The exterminator

The exterminator came. Our house made the top 15 most infested homes he had seen. Not as bad as the lady who had them dropping on her head from a kitchen sky light, but bad enough. We have carpenter ants not termites. The difference is the body. Ants have segmented bodies and termites are just one long ugly bug. The winged bugs are the breeding females looking for a new colony to establish. My vacuum sucked up quite a few of those. My feet crushed the ones that landed on the floor. $500 to do the first heavy treatment. Quarterly return treatments for a year to make sure none survive. The quarterly treatments are $150 each.

I removed any downed wood from around the house. I did a burn pile, then my neighbor called again telling me his house was full of smoke from my burn pile. I quit burning. I was about finished anyway. It went fast. I feel bad about the burns bothering him, but I just don't see how I can dispose of this much debris. I have only done one other. I told him about our carpenter ants and needing to dispose of the downed wood. I told him I was already paying for an extra garbage can for the yard waste. I told him I was done burning for the day. I also told him I had tried to burn only during the week in the middle of the day, as not to disturb him on the weekends, and in hopes he would be at work or away during a weekday. Turns out he is retired and never away. I asked him to call me when he might be gone so I could burn, but he said it is not often that he goes anywhere. Reminds me a little of the days of Tom Senior. Just sitting at home waiting for nothing. He said he was on oxygen, which is when I felt really guilty.

Riley went for his final drive for school and passed. A few things still to work on, but so much better than when he started. The long drive to the mountains helped last week. I had him drive into the city. He was fine on the freeway. the city streets and all the traffic was a little daunting. He did cut someone off and get honked at. Which scared him. He sat at the next intersection with a stop sign for a minute to catch his breath. Over all he did well.

While we waited for Riley's driving class to be over, Trevor went to the comic book store and bought "Magic" cards. It is some game he is in to playing. He had no money so I told him I would buy the cards for two hours of hard labor this weekend. I want to get the slates placed for steps in the yard. We had tossed the slates off the back deck where they had been sitting since we dismantled the old pool table. The sloppy wet ground made a soft landing for them so they didn't break. After one was tossed over the rail, Trevor and I would go down and drag it out of the way so we could toss the next one. The soil was too wet to drag them far. We kept slipping and they kept getting stuck. I meant to have us move them to where I wanted them during the dry spell, but today the rains are back and we will need to wait again.

I am settling on inexpensive arborvitae for my fence. The giant Laural are not available. I am hopeful the fence of greens will help make my neighbor happy. Perhaps absorb noise and smoke and give him and us some privacy. Two hours of hard labor can get those plants into the ground. Trevor can dig the holes.

Saturday is also Goodwill good turn for scouts. We drop off notices on doors that we will be picking up donations for Goodwill the next weekend. It takes about two hours. The next weekend is the Republican County convention, so I wont be able to help do the pick up. I am still on the bubble for a delegate. I should be done after that Saturday though. I am really just a body filling a seat. I was curious how the process works. The best way to find out is to participate.

Tom is getting over his cold. So everyone is doing well. Grades are due soon, but the system is down that allows us to check the missing assignments. The boys know I will blow a gasket if they have bad grades. Trevor is doing well he tells me. Riley seems to be glossing over the question. It is out of my hands.