Boxelder Buggers At The Bamboo Lagoon

Sample on flower bed rocks

Normally these little guys would not be a big deal but for some reason, everything this year has been overboard and bugs are no exception.

Starting in early October I started seeing a lot of these guys...and the numbers just kept growing. I hate to kill bugs that aren't "pests" but these guys have gotten to that point, big time. At one point, there were hundreds on both our front deck and our front porch...to the point that you couldn't get in the door without bringing them in with you. Last year, I saw a few of the fully developed adults but I have run into three different nests of them at all stages of life.

At first, I tried to just get them to go away by brute force, just sweeping or using the hose to try to deter them from hanging out on our front porches, but this didn't seem to have any affect on the population.

So my next course of action became "death to the bugs". I decided to go with a non-toxic version and just used dishsoap and water in a spray bottle and I went to town. It was surprisingly effective. Over the next few days, I was able to not only get rid of most of the porch dwellers, I also hit all three nests I found. After death, I would sweep or hose off the porch to get rid of the evidence of bugicide.

I am hoping that next year will easier. We will need a few good freezes this winter, I am sure.

Update 11/8: We cooled down quite a bit and they seemed to go completely away but now we have warmed up a bit in the last few days and it seems a few are trying to make a comeback so I got the spray bottle back out.

Preventative Work At The Bamboo Lagoon

While out working on the pool yesterday, I discovered that the wasp/yellowjacket population is already trying to get out of hand. I haven't found but one or two nests (which were immediately sprayed and destroyed), but there is a weed in the backyard that kind of looks like a pea plant and there are tons of wasps on them.

So yesterday, I bought two wasp/yellowjacket traps to hang in the backyard so I can get them under control before they take over. It has gotten so warm here so fast, that some things feel like I am already behind...but I am hoping that we get a lot of rain in May. If we don't, we will be hurting so bad for water later in the summer.

Anyhow, so I put out those traps this morning, and also set a bomb off under our front porch (where the spiders like to live) so I can work under there later this week. I have to put in some joist hangers as well as put in some ventilation holes and I don't want to be worried about black widows.

I watered a bunch of stuff that was in the shade and then got up on the roof so I could check the upper portion of the solar panels (which look great). I haven't tested them yet...still waiting for it to warm up just a bit more.

I want to get out and take all those pea looking weeds out, but I can't tackle it while the bees are out there, so I might have to see how the traps do and try to get to them when I see not as many bees. I don't want them going to seed so I need to do it before the flowers are gone, that is for sure.

I bought some 3 mil black plastic yesterday to lay down along the backside of the pool in a row that I don't want anything to grow in. It just creates a bunch of weeds right near the pool so I want to cover it up and hope that I can kill it all off, then treat it with vinegar and see if I can keep it clear.

As always, a ton to work on...and it never ends.

Nothing Is Easy At The Bamboo Lagoon

This is the last electrical thing in the big project to be done on the interior of the house. I still have outdoor, garage and dryer electrical to do, but this one thing was supposed to mark the end of my switch, plate, and outlet project. I was putting it off a bit because I hate putting on ends to the coax, but the office desk has been pulled out for weeks and it was time to wrap it.

Guess what? It isn't wrapped up. As you can see in the picture, unlike all the other cable jacks in the entire house, this one was put in through the studs of the window framing...which makes putting in one of my little blue boxes to create a safe, and attractive way of cleaning up the cable jacks, completely impossible.

So, because I had already cut the cable (which supplies all the Internet for the whole house), I had to temporarily reattached it so I would have Internet, while I patch this hole and end up just putting a white plate cover on screwed into the drywall and studs rather than using a blue box. It will look fine to anyone that doesn't know, but it will always bug me just a bit that I wasn't able to blue box this one like the others.

The patch will take a day or so to dry completely so for now, the desk is still pulled out, and this little project is not check marked off my list. I could just kick the cable guy for doing this...I already dislike him for taking a chunk out of my newly painted siding when he put the line in and then didn't replace it correctly leaving a weird looking hole on the outside of the house as well.

Just Two Things Today

Just one small pile of supplies...

Attacked both downstairs bedrooms and managed to change out 7 outlets and 2 switches and prepped for a cable outlet update and a phone outlet update in both rooms. Have to run to the DIY for those supplies first though.

Discovered once again, crap from the renters that just makes me mutter under my breath....grrr. Underneath one of the bedroom windows, there is a long trail of wax on the wall...someone was burning a candle and wasn't careful, and then didn't freaking clean it up...how hard is that?

Then I had to remove several nails that, instead of being taken out by the renters when they moved, or even fixed by the property management when they came through, were pounded into the wall. Jackasses!!

At some point, those rooms are getting painted and I figured while I was down there, I might as well prep things...LOL. Screens on both windows and blinds on both windows need to be replaced too, but that is a task for another day and another budget. Ideally, we would love to replace all the windows in the house but I think we would have to win the lottery for that...haha.

