[Note -- this is another in my series of blogs based on weekly emails I send to my family on the mainland.]
10/31/20
Aloha Everybody –
When I joked last week about your mainland “yo-yo” weather, I didn’t realize just how much on target I would be in the case of Colorado. Geez, you guys go from fire to ice in a matter of hours! A 6-12" snowstorm on top of rampaging wildfires is pretty wild, even though I recall that extreme swings are common there. Anyway, I hope you find a middle ground and that the fires will be brought under control soon.
About the most extreme weather event here this week was that one afternoon I heard thunder (very rare) a couple of times, and on Tuesday it rained about .5 inches during the afternoon and evening. Karen played golf at her usual course that day and had good conditions until the last 3 holes when they got a little wet. She did well again, by the way – 3 pars and 3 bogeys. She keeps wanting me to play with her but this isn’t motivating me much. As the bird mating season progresses though, I may go just to see the Nene chicks and the peacock displays.
As Election Day gets nearer our mail-in voting system seems to be going very smoothly, unlike what I see happening on the mainland. I mentioned that we have about 6 drop-off boxes in secure locations spread around the island for a population of about 180k. This contrasts rather glaringly with the Texas approach of one box per county, which in one case is one box for several million people. I’m frankly dismayed by the obvious attempts to go well beyond trying to ensure the integrity of the voting system and instead to suppress voting altogether for certain groups of legitimate voters. This IS the USA, right – the country that claims to represent to pinnacle of Democracy?! Ok, stepping down from my soapbox now.
This week I’ve made arrangements to get estimates for “tenting” our house for drywood termites. This was last done when we bought the house 20 years ago. It is a standard practice here whenever a house is sold and when (not if) infestations start to appear. This past spring we had clear evidence during what is called the “swarming season,” a few weeks when the winged versions of the termites emerge and try to find a new spot to munch on. Anyway, drywood termites are very, very common here and it isn’t a matter of “if” you will have to treat your house, but rather “when.” We’ve done very well to go as long as we have, mainly because I was coached early on by a neighbor who used to work for Terminix on how to spot treat small infestations on you own and I have been pretty diligent over the years in doing that. Anyway, we’ll get our first estimate on Tuesday and it will be interesting to see what the $$$ will be to do this. BTW, drywood termites aren’t the same as the subterranean variety, which will quickly eat your house in no time. Ours are slow but relentless, and though they can do considerable damage, the current building codes require that house be built using strutural lumber that has been pre-treated to ward off termites. The treatment doesn’t totally prevent damage, though, and sooner or later you have to fumigate.
Our workout at PF yesterday was again well-timed. Very few people and everybody followed the mask and disinfect routine. Afterwards we had a small pizza, salad, and a nice beer at Kona Brew Co.’s outdoor restaurant. The beer made for a rather deep nap later.
Well, that’s about it for this week – no major house projects but of course still whacking back the jungle. Things are starting to slow down a bit, which is welcome.
Take care everyone. Steel yourself for what may come for the next few weeks.
4 comments:
Lucky we live Hawai’i as we haven’t had to battle extreme fires and shovel snow yet, but who knows that could change. We went from "stop the rain" to geez "when are we going to get some rain?"
We have been battling termites for 40 years. We’ve had the house tented twice in those years and the last time when we got an estimate it would cost ten grand. After the shock of that we decided to pay a yearly fee for spot treatments. We’ve been doing that for several years now. Even after tenting the little buggers come back after a few short years. They are so tenacious they have even eaten through a bit of redwood we have on a small section of our house. And then there are the wood beetles, yikes!
Happy tenting home owners.
Dawn
Can't believe the fire has missed us this year and I'm starting to feel we might make it to the rainy season, which shoulda started by now and hasn't If I were superstitious I wouldn't make these comments, but even a vindictive weather god would be hard pressed to find my comments among all the other noise among humans I figure. Should be safe! Haven't heard any termites since the house was tented, maybe 2 years ago. We had subs that came and went before we got the house. Last people did a cover up job we didn't find till I stepped thru the floor one day. We fixed that by taking all the siding off the 2 story part of the house and replacing the big beam that holds up the wall between floors! Glad that's not happening again. We did some preventative flying buttress wings to keep soil away from the vulnerable parts of the house! The flyers are irritating, but our termite guy said there simply thousands of those, when you get subs you have millions! Good luck with tenting. We figure there are several places termites can get to that we can't or we can't see so it's worth tenting every so often for that contingency anyway!
When you tent the house for termites do you have to move out for a few days? That would be a hassle.
And speaking of pests: do you or any of your friends have advice for dealing with moles? I have been trying to ignore them but must admit the time has come to be rid of them. Do I hire a mole catcher or plant those poisonous worms. What would you do?
Yes, you have to leave for 1 or 2 nights. The gas disapates quickly and leaves no residue but you have to either remove packaged and fresh food or put it in special bags. Alas, this may do in our current favored geckos along with the termites, ants, cockroaches, etc.
Moles! Hah! I lost that battle after trying guillotine traps and all the ineffective folk remedies like bubble gum or cat poop in the holes. Pro services may work -- I think Dick Smith had one. They are after grubs in your soil. If you treat for those you might have some luck. I joke that one of the cruelest things would be to bring a mole here and watch it try to deal with our lava rock soil.
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