Monday, May 2, 2011

Another Jacked Up Event In Raquel's World

Friday at work sucked. But that is not at all unusual. We had lots of cute kids but they were gansta as hell. I spent 8 hours breaking up fights between two year olds and tending to causalities. It was ridiculous. I really do not make enough money. The one thing that gave me peace throughout the day was that after work I had plans to work out with my girlfriend at the YMCA. I needed that stress relief. We were to meet at 3pm. At 3pm I called her. She was not home. I assumed she was on the way. Then at 3:05 I got a call from her daughter that she would not be coming. I was livid. First of all, why do you wait until 3 to tell me? Uggh! And secondly having your daughter do the dirty work? Well shame on you! This was the weekend that RA was moving so the last place I wanted to go was home. But I had no loot to hang out with so I stayed at the place I wanted to leave the most. Work. Life sucks like that sometimes. 
I arrive home with my kiddos as we sit down for dinner and I notice a fly-thingy on my table. Gross! I kill him and sanitize. A bit later I noticed another fly-thingy on the floor. I chewed my kids out and told them "see you guys won't keep the door shut, now we have flies." An hour later princess said to me "mommy there are bugs". I said "okay sweetie just stomp them." "I can't she says there are too many'. I ask her to show me where the too many bugs were. She did. they were all over my living room carpet!. Little ant thingys with wings. WTH? I HATE bugs! And in my living room of all places! I send Mason to get the RA. He comes in and starts inspecting. He lifts a mini blind in the window and  there are hundreds of these things! It looked like a  scene from  Amityville Horror. You know  when the priest gets attacked by all those bees and they are all over the window? I have 6 windows in my living room and 5 of them had the same situation, I was mortified. They were termites!
Apparently the storms we had recently screwed up their nests and they were looking for a new place to nest and my home was the chosen spot. Lucky me eh? Our house is very old and very weird and the windows do dot quite fit into the window frames meaning there is a lot of draft space between the windows and the frames. We seal that space for the winter, unseal it in spring to open the windows for fresh air then reseal it for summer. We are in spring so they are not sealed and I suppose made the perfect entrance for the 600 or so termites to come in through. 
RA spent hours spraying and killing and vacuuming up termites. I spent the time fussing at the kids telling them they brought the bugs in by not being neat enough. I know that is not true but hell any chance I can get to teach them a lesson I use it. It was quite effective too as I told them how bugs would crawl on them in their sleep until Michael looked up termite facts and let everyone know that the termites were not there for crumbs. I did a lil research and the good news is if they still have wings ,which they all did then they have not nested yet. See below:

Termite Swarm
When a colony is healthy or extremely stressed, alates or winged reproductives are sent from the colony to start new colonies. Alates emerge from the colony and find their way into living spaces through cracks around windows and door frames or any space accessible.



Then I read these facts:


Termite facts
Termites :

  • Live for 15 years
  • Lay 1 egg every 15 seconds
  • Have 4 wings
  • Burrow tiny mud tunnels to a source of wood
  • Leave sawdust near windows
  • Enjoy wood resulting from leaky plumbing
  • Can destroy entire house in about 2-3 years
  • Found in every U.S. state except Alaska
  • Help the food chain by recycling wood for the soil
So I guess I got 2 years to relocate....... Sigh......... Just my luck.

6 comments:

  1. I had to cover the picture before I could keep reading. That was awful.
    Can't they be exterminated by an exterminator?
    And if you rent isn't this the landlords responsiblity? i know nothing about termites except they love wood.

    Again sorry about this weekend. I'm sure you heard your vm I left last night. Can i make it up to you?

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  2. Gross! Call Terminex and get them on the case. I had them in the railroad tie wall around my yard, but they never made it in the house. Terminex took care of them quite easily, but I pay for quarterly maintainence so it is expensive.

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  3. I got them in my condo the last 2 springs in a row. The first year I got them I told my landlord we had termites, she got the exterminator out but told him they were flying ants. He confirmed they were termites but brought the wrong poison so I got them again last year. They sprayed into the ground around the outside of my unit last May and so far this year I haven't got anything. (fingers crossed)

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  4. Wow! I need to check our home!
    Sorry!

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  5. Get da house fumed like Mystery Chick did. Then buy spray foam. Fill every area in the house. If you have a basement there to. Every crack, every crevasse, window frames...etc.... Let it set up for day then cut the excess. They wont come back.

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  6. I would get the orkin guy in. He will kill them and then can come back each month to check.

    And by the way? Ewwww

    ReplyDelete