Pubic lice during my late-teen years is another story.

:-)

But I remember being deathly afraid to get lice... since I thought others would perceive me as dirty (even though, the teachers assured us, that clean kids can get lice just as easily, since the little lice slip off of oily hair strands!).

So... you can imagine my slight sense of embarrasment when I have to announce that my feline children have the pet-equivalent to lice... fleas. My babies have fleas! I feel like a bad mother.

The older cats (Sangria, Bitumen and Hepsebah) all have flea collars... so they never had that problem, not even when we first rescued them from Paul G's backyard. But the new kittens are still too young to wear flea collars... or to be dipped. So now... all my fuzzy kids are itchin' and scratchin'.

And of course I should admit that since Philip and I spend so much time playing with our kitties... that I have picked a few fleas off of my ankles and legs.

So... to all those unlucky kids at Silliman Institute who got lice in the mid-70's... Timmy Ritchie has fleas!