A little pile of dirt
On Friday, I did my taxes. I pay estimated taxes and all my estimations were that I was going to owe a lot this year, so I've been putting it off. So Friday I started going through my receipts and my notes and my mileage (they increased mileage to 48 cents from 36--pretty spiffy) and I start filing in the numbers and doing the math and the end result was--I'm getting a refund. Wow. I was so excited because not only do I get a refund, but I get to take that reserve that I've been saving to pay all the taxes I thought I owed and keep it for me. It was quickly spent eight times over in my head on all the things I want, but can't afford.
Then I got home and saw a little pile of dirt. There was a little pile of dirt on the side of the casing around the window. That's right a little pile of dirt on the side of a board. How did it stay up there; what on earth is it really and how on earth did it get there. I was tempted to simply brush it off, but it looked a bit like a nest and I was frighted by what could be in such a nest. So after asking everyone in the house if they knew what it was (no's all around), I took a closer look and saw a leg wiggle out--a really disgusting orangish florescent leg. I got the raid and drenched it. There was another pile below it and I drenched that one too. There was a tini tiny pile of dirt on the opposite side of the window and that got the full effect of raid. Now we waited for the thing with the florescent orange leg to die. Was it a really big spider. An orange spider did not sound too likely. A while later Adam asked if I'd noticed that the leg fell off. Yes I had and now it didn't look so much like a leg, but a worm. Baby orange worms??? When we were sure they were dead, Adam cleaned off the little piles of dirt and behind them were holes in the wall. Termites. Termites are much bigger in person then you'd think. Adam says that the total weight of termites in the world is ten times heavier than the total weight of all humans in the world. You have to wonder why termites would come out when there's so much more wood under the house in the dark. So it makes me think that I probably have ten times the weight of termites as I do humans in the house. That's a lot. For some reason I woke up this morning listening to the hum in my room that still drives me crazy and thought I've heard that termites sing. I have a new theory about the hum in my room.
This is going to be expensive.
Then I got home and saw a little pile of dirt. There was a little pile of dirt on the side of the casing around the window. That's right a little pile of dirt on the side of a board. How did it stay up there; what on earth is it really and how on earth did it get there. I was tempted to simply brush it off, but it looked a bit like a nest and I was frighted by what could be in such a nest. So after asking everyone in the house if they knew what it was (no's all around), I took a closer look and saw a leg wiggle out--a really disgusting orangish florescent leg. I got the raid and drenched it. There was another pile below it and I drenched that one too. There was a tini tiny pile of dirt on the opposite side of the window and that got the full effect of raid. Now we waited for the thing with the florescent orange leg to die. Was it a really big spider. An orange spider did not sound too likely. A while later Adam asked if I'd noticed that the leg fell off. Yes I had and now it didn't look so much like a leg, but a worm. Baby orange worms??? When we were sure they were dead, Adam cleaned off the little piles of dirt and behind them were holes in the wall. Termites. Termites are much bigger in person then you'd think. Adam says that the total weight of termites in the world is ten times heavier than the total weight of all humans in the world. You have to wonder why termites would come out when there's so much more wood under the house in the dark. So it makes me think that I probably have ten times the weight of termites as I do humans in the house. That's a lot. For some reason I woke up this morning listening to the hum in my room that still drives me crazy and thought I've heard that termites sing. I have a new theory about the hum in my room.
This is going to be expensive.
posted by KathrynVH @ 3:34 PM
7 Comments:
At March 13, 2006 at 5:36 PM,
Tim B. said…
Oh gosh!
As soon as you said "little pile of dirt I thought "termites." Then you went to a florescent orange leg and I thought some sort of wasp (around here people call them "mud daubers").
It may not be as costly as you expect, but do not delay in getting yourself estimates. You need to find out the extent of what they have already damaged to determine what course of treatment.
With luck you discovered them early enough. Like me last year with the bees.
Got my fingers crossed for ya.
At March 13, 2006 at 5:39 PM,
Tim B. said…
http://treebeau.blogspot.com/2005/06/who-ya-gonna-call-bee-busters.html
At March 16, 2006 at 10:55 AM,
KathrynVH said…
Subteranneanne termites (not the kind that fly--they come in the Fall). The first estimate is very high (even with a 10% discount) and the guy says I've had these termites for 3 or 4 years. They've eaten through foundation support poles that were wood to earth--a bad thing. I told the second guy about the problem with the support poles and said who do I call to fix that and he raised his hand. His estimate (for just the termites) is also high, but he offered more suggestions to fix the underlying problems. Guy number three is coming on Monday. I just had a fellow on the phone say that women are taking over the professional jobs once dominated by men and I thought, of course, we'd much rather go to college for a long time then crawl under the house and inspect for termites.
At March 16, 2006 at 1:03 PM,
Tim B. said…
...or change the oil in cars, or washers in a faucet... :-)
Good luck with that!
How long have you had this house? And was a termite inspection part of condition for buying?
At March 16, 2006 at 1:04 PM,
Tim B. said…
oh yeah, check your spelling of what kind of termites they are. I think only one is a female (anne).
At March 17, 2006 at 10:33 AM,
KathrynVH said…
I got the house six years ago and it had been tented before they put it on the market. It had a lot of termite damage then. I had a termite inspection about six or seven months ago, but apparently you get what you pay for--the inspection was free and they didn't find any termites. I don't think the guy went under the house and that's were they seem to be. The termites also could have just arrived from a long trip--the house two doors down was tented not too long ago... eat wood, will travel.
At March 20, 2006 at 12:15 PM,
KathrynVH said…
Now we have the flying ones too.
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