olddog-samesame

24 hours had gone by. All was calm and peaceful. Another day went by. Not a pip. Hey, this is cool, piece of cake. But it proved to be only a false sense of security. A typical lull before the impending storm. On the third day, the termites returned with a vengeance. Overnight, the dirt tubes, tunnels, freeways and mould hills were back. The speed and urgency of their reconstruction was simply mind boggling. You can not help but admire their tenacity and determination. Regardless of my sentiments and my impartiality to ants (a childhood obsession), truce is not an option. This defiant act of provocation called for an all out WAR. A quick research reveals that the “Shock & Awe” tactic will not work. These subterranean armies will simply disappear underground and continue their guerrilla warfare. I believe Sun Tzu (Art of War) will recommend fighting the enemy from within. In pest control terminology, it is called baiting. The strategy is to bait the worker termites with poison laced...

There is no reason to hang around in the dark and stuffy storeroom. You only venture in occasionally when something needed is in there. You switch on the light, pick up the thing and shut the door. So imagine the shock when one Saturday 3-4 weeks ago, the house cleaner announced that the storeroom was infested with termites. And it was no typical infestation, where you see a small amount of droppings by the door frame or furniture. It was the mother of all invasions. The whole storeroom was literally taken over. Dirt tubes streak all across the walls like brown poison ivy. The floor was ankle deep with dirt droppings with more pouring out from drawers and shoe boxes. It was not a pretty sight at all. With the teaming colonies of creepy crawlies running riot, the place was busier than a pasar malam. We could probability hear the racket when we walk past the storeroom door had we paid any attention. The tedious task of tidying up the storeroom and throwing away the junk had been postpone...