Garage footnote...

You know, I'm really starting to get a complex. A little Southern hospitality notwithstanding, what is it about MY house that is so darned inviting to critters? Critters of all shapes, sizes, and species? Creepy critters, crawling critters, cunning critters, cutesy critters... critters, critters, CRITTERS! The only thing I've never had are... dare I say it? Will this jinx me?? Maybe I shouldn't...? Oh, what the hey, I'll live dangerously... c-o-c-k-r-o-a-c-h-e-s. In over thirty years, I've never had them here! Guess I should be grateful for small favors, but it's hard when it seems that every other creature in the animal kingdom has found its way to MY house.

So, anyway, in the process of cleaning out the garage, we came across what I instantly knew to be evidence of termite damage in a corner where a wood shelf support abutted the other side of a sheetrock kitchen wall. How did I instantly know this, you might ask? BTDT, and am waaay too familiar with the signs. Mud tunnels and damaged wood are a dead giveaway too.

Back in '92 we had a charming time with them, a season when they decided to take up semi-permanent residence in my kitchen. For the blissfully unaware, it might be helpful to know that termites typically swarm ONCE a season. But, oh no, not at MY house. At MY house, they made termite history and swarmed not once, not twice, but three bloody times! Hundreds upon hundreds of these disgusting tiny creatures marching across my kitchen/dining/living room floor/carpet to reach the southern exposure light of the windows on the other side of the house. I thought I would go crazy!! I became quite adept at sneaker-smash annihilation. A little rough on the knees, crawling around the floors was, but somewhat effective.

So, to make a long story a little longer, the inside/outside perimeter of the house was treated, including drilling holes into the concrete basement floors and porch, and that seemed to take care of the problem. Until about 10 years later, when, yes indeedy, they swarmed and marched again! So, we had another treatment. (All of which, by the way, is under contract, and includes annual inspections.) Until last week's discovery, everything had been fine. In all fairness to their annual inspections, the only way this particular damage was discovered was by tearing down the shelf; it was impossible to see otherwise.

So, according to our trusty termite inspector, who came out today, what we discovered is, Ta-Da! ... OLD, inactive, post-treatment damage. Seems it's not terribly uncommon for the beasts to relocate upon treatment and then croak and/or abandon their home when the treatment effects totally kick in. At the moment, we apparently have nothing to worry about. Theoretically. We shall see.