was in the bedroom and got kicked or pushed under the bed without me knowing it was there.  I also have no idea when this took place.  But it was the birthplace of at least a hundred maggots.  And I do not exaggerate.

I vacuumed like crazy, flashlight in one hand, vacuum hose in another and I think I got them all.  But it was after midnight before I got the sheets washed.  The comforter didn't dry in time so I grabbed a blanket that smelled very mustily of dog and/or cat as it is their favorite blanket.  And mine.  But musty was better than maggoty and I was tired.

Too tired to sleep as it were.  It was 4 a.m. before I finally dozed off.  I read nearly half of the Henning Mankell book I was reading so I had to get another one to take down to Indiana with me next week.

And speaking of the trip.  I'm still nowhere close to being ready.  I didn't make it to the bank today because Zach and I were outside finishing up the planting and clearing up the yard.  I decided not to put a fence up.  On the way home from the store today I noticed that none of the vegetable gardens on the farms had any fences.  We can let Hannibal out at night on his leash and he should leave his odor in the garden and maybe that will be enough.  The fence won't stop the chipmunks so it would be only for the rabbits.  Plus it will make mowing so much easier and Hannibal won't get tangled up every 2 minutes.

I tried to finish up the laundry today but it seems to be multiplying in the basement so I'm only on the second to the next to the last load.  If I don't wash the blanket that smells like the pets.  If I do, I've got three more loads to go so I think we'll sleep musty again tonight.

I put the comforter on the bed just a few minutes ago and there is still a wet place but I'm hoping it will dry before I go to bed because I'm not putting it through another dryer cycle.

Tomorrow I go to the bank for traveling money and I start packing, paying the bills ahead, making lists and cleaning out the car.  Tom is going to change the oil for me before I leave and make sure the tires are up to speed with air.  I'm still debating which route to take as all of them have serious disadvantages.  Truthfully Wisconsin sucks when it comes to finding a road that isn't a pain in the butt.  My best route involves a toll road but the windows don't roll down.  The next one involves Chicago and I don't travel through major cities except for Indy.  The third route consists of secondary highways all the way but is less stressful.

I'm going to try the first route but see if I can get around the toll road and just go through town and come out the other side, hopefully finding I51 south.  Worst case scenario, I'll pull over, roll the window down, go through the toll booth (unattended) and then pull over and try to roll it back up again.  It takes two people to do it.  Worst case scenario though.  The secondary highway route adds about 3 hours to the trip and it's already a 9 hour trip.

And I'm sure I'll need to stop for a nap since I can't make it through the day without one.

I am so stressing out over this trip.

Anyway...I got the library dvds today and one set is for 2 weeks and the other is for 1 week.  I'm going to try to renew it tomorrow so I'll have it another few days or I'll just take it back Saturday, largely unwatched.

I'm off to finish up laundry, cook supper and clean the kitchen.  Hopefully I'll be able to watch some of the dvd tonight before bed.  I'm so tired.  I really want to see my parents but I'll be so glad when I'm on the other side of this trip.  I'm really such a homebody.  I hate to leave home for any length of time.

TTFN