It has been a busy last few weeks for our family. Here are a few of the reasons I have been neglecting this blog:
1)Jeff began some remodeling of a bedroom in our home and found termites in the process
2) Jonathan came down with his first ear infection
3) Jonathan and I took a short trip to Kentucky while Jeff worked on the bedroom and our Pest Services worked on the termite problem. We were very thankful that we already had a termite contract.
4) Jonathan and I returned home
5) We were only home for a few days before we packed up and headed to South Carolina for Aunt Sarah's graduation from nursing school.
6) The day before we left for SC, we discovered that the multiple spiders I had been finding and killing in our house the past few weeks were ALL BROWN RECLUSE!!!
7) Pest Services super treated our house the day we left for SC. We are very thankful that we already had a pest contract, as the super treatment would have otherwise been very expensive.
8) We had a wonderful trip to SC and had a blast getting to see some of Jeff's side of the family. We also got to see my brother and his family and my mom during that visit too.
9) Mini vacation was over and reality set back in as we returned home and find 60-70 dead BROWN RECLUSE spiders in our home!
10) We quickly discovered that they aren't all dead as we had been hoping, as we began finding new dead spiders caught on sticky traps each morning and found more live spiders. We started our quest to spider proof our home - no cardboard boxes in the house, no piles of anything anywhere, no dust ruffles touching the floor, no dark places, etc.
11) We became minimalist and got rid of half our belongings (seriously!) - if it didn't fit on a shelf or have a place to hang.. adios!
12) Jonathan and I stayed with wonderful friends from church for a week, during which time Pest Services super treated our home for the second time. After this treatment we found close to 20 dead BROWN RECLUSE spiders.
13) We believed our spider problem to be a problem of the past, and Jonathan and I returned home.
14) I found and killed one BROWN RECLUSE a day for 4 days in a row.
15) Jeff called and talked to the head guy of our Pest Service Company, we discovered that the guy who had been treating our BROWN RECLUSE problem had been fired, and we set an appointment later in the week for the head guy to come super treat our house for the 3rd time!
16) We decided to move into one of our rental homes that had just become vacant.
17)My mom came to help me organize my house and move us temporarily into the rental home. First thing we did is go over to clean the rental - and discovered a terrible case of fleas!!! We BOMBED the rental for fleas twice, discovered that it hadn't even touched the problem, realized we wouldn't be moving in there, decided that the carpet would be pulled up and Jeff will tile it before we rent it out again, and we stayed a few nights with awesome friends in Conway.
18) Head guy with Pest Service spent over an hour and a half treating our house. After this treatment we found a handful of dead BROWN RECLUSE and were very hopeful that the problem was gone.
19) Jonathan got his 2nd ear infection :-(
20) We were encouraged to go a few days with no new spiders.
21) Kibbie and Jonathan packed up to head to KY with her mom for a two week visit. One brown recluse spider was found and killed the night before they left.
22) While in Kentucky Kibbie is working on scheduling Jonathan's meals, naps, bedtime, etc. after their chaotic last few weeks. Kibbie is also looking forward to a reunion with some of her best girl friends from her childhood. Jeff is working hard at home on both our home and the rental, while also keeping his normal work schedule. Kibbie and Jonathan are missing Jeff, but are getting lots of good rest and getting caught up on some things that have been neglected lately (like this blog!).
23) No BROWN RECLUSE spiders have been seen at the Ogan household the past 4 days :-)
A few side notes:
We are VERY thankful for God's protection of our family during this entire process, especially in the weeks before we knew we had a Brown Recluse infestation. And also very thankful for wonderful friends and family.
We have decided we don't care much for Brown Recluse spiders :-(
We are now experts at identifying Brown Recluse. And Kibbie has a great eye for spotting them.
Our house is now super organized :-) Every drawer, shelf, box, article of clothing, paper, etc has been sorted through.
Our house has been a work in progress ever since we got married. The spider problem has helped accelerate a few things - I now have shelves and rods in all my closets thanks to my wonderful, hardworking, handyman of a husband :-) We are very close to having our second bedroom finished - which will leave only 1 more room to fix up. And I now have a dishwasher (not really related to the spider incident, but I am excited about it!). Our fireplace is currently being painted - Jeff, is doing that now and it looks awesome! The brush around our house has been cleared out. And we are also getting new carpet.
Our theory of what caused our Brown Recluse infestation. BR are common to Arkansas and feed on other insects. We believe that the BR were living under our house, feeding on the termites we discovered a few weeks ago. When we rid our home of the termites, we think the spider came up into the house because their food supply had been taken away.
Sorry, no pics in this post - a 7 and 8 month post of Jonathan, complete with pictures, will be posted soon!
