Crickets and Hail and Termites, Oh MY!

Home ownership is overrated.

As if the lack of grass in the back yard and the crummy carpet we were going to replace FIVE YEARS AGO weren't enough to add on top of the mudding and taping and painting and yellow counter tops and general leaky toilets weren't enough, we have crickets. Camelback Crickets.

Google them. They aren't a pretty picture. And according to lovers of camelback crickets, you pretty much can't get rid of them without A) buying all kinds of killers and doing the DIY thing (which, by the way, hasn't worked so far) or B) hiring a bug guy.

I finally gave in last week and signed a contract to have the bug guy come out. Not once, but for a whole year. Because I'm flat sick of the spiders and silverfish, and gnats, and flies and centipedes and ants also. The crickets just put me over the edge. That and the roach I saw the other day. I don't do roaches.

As if I need one more piece of evidence condemning my housekeeping ability, or lack thereof. (My MIL was here when it happened and was very gracious about it...even if I do think she was lying through her teeth. (waving to NY,NY))

And we had this hail storm that I mentioned in passing. It included golf ball size hail. And the ambulance chasers also known as roofers are still swarming. Most of them drop their info and go, but one guy knocked on my door and offered a "free inspection." Lo and behold, he thinks we need a new roof. We smiled and nodded and called our friend the roofer...who concurred. We need a new roof.

Our deductible "due to hail" is $1890. So we're getting a new roof, but not a cheap one, let me tell ya.

And don't even get me started on the marital bliss that comes with dealing with insurance companies when the confrontational one wants the non-confrontational one to make all the calls and tell them how it's gonna be.

I'm so sure.

And what does the bug guy find? Termites.

I told him, "Wrong answer."

He didn't waver.

So I've been calling termite guys to come out and estimate. It isn't pretty. However, on the "bright side," the last guy said he saw no live termites.

Not sure what to do with that information. Do we treat? Do we not treat?

Needless to say, our "emergency fund" has been depleted to nearly zero.

I'm feeling a kinship with Pharaoh this month. I'd ask when the plague of frogs was coming, but since I currently have two near frogs and two toads in captivity, that one's not too far off.

If boils show up, I'm outta here. I'll let his people go.

Whatever that represents.