this is my boomstick

[the_siobhan]

I called the engineer back and they haven't heard from the contractor because "he's going through a medical procedure". This was his excuse for ghosting me back in March as well. Engineer also said they will not send me any reports - will not even say for sure that the reports exist - without going through the contractor because they work for the contractor and not for me.

So now I guess I commence hassling the contractor. In the meantime I will reach out to the city inspector and find out what my options are.

I am definitely talking to a fucking lawyer.

***

'Tis the season when restaurant work starts to ramp up, and so I have to figure out what jobs absolutely need a second person and get them done while daughter still has time. (Also we are starting to get closer into not-having-windows-open season and since daughter takes zero infection precautions that is an absolute deal-breaker for having her in the house.)

I think getting the new lights hung is number one and then I have a sideboard that needs to be partially reassembled and it's way too heavy to wrangle by myself, and then that's it.

Tasks accomplished:
I now have one of those flashlight headband things.
I also found some vent covers that fit the holes in my kitchen floor so now I no longer have holes in my kitchen floor.
I emptied and cleaned six storage bins and sorted through the contents. Four have been reorganized and re-filled, but now with extra being-able-to-find-things powers. Two are empty and ready to be repurposed. The left over bags of excess Stuff will be cleaned and sorted and made to Go Away. (One large bag is the ex's old LARP clothes - and since it's a post-apocalyptic LARP they're pretty trashed so I suspect they'll be getting dropped off for recycling.)

Still To-Do List:
I have to drop my cancer test off at the lab in person because Canada Post is on strike. I'll do that tomorrow.
I'm hoping tomorrow is sunny because I'm going to open the back door for light and try to get some of the electrical boxes fixed.
Last slap of paint on the repaired plaster.
First slap of paint on the doors. (If I get to it)
Floor strips (If I get to it)

There are ants in the new kitchen. There were ants in the old kitchen, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I keep finding them in the kitchen sink though, which is... weird.

Comments

[greylock]

There were ants in the old kitchen, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

So much disruption, I would be surprised.
And you're heading into the colder months, which here means minimal ant activity.
I guess Canadian ants are different.

I keep finding them in the kitchen sink though, which is... weird.

IME, ants love digging and sweet things. I'd guess they were hunting for water, but, again, colder months.

Do you know where they are coming from?

[dissectionist]

I live where Siobhan does (but about 45 minutes north), and normally I’d agree with your assessment of “colder months means minimal ant activity”; in the past the ants show up for a bit in early spring and then leave again. But this year they showed up at my place in early spring and never left. We’ve had multiple kinds of baits out for months (since we had three different kinds of ants come in - big black ones, little black ones, and the tiny brown Pharaoh ants - which is also unusual). Nothing has changed about our own eating and cleaning habits, it’s the same as any other year, so if it was our doing, I’m not sure why this hasn’t happened in the 11 years we’ve previously been in this house.

Hearing that this is happening at Siobhan’s too makes me wonder if something is different about the ants this year. Is there something affecting the ants that’s caused them to head indoors and stay indoors in much greater numbers, and is affecting multiple species of ants?

[the_siobhan]

I had three different kinds in the old wood kitchen but now I seem to be down to just the little black ones. They came in the spring and disappeared and now they're back.

[greylock]

I'm not an ant expert, but, if I were to pretend to be one, *if* there are environmental factors (temperature, weather, climate, water table issues) it would explain it.

Some species we have (coastal browns?) have multiple queens per complex, and the hives (?) span 1km or so, if I remember.

I've only had 3-4 major incursions in my life, in different localities, and most were easy to solve, but there could be multiple reasons. It could be odd or it could be a change.

We have fire ant incursions now. Not many, but enough.

Life... finds a way.

[runcible]

ooof. I'm sorry it's come to a lawyer - even when it's the right thing to do, it's so defeating because it means there is no imminent resolution. <3 <3 <3

Fucking ants - ant logic is insane, it's often maddeningly obtuse as to what pheromone trigger has set them off. Randomly opened our basement storeroom area door once and got hit with the oddest smell... and looked down to see several thousand dead ants in the middle of the floor for no goddamned reason.

[greylock]

Oh god.
THAT SMELL.
SO MILD.
SO UNFORGETTABLE.

[kest]

In our house underneath the sink is one of the places ants come in. Pipes to the outside, aging siding, there's essentially a crack all the way under our countertops and the ants lovvvvvve it. And bits of food and water in the sink. Full on ant party. Somehow worse when the sink seems 'clean' to me. We get pretty good results by constantly putting out Terro (boric acid) poison, but they have infested the yard so they just keep coming back. When they are bad it is like, feed the cats, feed the ants, water the plants, feed the me.