My friend Eileen has been invaded by stink bugs--hop on over to her blog to read about it!
My friend Lisa--no blog--has been invaded by raccoons. She came home from a weekend out of town a little over a week ago to find they had made three holes in her roof and had been pulling out the insulation to use as bedding material. Lisa and her hubby will be getting the roof repair people out as well as a raccoon trapper very soon. This past weekend, though, while her hubby was out of town, Lisa and her daughter heard some noise out in the backyard and went out with flashlights to investigate. Raccoons were popping up all over, and Lisa's sure she has an entire raccoon village setting up behind her shed and under her decking. And raccoons--in case you're thinking about the cute cartoon variety--are aggressive and mean! Can you imagine having your roof torn off?!
And us? We have these things.
Termites. Ick! No, this isn't a photo I took of mine--I got it off the internet, but this is the kind we have. Swarmer termites. They make little funnel things that look like these (again, not my photo--off the internet):
The weekend before last, I was cleaning house and found some dirt on the windowsil in the Wild Child's former room. I looked around and didn't see anything, so I thought maybe Hubby had knocked some dirt down from around the window frame when he was attaching something to the side of the house recently. I know it seems unlikely, but that was the only thing that came to mind. Of course, I cleaned it off and thought nothing more about it. Last weekend I was cleaning house and found more dirt on the windowsil. What the heck?! This time when I looked around, I saw one of those funnel things coming down from the top of the window surround. I knew what it was right away. ARGH!
This morning Hubby called the termite and pest guys and they came right out. They only found termites in that small area inside, but they saw evidence outside--and we have in the past too--that there are termites around the yard area, so we opted for the super delux termite treatment package, which means they will treat the termite-infested area as well as pump termite poison into the ground all around the house. Of course, the super delux treatment package will cost us an arm and a leg and we'll have to give them our first born child, but at least it should allow us to keep a roof over our heads until we pay off the mortgage in another seven or eight years. I'm just glad they don't seem to eat fabric!
How about you? Have you been invaded by pests this year? And no, your in-laws coming to visit doesn't count!
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18 comments:
I just got treated for white-footed ants, which I thought was going to be termites! Seems they're just about as hard to get rid of and they use the same poison to do it.
I saw what looked like coffee grounds on the window sill..
Even with my glasses on, I never did see the whites of their feet! lol
Good luck getting rid of your pests (and no... I'm not talking about the DH!)
Patty
Ants - every year it is stinking ants! When I lived in Seattle, it was those small ones that we call "sugar ants" in the south. Living in my apartment it was first those and then the big, ugly drag their dead away ones. They are incredible magicians as they appear out of thin air when you turn your back.
Termites have always scared me. They are so destructive and can hide away until you walk through a room and your foot goes through the floor! Thank goodness you caught yours early!!
Sorry about all the invasions going on - eeeeek!!!! I haven't visited for a while so I hopped down below and helped myself to a cupcake, ok 2.... and took a peek at your Happy Jack quilt - so cute!!!
So glad you found them this early. Now with treatment and follow-up you should be safe.
That was the thing that we found when we bought this house. They had eaten away the corner of the house. Even though it is stone. The culpert was the rail fence post right next to the corner of the house. So remove all the wood that is close to the house. We had to have ours treated for about 3 years. Since then nothing. Good luck.
Where we live we get racoons and skunk walking around at night. I've had to sit the kids down and tell them that while the dog may want to chase racoons, they need to let them go about their business. Racoons are mean and will kill dogs. We also, and we have no idea why, have crickets!! We kill at least...no lie...5 a day. I've asked the neighbors and they don't seem to have the same problem. Weird. It's like a pleague only instead of locust we have crickets.
Good luck with the termites!!!
dawn
Termites=Nightmare! 2 years ago on a sunny afternoon, bugs started pouring out of the window in my bathroom...no signs of them anywhere before that! $12,000 and much damage, they were gone. Not a good thing!
Yeah, the termites make tunnels, we had termites at our old house.
Here is AZ we have been getting tons of grass hoppers.
We have had termites in the office! Its real fun to be talking to a potential client on the phone and have one fly down and hit you in the face. Wildlife - don't get me started! Mattie loves to chase the skunks that come in every evening. 2 weeks ago I had to deal with a rattlesnake in my feed room, a skunk in the barn, and a coyote in the front yard.
Ick! I got goosebumps reading your post. I hope the pests get eradicated soon!
Jen
No termites at our house. My hubby's motto is death to all bugs. Nothing like seeing a grown man crawling on the front lawn with propane torch ready to burn those little suckers. I don't have to worry because he worries enough for all of us!! See you tomorrow.
Julia
I have never seen those "funnel things" - how weird they look. No termites, but we do have those ANTS! Sunday my grandson, age 5, comes in the house and says Granny, ants are biting me. He is still a little hard to understand at times, and did not seem to be in distress, so I had him repeat it and he very calmly said, Ants are biting me. I said where, he said in he socks. The little dear had been stomping ant hills and they had fought back. Got his shoes and socks off and rinsed off his feet - geeze.
OMG-yes! The other day I walked into the bathroom at the office and it looked like a version of Hitchcock's "The Birds", only it was "The Spiders"! Those little buggers have to travel a long way from the outside to find their way in there, too...hmmmm - me wonders if they've been here all along - EEK!
Hi Kim, Changing the subject -
I just wanted to tell you this is my first time on your blog and I have really enjoyed it. I am a novice quilter and blogger and other than reading and making one partial quilt haven't done much of either. I think your kitty is adorable, to hear it purr, meow, and watch it follow the cursor is adorable. I know I'm easily entertained. I am going to work on the Happy Jacks. I can hardly wait. It will be one block at first and once I get that, maybe I'll do more! Thanks so much for sharing.
Beverly
Well, I had to come back and add raccoons! I take the garbage out each night to discourage bugs. The "not so nice" thing about living in the tropics!
It started raining so I just sat it outside the back door. (It's a glass sliding door.)
When I came home from work today I looked out the door and saw a big mac daddy of a raccoon looking for an afternoon snack! At 2:00 in the afternoon!!!
Geesh... would have expected it at night time but not in the heat of the day.
Next time I'll just get wet and go put it in the can with a tight fitting lid and a big cinder block on top of that!
Patty
Those termites are gross! I'm sorry they decided to hang out at your home.
Every year we have sugar ants come to visit. I can't imagine why they come in, because they seem to like to swarm up and down the back porch railings. We could have much worse, I know, so I'll not complain!
Yep, I have cockroaches. My neighbor moved out and the owners are fumigating the place for cockroaches. Since it smells bad over there, they have decided they would rather live at my house. Yuck. I have carpenter ants in one of my trees - I hope they don't decide to live in my house too! They have nearly eaten the tree down.
We were treated for termites this summer - the arm and a leg treatment! Now the guy comes once a month for the rest of our lives. But it is the ANTS that won't go away - so, I call the "bug" man every time I see one and have them come spray. Maybe he will get sick and tired of me and finally get rid of them!! I wish you luck.
Oh yes, I live up the hill near Placerville and have experienced both raccoons and termites. Hate them both!!
A raccoon got into a death battle with my Lab mix, and my dog won, though not without a vet bill. The vet said that usually the raccoon wins, so my dog was lucky.
While it was going on, my Bay-area transplant-to-the-country neighbor was screaming that my dog was mean to the raccoon. Oh pulease!
Good luck to you!
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