We may all be able to learn something from these little critters about persistence and perseverance, however it is much to our detriment that they have such characters. I was just over in the house next door doing some cleaning up following the discovery of a termite invasion. It is amazing to see the destruction such a small insect can have in such a short time.
The house is not being lived in permanently at the moment as the last Dr family to live in it moved out the day before we arrived here in Rumginae (I'm not sure what they heard about us). Since then lots of people have been in and out of it for short periods of time as they visit the station for one reason or another. However the last people to stay, informed us there may be an issue. They said that when they stood in the tub and turned on the shower they got a shock, not such good combination, electricity and water!
In order to discover where the short in the bathroom was some of the wall board had to be pulled down. That is when they discovered the termites were trying to remodel the house. All that was left of some of the wall board was the paint, truly amazing, all of the wall behind the paint was eaten away, this made it really easy to take them down. The walls where also packed about half full of termite tunnels and crumbs and they had eaten away major portions of some of the studs.
Measures have been taken to try and keep the termites out of the house but they continue to reappear. They enter the house by building tracks from the ground, up the outside metal posts until they can reach wood again. These trails can be scraped and there will be a new one the next day. Even when the posts are sprayed and the ground laced with kerosene they still seem to find a way in.
Our house has evidence of these hungry critters also. We don't wash the kitchen wall as it is only a paint veneer (thankfully the last people to live here chased them out of there). We are always on the look out for the tell tail termite crumbs that appear where ever they have been chewing to give them a spray. Sometimes we seem to be successful and other times the crumbs just continue to fall( not sure how much longer we are going to have a door jam in the bathroom).
One thing is for certain, their craving for a high fibber diet has also taught us to be more persistent.
Mel for the Marshes
The house is not being lived in permanently at the moment as the last Dr family to live in it moved out the day before we arrived here in Rumginae (I'm not sure what they heard about us). Since then lots of people have been in and out of it for short periods of time as they visit the station for one reason or another. However the last people to stay, informed us there may be an issue. They said that when they stood in the tub and turned on the shower they got a shock, not such good combination, electricity and water!
In order to discover where the short in the bathroom was some of the wall board had to be pulled down. That is when they discovered the termites were trying to remodel the house. All that was left of some of the wall board was the paint, truly amazing, all of the wall behind the paint was eaten away, this made it really easy to take them down. The walls where also packed about half full of termite tunnels and crumbs and they had eaten away major portions of some of the studs.
Measures have been taken to try and keep the termites out of the house but they continue to reappear. They enter the house by building tracks from the ground, up the outside metal posts until they can reach wood again. These trails can be scraped and there will be a new one the next day. Even when the posts are sprayed and the ground laced with kerosene they still seem to find a way in.
Our house has evidence of these hungry critters also. We don't wash the kitchen wall as it is only a paint veneer (thankfully the last people to live here chased them out of there). We are always on the look out for the tell tail termite crumbs that appear where ever they have been chewing to give them a spray. Sometimes we seem to be successful and other times the crumbs just continue to fall( not sure how much longer we are going to have a door jam in the bathroom).
One thing is for certain, their craving for a high fibber diet has also taught us to be more persistent.
Mel for the Marshes
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