1)Jeff began some remodeling of a bedroom in our home and found termites in the process
2) Jonathan came down with his first ear infection
3) Jonathan and I took a short trip to Kentucky while Jeff worked on the bedroom and our Pest Services worked on the termite problem. We were very thankful that we already had a termite contract.
4) Jonathan and I returned home
5) We were only home for a few days before we packed up and headed to South Carolina for Aunt Sarah's graduation from nursing school.
6) The day before we left for SC, we discovered that the multiple spiders I had been finding and killing in our house the past few weeks were ALL BROWN RECLUSE!!!
7) Pest Services super treated our house the day we left for SC. We are very thankful that we already had a pest contract, as the super treatment would have otherwise been very expensive.
8) We had a wonderful trip to SC and had a blast getting to see some of Jeff's side of the family. We also got to see my brother and his family and my mom during that visit too.
9) Mini vacation was over and reality set back in as we returned home and find 60-70 dead BROWN RECLUSE spiders in our home!
10) We quickly discovered that they aren't all dead as we had been hoping, as we began finding new dead spiders caught on sticky traps each morning and found more live spiders. We started our quest to spider proof our home - no cardboard boxes in the house, no piles of anything anywhere, no dust ruffles touching the floor, no dark places, etc.
11) We became minimalist and got rid of half our belongings (seriously!) - if it didn't fit on a shelf or have a place to hang.. adios!
12) Jonathan and I stayed with wonderful friends from church for a week, during which time Pest Services super treated our home for the second time. After this treatment we found close to 20 dead BROWN RECLUSE spiders.
13) We believed our spider problem to be a problem of the past, and Jonathan and I returned home.
14) I found and killed one BROWN RECLUSE a day for 4 days in a row.
15) Jeff called and talked to the head guy of our Pest Service Company, we discovered that the guy who had been treating our BROWN RECLUSE problem had been fired, and we set an appointment later in the week for the head guy to come super treat our house for the 3rd time!
16) We decided to move into one of our rental homes that had just become vacant.
17)My mom came to help me organize my house and move us temporarily into the rental home. First thing we did is go over to clean the rental - and discovered a terrible case of fleas!!! We BOMBED the rental for fleas twice, discovered that it hadn't even touched the problem, realized we wouldn't be moving in there, decided that the carpet would be pulled up and Jeff will tile it before we rent it out again, and we stayed a few nights with awesome friends in Conway.
18) Head guy with Pest Service spent over an hour and a half treating our house. After this treatment we found a handful of dead BROWN RECLUSE and were very hopeful that the problem was gone.
19) Jonathan got his 2nd ear infection :-(
20) We were encouraged to go a few days with no new spiders.
21) Kibbie and Jonathan packed up to head to KY with her mom for a two week visit. One brown recluse spider was found and killed the night before they left.
22) While in Kentucky Kibbie is working on scheduling Jonathan's meals, naps, bedtime, etc. after their chaotic last few weeks. Kibbie is also looking forward to a reunion with some of her best girl friends from her childhood. Jeff is working hard at home on both our home and the rental, while also keeping his normal work schedule. Kibbie and Jonathan are missing Jeff, but are getting lots of good rest and getting caught up on some things that have been neglected lately (like this blog!).
23) No BROWN RECLUSE spiders have been seen at the Ogan household the past 4 days :-)
A few side notes:
We are VERY thankful for God's protection of our family during this entire process, especially in the weeks before we knew we had a Brown Recluse infestation. And also very thankful for wonderful friends and family.
We have decided we don't care much for Brown Recluse spiders :-(
We are now experts at identifying Brown Recluse. And Kibbie has a great eye for spotting them.
Our house is now super organized :-) Every drawer, shelf, box, article of clothing, paper, etc has been sorted through.
Our house has been a work in progress ever since we got married. The spider problem has helped accelerate a few things - I now have shelves and rods in all my closets thanks to my wonderful, hardworking, handyman of a husband :-) We are very close to having our second bedroom finished - which will leave only 1 more room to fix up. And I now have a dishwasher (not really related to the spider incident, but I am excited about it!). Our fireplace is currently being painted - Jeff, is doing that now and it looks awesome! The brush around our house has been cleared out. And we are also getting new carpet.
Our theory of what caused our Brown Recluse infestation. BR are common to Arkansas and feed on other insects. We believe that the BR were living under our house, feeding on the termites we discovered a few weeks ago. When we rid our home of the termites, we think the spider came up into the house because their food supply had been taken away.
Sorry, no pics in this post - a 7 and 8 month post of Jonathan, complete with pictures, will be posted soon!
2 comments:
Wow! Quite a summary of what's been going on! I hope you never see a BR spider again! So thankful you all are okay!
Oh. My. Word. You get an "A" for flexibility!!! Your new pic on the blog is precious!
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