Fire At The Bamboo Lagoon

As mentioned before, we had renters in the house for 5 years. Unfortunately, we have found out the hard way that not only did we not have good renters, we didn't have good property management either. So, I didn't feel comfortable using the fireplace until I had it professionally looked at. I finally had the chimney cleaned and inspected today and while I was out and about, I picked up a few Duralogs to burn.

Turns out that while we have glass doors on the fireplace, you really shouldn't keep them closed when burning a fire because they aren't made with fire tolerant glass. They give the impression of being "woodstove-like" but the chimney sweep said they could shatter from the heat if they were to be completely closed. There is a built in screen door though, that latches so that is kind of nice. They said the chimney looked good inside (no masonry though, just a metal pipe chimney), and was actually pretty clean. They vacuumed up all the ash. There are also cement blocks (not fire bricks) sitting in the bottom of the fireplace. They basically lift the grate up higher but they are not needed and could be removed if we wanted.

This fireplace doesn't have a blower on it, and the chimney itself actually butts out from the house which basically means the fireplace is for looks and produces very little heat for the house. Obviously, if we had no power, it is an option for keeping warm, but it is not an efficient option so I have no plans to burn wood in it regularly, but a nice little log once in a while is always fun.

There was a real wood log left in the fireplace by one of the renters so I put that on top of the Duralog and got a bit of cackle and good fire smell as well as a bit of a longer burn. It was nice and warm to sit in front of it too!

Electric Continues At The Bamboo Lagoon

Supplies

As I mentioned in a previous post, right before this winter storm was going to hit, I made a dash to the DIY to stock up on parts for several electrical projects. In staying with my "one thing" goal, I decided that even if I didn't get it all done in one day, I was going to knock out a portion of it today for sure.

Easiest starting place was the masterbath and bedroom since turning off a breaker there doesn't affect any other part of the house. So I got all my parts and tools ready and set to work. If you remember, this is the end result of my brass removal project on the switch plates in the bathroom. Looked okay, but not great since the switches were still old and tan, and the plate wasn't very big (it was one I took from the downstairs bath).

So I removed the plate, turned off the power to the masterbath and bedroom, and pulled out the switches.

I removed both switches (which I have gotten really good at doing), and put in the new ones.

Then I put on a better white plate (so I could use the other one back downstairs when it comes time to fix that bathroom). Turns out the new cover is almost the same size as the brass one I removed so the line in the paint no longer shows.

This is the finished product. I hope to change the exhaust fan that one of these is connected to, at a later time. These were just two of the 5 single pole switches I did today. I also did 6 15A outlets, and their covers, plus removed a poorly set up workaround for cable that I am sure one of our shitty renters put in.

On top of the electrical, I also added insulation behind any outlets that were on outside walls. With the wind we have today, I could totally feel a breeze coming in through the electric boxes so hopefully the insulation will make things more efficient.

Next step is to replace outlets and switches in the laundry room and livingroom, along with insulating any switches or plugs on outside walls throughout the house.

Sprinkler Woes At The Bamboo Lagoon

It happened again...grrr. Guess I get to try out one of the two other end capping options I purchased recently to see if we can get things up and running again for the last few weeks we have of watering before it all needs to be turned off for the year.

I bought a siphon so I can get the water out of the valve box and see if I can figure out where it is leaking from (or if it is leaking at all). Obviously I need to have that baby dry before it starts to get too cold. I am hoping that even if I don't figure it out, when I turn off the water to the sprinkler system, it should eventually drain out and we should be good at least for the winter.

The yard does look a lot better and we are making headway in getting rid of the dandelion farm...which is a good thing. I purchased some seed, top soil and a cultivator tool so I can replant some of the spots that were killed by lack of maintenance by our old tenants. Hope this means that next year, it will be super nice!!

Enough about grass...got lots of other things to work on as usual...

Hiccup

So this morning I turned on the sprinkler system to let all three zones run (for the first time in a while), and as soon as Zone 1 turned on, the clamp at the end of the pipe blew off and water started shooting right out. I had to run out in my PJs and see where it was leaking from and then shut off Zone 1. Fortunately, I was able to still run the other two zones so the yard did get watered. I just need to make sure that end of the hose is fixed before it is run again...LOL.

Pool Work at the Bamboo Lagoon

This is the first home we have owned that has a pool. Five years of renting the house out and having to rely on inconsistent renters and somewhat lazy pool companies meant that the pool was a big project for me when finally moving to the house. As you can see from these first two pictures, the pool was covered at the end of the last season by the pool company but it wasn't done very well. They took parts off the pump and filter and "hid" them, which means it is halfway amazing that the pool is even functioning without us having to spend a small fortune to make it happen.

