Blinds, Bargains and Bugs

We awoke to promised rain this morning, so it definitely was not a day to work outside.  We needed to stay around the house this morning because a man was coming to check the heat pump for our yearly inspection.  Last week we heard a terrible noise outside that we thought was our unit, but the inspection today showed that all systems were full and ready to function well this coming winter.  Check one more task off the list.

While Rick was dealing with the heat pump inspection, I continued to work inside on cleaning our plantation blinds.  Having the blinds on all of the windows in the house is great; we can control the light that comes in during the day, open them wide for an unobstructed view, and close them securely against prying eyes at night.  However, all of those blinds means that I have literally hundreds of slats to clean.  Many years ago, I ordered a mini-blind cleaner brush, and I prayed that I had actually brought that tool down here on one of our trips.  Thankfully, I found the brush in my cleaning closet and got to work.  (Last year I took each slat out of the blinds in our bedroom and wiped them down individually.  They were clean, but the process took hours.)  Yesterday I cleaned all four blinds in the master bedroom in about an hour's time.

The blind-cleaning brush works well to wipe
down each side of the slats.  After each window,
I turn the wool rollers one-quarter turn, cleaning
four windows each session.

The brush is designed for mini-blinds, but it easily adapts to the spacing for the larger plantation blinds.  Once the cleaning is complete for the day, I can wash the wool tubes on the tool and let them dry overnight.  Today I cleaned the blinds in both of the bathrooms.  I do not understand why (perhaps the humidity?), but the blinds in the bathrooms always tend to attract more dust than any other blinds in the house.  If I can do one room a day, I will have the house finished in another three to four days.  The Florida room actually has six windows, so that may take two days to complete.  In the end, the blinds will be clean enough to get us through the winter.

Once the heat pump inspection and today's blind cleaning were complete, we ventured out to run some errands.  A trip to the post office allowed me two mail a couple of cards, and then we went to Kohl's Department Store.

I had $35.00 worth of "Yes" points to spend, and coupons for 20% off.  I wanted to get some more towels, but the sales right now at Kohl's were not good.  Generally I can find really good sales, spend the "free" money, and get a percentage off on top of that all.  Today I did not get as much off as I would have liked, but I still managed to buy a greeting card, a three-piece set of Kuhn Rikon Swiss paring knives, and two woven placemats for fall.  The total price to us: 67 cents!  I guess I did not do such a bad job after all.

My colorful new knives are razor-sharp, and
since they were virtually free, why not?

As the rain continued outside, we scooted over to Whole Foods for some fresh pears but decided against their very pricey soup.  We had a quick lunch at home followed by a visit from Steve. We all expressed our dissatisfaction with the pest control companies that we use here in Florida.  We both are paying lots of money each quarter to see very little being done to protect our properties.  Steve noted that no one else in his neighborhood seemed to have any pest control, and we agreed that the same was true in our area.

After Steve left, as if on cue, the man from our pest control company called.  He was supposed to call us a week ago today after we arrived in town.  Ah, well, only a week late is almost prompt where this man is concerned.  He wanted to come out and to spray insecticide all around our house.  When Rick told him it was pouring rain here, he suggested that maybe he could come and sprinkle granules around the perimeter of the house.  Rick told him that he could not come while it was raining.

That was the last straw for me.  I have been thinking for over a year that the pest control salesmen were all selling the proverbial "snake oil" to us gullible northern Snowbirds. We had nothing sprayed in the house for over six months and came back to a house with less than a dozen dead bugs and nothing crawling.  I told Rick I was not going to be taken advantage of any longer and was done with this pest control company.

Are their bugs in Florida?  Yes.  Do some of them cause possible damage to a house?  Yes. Does something have to be done about them?  Yes.  However, Rick is smart enough to inspect the house twice a year for signs of termites, and companies are available right in the city that sell the exact same chemicals to consumers that pest control companies use .  (Rick also reasoned that for the $250/ year we spend on the pest control termite "insurance" we get by having them come in, we could save the money for 10 years and have more than enough to tent and to fumigate the house again, if need be.)

Our mail today came loaded with coupon books and offers.  One book had a 15% off coupon for pesticide chemicals at a do-it-yourself pest control dealer in town.  Our neighbor said that her husband has used chemicals outside that have kept their house pest-free for years.  We drove to the small shop, talked to the man inside, looked at what he recommended, and came away with a sprayer and the items we need to spray the soffits, around the windows and doors, inside the garage, and around the perimeter of the house.  I am done being ripped off by major chains of pest control companies that talk out of both sides of their mouths.  Rick can do a better job than they can, and he is smart enough not to try to spray around the house in the pouring rain!