So... What are YOU doing? - Part 7

[tango]

A bit more breaking and wrecking. I pried some featherboards off the wall in one of my rooms under destruction, and did some more work to fix up the windows. It was interesting leaning out of the window to replace the caulking but then I got new caulking put in place and squirted some building foam into the space between the window sides and the concrete. Then I moved a radiator (which was interesting, given it weighs at least as much as I do) so I could rip some drywall down from behind it.

This is the room I'm going to have to restud and figure out how best to work it, given it only has 1/2" thick featherboards, which aren't enough to put electrical back boxes in. Whoever wired it just knocked a hole in the concrete block to fit the backbox, so I'm going to have to fix that as well. Then I need to figure out how it's all going to work with the walls made thicker. If nothing else the local hardware store is going to like me when I buy the stud timbers I'm going to need to do this properly.

 

[MoreCoffee]

I just finished writing a post in reply to some questions in the thread entitled Water baptism. I hope that it will be read and reacted to in the same spirit in which it was written. One always hopes for good things. God willing good things will come.

Now I am writing this post.

Soon I will be running a bath and perhaps going out to have a meal with friends, or failing that then doing some shopping, but I do not need anything urgently so that can be skipped if time presses.

 

[Andrew]

Trying to write.music but I have had writers block for sometime. I have no idea what to write about because my life is pretty bland at the moment lol i would write Christian worship songs but honestly I figure there are enough of those

 

[Lamb]

Killing ants that made their way into the house and are trying to get to the guinea pig food. ugh

 

[psalms 91]

ants are relentless

 

[Lamb]

ants are relentless

They especially like to congregate together right before a big thunderstorm and we got those yesterday afternoon!

 

[MoreCoffee]

Watching videos

 

[tango]

Killing ants that made their way into the house and are trying to get to the guinea pig food. ugh

A trick I read about online that seemed to make sense, and appears to work from what I can tell, is to use their own navigation against them. Apparently ants navigate by leaving trails of pheromones for others to follow, so if you subject the few at the front of a line to intense distress the idea is that they leave pheromone markers to warn the rest of the colony of the danger. The trick I read was to get down on your hands and knees so you can watch them closely, then slowly approach them with the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner. Wait until they visibly hunker down, hold them there for a few seconds, then suck them up and move on to the next one.

The last time I did that it was months before I saw another ant.

 

[tango]

Got a bit more work done yesterday, mostly cleaning up. I had a remarkable pile of pieces of drywall, so I broke them up into smaller pieces and bagged them up. I was surprised to find I filled two garbage bags and half-filled a third. So now I've got stuff to put out with the regular garbage for a few more weeks.

The way the pricing works for me is that if I put out a second bag at least 12 times over the course of the year it's worth paying for a second bag every week. So far we're barely 16 weeks into the year and I think I've put a second bag out something like 13 times already, with more to come. I don't care for having bags of trash lined up on my porch waiting to be taken away but it's cheaper and more convenient than taking it to the landfill myself. If I ever reach a stage where I think I've got 250lb or more I'm more likely to take it to landfill just so it's out of my face, but until then it can go out a bit at a time in weekly instalments.

 

[Lamb]

A trick I read about online that seemed to make sense, and appears to work from what I can tell, is to use their own navigation against them. Apparently ants navigate by leaving trails of pheromones for others to follow, so if you subject the few at the front of a line to intense distress the idea is that they leave pheromone markers to warn the rest of the colony of the danger. The trick I read was to get down on your hands and knees so you can watch them closely, then slowly approach them with the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner. Wait until they visibly hunker down, hold them there for a few seconds, then suck them up and move on to the next one.

The last time I did that it was months before I saw another ant.

I hadn't heard about that thanks! I guess it's better than screaming at them LOL

 

[tango]

Went to look at a house for sale. Much as I love my current house the traffic noise gets intrusive at times, and the place I went to see is well off the beaten track. The views are stunning and I liked it, but I really wanted to love it and the brutal reality is I just don't. It has an awesome main room with high vaulted ceiling and a view to die for, but it seems that room would have to be the kitchen and living room and dining room all rolled into one.

 

[tango]

I hadn't heard about that thanks! I guess it's better than screaming at them LOL

And a great aspect of it is that you don't have to use any poisons. The only chemicals that are involved are the ones the ants leave, that essentially are a message from an ant to the other ants saying "danger, don't follow".

 

[Lamb]

Went to look at a house for sale. Much as I love my current house the traffic noise gets intrusive at times, and the place I went to see is well off the beaten track. The views are stunning and I liked it, but I really wanted to love it and the brutal reality is I just don't. It has an awesome main room with high vaulted ceiling and a view to die for, but it seems that room would have to be the kitchen and living room and dining room all rolled into one.

Sounds like the open concept a lot of people want. I don't like it all out in the open personally. I don't mind that our kitchen and family room are connected because we don't have guests over often to see my dirty dishes in the sink!

 

[tango]

Sounds like the open concept a lot of people want. I don't like it all out in the open personally. I don't mind that our kitchen and family room are connected because we don't have guests over often to see my dirty dishes in the sink!

I don't mind open plan up to a point - if anything the trouble I have now is too many rooms that aren't big enough. I just don't know that I want a setup that is "bedroom" and "everything else".

 

[Lamb]

Getting ready for church in a while.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

Sick Friday night into Saturday, so Saturday was a blur - lots of sleep. Today's not bad just really sore

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

Went to look at a house for sale. Much as I love my current house the traffic noise gets intrusive at times, and the place I went to see is well off the beaten track. The views are stunning and I liked it, but I really wanted to love it and the brutal reality is I just don't. It has an awesome main room with high vaulted ceiling and a view to die for, but it seems that room would have to be the kitchen and living room and dining room all rolled into one.

I'm surprised with all the reno work you've been doing. Or is that part of the issue? It seems to be never ending

 

[Lamb]

Sick Friday night into Saturday, so Saturday was a blur - lots of sleep. Today's not bad just really sore

Glad you're feeling better today.

 

[tango]

I'm surprised with all the reno work you've been doing. Or is that part of the issue? It seems to be never ending

The work I'm doing is making the house I'm in ever-better but nothing I can do will move the road further away. Just lately the noise from the road has been wearing me down more and more. I really don't want to give up on this house but when a place nestled well off the beaten track comes on the market it seems foolish not to at least look.

 

[psalms 91]

Yes and with your improvments if you do go to sell it should help