We were hoping that the water on top of the tarp would evaporate but no such luck. Mom and I had to unscrewed boards that were fastened to the deck on all sides of the pool, and then pull the tarp from both sides down towards one end of the pool. Foolishly we thought we were going to be able to pull the water and debris on the tarp up onto the deck and keep it all from going into the actual pool water, but reality was that there was no way, we were going to be able to pull the equivalent of a water bed up onto the deck. We did skim most of the debris off and we unfortunately didn't think of siphoning the water off until after the task was completed.

Once we got the cover off, we realized that the water beneath was in pretty reasonable condition. The pool was not filled with algae and the water was clear. It was very low so first off we had to put the hose in it to start filling it to get it to a level that would let us turn on all the equipment and see where we were on things. It took almost two days of running the hose almost non-stop to get the pool filled to the skimmer basket. I am terrified what that water bill is going to look like...LOL. Once the pool got to the right level, I went to check out the pump house and noticed water pouring out of the bottom of the pump from two different spots. I opened up the pump skimmer area and found two black screw in plugs beneath the basket and used them to close the two spots. Next, I tried turning on the system and realized that there was a cap of some sort missing from the top of the filter dome. I searched around some more in the bottom of the pumphouse and found another cap and put it on the filter dome. This reduced the water squirting out but didn't completely fix the issue (meaning there was probably a missing o-ring). I decided my best bet might be contacting a new pool company to have them come out and show me how everything is supposed to work so I didn't accidently mess something up.

Later in the week, my cousin came over and I turned the pump back on so he could see what I was talking about regarding the water squeaking out, and at this time, we discovered the leak in the solar heating system. We turned the system back off and I waited until my visit with the pool company. Joe came out and showed me how to run everything. He tested the water, found that it was pretty well balanced but obviously needed chlorine. He added 6 lbs of chlorine to the pool, gave me an o-ring for the top plug on the filter dome. We discussed vacuuming, skimming, brushing, testing and chemicals. As we were getting ready to close things down, he noticed water coming from another spot at the bottom of the filter dome. Turns out there was yet one more plug that the old pool company removed and "hid" from us that was missing. We managed to locate it and close that hole and everything seemed to be working well.

Since then, I have been running the pump as I should, testing the water, skimming, and vacuuming. The water is pretty good, while there still is a bit of debris on the bottom that I am working on getting rid of. It is a maintenance job on a weekly basis but for the most part, it has come along really well. Fixing the solar heating is next on the agenda and I am eager to see how warm the pool will be after that is done. I still have not swam in it, but that is coming up this week for sure. I am looking forward to getting the last of the debris out of it so it will be clear and clean!

Beds At The Bamboo Lagoon

Due to the fact that the house had renters in it for 5 years and then sat empty for 9 months and on top of that had a property management company that didn't do its job, it is a wonder that any plant life in the yard is alive. The sprinkler system in the front yard does not extend to the left side of the driveway and the beds in that area have been neglected for many years...

I decided a while back that the bed sitting beneath our blue spruce needed some plants in it and they needed to be plants that could handle being in the shade. I loved the hostas we had at our house in WA and thought this spot might be great for hostas and ferns.

So I purchased some homeless plants (the sad little plants I see at Home Depot that just need a good home and are usually discounted), and set about to adding a few to this bed. I know that they look a little spaced out but the hostas come back each year a bit larger than the year before so I don't want to crowd them out completely. We'll see how good they look next year when they come back.

Interior Painting At The Bamboo Lagoon

It has come to our attention that several parts of the house need to be repainted inside. The house is currently vacant and members of our family have gone over to check things out. There is some mildew on the ceiling/wall in the downstairs bathroom near the tub, the upstairs bathroom was painted kelly green by one of the renters, and the livingroom walls just need an update.



As you can see in this image from when we looked at the house originally, the livingroom has cathedral ceilings and is a sage green. We liked the sage green and wanted to stay with that, but we needed something to open it up a bit. My cousin who is a professional painter, recommended painting the ceiling white again and separating the color at the fireplace. We decided to go with an offwhite in the bathrooms like they have both been initially after treating the walls for the mildew issues.



I think it looks a lot better now, and much fresher. We'll see how it handles the next round of renters...

Broken Toilets Mean New Low Flow

So this is the second of the two toilets in the Bamboo Lagoon that needs to be replaced and once again, we are going with the low flow toilets to save some water and perhaps do a bit for our environment. What is funny is, that from the first pic you can see that the non-low flow toilet actually has a smaller tank...

We had to replace the downstairs one a while ago and now the upstairs one is ready to go. When you look at the first pic, you can see a tad of the kelly green paint that was used in one of the bathrooms without our permission and will be painted over new soon.

We are supposed to get a rebate from the city and I believe we did with the first one, but I am not sure if the second one has gone through yet. That would require my property management company to do what they are supposed to do but in the last two years, it doesn't seem they know how to do that...so we will see.