you can so freakin' bite me!

Last night, duly exhausted from changing time zones, I went to bed without doing my routine bug checks.

This morning, I woke up to find two bites on my left wrist. Red itchy welts, staring right back at me.

Reality is finally setting in. It is now about 5 weeks until my lease expires, and I've heard nothing from the management about renewing (or not renewing). I think it's time to start looking for new apartment, and a new bed, and a new sofa, and a variety of other things I will need to dispose of and repurchase when I get to a new, bug-free environment.

I've been meaning to talk to my neighbor, too, to see how his day in court went. He felt rather certain he was going to win expenses for damages. I might have to take that route myself...

they lie in wait.

I was out of town for several days, and worried the whole time that I might infect the homes I was satying in. I was as careful as I could be without buying all new clothes upon arrival (like I did with a prior trip).

I came home a few nights ago and resumed my nightly bed checks. I found nothing...until tonight.

I do suspect that when I'm gone for a bit and the buggers have no one to feed on, they are slightly less active. When I return home, they sense it, and show up a couple days later.

It also reminds me that the 30 days has passed since my landlords received a violation for the bugs, and they've done nothing to follow up with me. In addition, my lease is up at the end of september and I haven't received a renewal offer yet. I'm not banking on them sending one.

But the same thing will happen to the next lucky duck that moves in. I think it should be illegal for a landlord to rent the unit to a new tenant if bedbugs have been confirmed and not yet eraticated in the unit. A loss of income on the unit will hurt more than the expense of proper extermination.