THEM!

[serinde]

The theme of the week is "insects".

1) As previously mentioned, we developed some ants in the computer room. (Why? How? These remain unanswered.) Not a huge huge problem, but a problem. The exterminator was called, but failed to show last week; we are trying again today, which I await (sometime between noon and 4pm HA HA HA).

2) Beelzebub has re-emerged in the garage. Why and How are again blank--usually flies have been the result of a bag of garbage that failed to make it to the curb for way too long, but for once that hasn't happened, which is a little disturbing because in prior experience they keep coming until the vector is removed, and what vector?. So we have been getting flies in the house since Tues. or so. Nasty. Not actively harmful, but not nice.

3) The morning's project was to see if I could get Lurch running again[1]. I knew he wouldn't start, since he's been sitting for nigh a year, and his tire is flat, but I have the power to charge battery and inflate tires at the least. Instead, what I found is that, once again, the wasps had come and built a nest inside his door frame. ahghfhdfjkdlfjkl I HATE WASPS. Hate hate HATE HATE hate HATE HATE hate, with a side of HATE. Most of you are familiar with my arachnophobia, but I don't actually dislike spiders, I just have irrational horrors of sharing space with them; I don't want them dead. But if I could read a scroll of genocide on the entire wasp tribe, I would instantly, and I would laugh maniacally while doing it. So I've spent the last hour duelling them with a broomstick and a can of wasp killer. I've got the nest, and a bunch of soldiers, but there's still a bunch buzzing around angrily (and I can't just move Lurch out of the way, obviously). So I'm waiting for them to either settle down and be killed in a genteel fashion, or go away and find some other location to pester. Then I shall perform car resuscitation, if possible.

[1] This, because the notion of me taking Womble was predicated on Steve and me moving out roughly simultaneously, and he didn't reckon on needing (or wanting) a vehicle in Hoboken, so that worked out well; but since the timing is skewed, he will certainly still need a car as long as his primary residence is out here in Suburbia, so if I can bring Lurch back into operation then we will each be provided for.

Comments

[xlerb.livejournal.com]

I can recommend some inspirational reading. (http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1845064&page=1all)

ants

[nancaurelia.livejournal.com]

Well, if you have an exterminator coming, can't he kill the wasps too?

I don't actually think you need an exterminator for ants, unless they are carpenter ants. I have had quite excellent success with those little plastic store-bought gizmos that look like roach combat, but they're for ants. It takes a couple days, but they work like a charm. (For kitchen ants, my Mom used to suggest spraying the front & back outside stairs. Oddly, this actually seems to work, but you & I are both barefoot too much to want poison spray around where we're gonna walk on it.) Carpenter ants are, of course, a WHOLE OTHER PROBLEM.

[elibalin.livejournal.com]

Did Lurch's brake problems ever get worked out? I was under the impression that was the reason for it's convalescence, rather than engine difficulties.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

It was a brake problem yes... but sitting outside unmoving for almost a year (and through the winter) with no maintenance won't have helped.

Re: ants

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

They are pavement ants, not carpenter, it develops.

Also it turns out that they do wasps on the HOUSE, but not in CARS. That's okay, I have mostly defeated them. (He said if they start building the nest on the property itself, we can call.)

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what Stephen said. I need to determine basic functionality, and THEN limp it up to the garage and ask "okay, how many pounds of gold to heal the rest of the problems?"

[dagnycat522.livejournal.com]

I appreciate and approve of the title of this post.

[rainbear.livejournal.com]

these (http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000W93LUU) will keep wasps away--they're highly territorial and will not build nests where they see other nests. (it's also pretty cheap.. like $10)

[spride.livejournal.com]

Ants of all sorts seem to be attracted to electrical fields. In the SW they have Raspberry Fire Ants which regularly infests HT transformers, so the local equivalent of Con Edison (being Texas, it's probably "LIGHTNING-GOD-MAN COMPANY") has to come in and scrape them off with industrial grade Windex. And you thought your job sucked …

[must-sew-faster.livejournal.com]

Were you here the day that Brian had to clear out the yellow jackets from the side mirror of the old white Dodge Charger Shelby hatchback before he could scrap it? It seemed like there were about a thousand of those damn things wedged into that tiny tiny space. It was like a Steven King short story or something.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Oh Jesus. No, I managed to miss that one.

Wait, isn't he horrifically allergic?

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's deeply disturbing.

My dad worked for Ohio's LIGHTNING-GOD-MAN CO. but the Great Lakes region is blessedly free of most unpleasant insects, so I had not heard of this particular effect. (He did say that squirrels would routinely go bonkers and try to nest in the transformers, particularly during the summer, blowing them--and themselves--out, of course. I for one would much rather get rid of a zotted squirrel corpse than a fire ant nest.)

[must-sew-faster.livejournal.com]

I don't think he's technically allergic to bees. I remember him stepping on a ground nest once when mowing the back 40 and he didn't need the epi pen that mom always had in the fridge. Anyway, since when did his allergies stop him from doing what he wanted? Let's see...he's technically allergic to strawberries, peanuts, milk and cheese. So he subsists almost entirely on PB&J sandwiches with strawberry jelly, washed down with big ol' glasses of milk. And cheeseburgers. Don't forget those.