Central Ohio Real Estate Market News

Aside from the joys of owning your own home, there is the responsibility to continue to maintain it. Sometimes it seems we are in a war with critters who choose to make OUR home THEIR home.

Now, I’m not an entomologist, as I tend to categorize all insects into the “BUG” category, but I’m thinking BUGS are beginning to take over the world. I know that they outnumber humans in population. Normally I have a “live and let live” attitude and prefer to not use insecticides, but I’m rethinking that.

I suspect that the billions of bugs are laughing at us unsuspecting humans as they do their work in secret without us realizing it until the damage is done.

Yesterday I was cleaning up my yard, getting it ready for the winter, when I noticed that several rails of my split-rail fence have been ruined by what I believe is the powderpost beetle. As I said, I’m not an entomologist but I had to replace a rail a couple years ago, and the fence guy said that’s what it looked like. Well, this year I have about 6-7 rails that are toast. These beetles eat the wood from the inside until the outside finally collapses.

Since I have 225 ft of fencing with 3 rails between the posts, this can get to be expensive.

Let it be known that I’ve now declared war on these beetles. It’s too late this year to do anything, but they need to find someone else’s fence to destroy next year or THEY will be toast instead of my fence rails.

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