White Ant invasion

We have been scrubbing the Comboyne office (and there are those of you who know how much it needed it!!)  We have given away the fridge, toaster and microwave and packed up all the paraphernalia belonging to Ged’s brother and his business and are almost free and unfettered . . . we have exchanged on the sale of Ged’s 400 acre block and are now just awaiting settlement so it’s a good feeling for us both to be clearing out the detritus of his bachelor life and more fully embracing the life we have chosen together.  Needless to say, I won’t let him keep much!!

Meanwhile, down on the farm, we have discovered where the white ants went after we ejected them from my side of the shed where they were gnawing on the wooden mattress supports for one of my beds.  No, they haven’t gone up into the bush where there are thousands of felled trees they could nibble on to their little hearts’ content, they migrated instead to Ged’s shed and set up camp in the beautiful Tasmanian Oak flooring we had set aside for the office . . . they were obviously pretty bloody hungry, because there isn’t much left!
So Ged has been burning the equivalent of money as he sorts through the mess and I have been on the internet searching out sure-fire death to these pestilent perpetrators of wholesale wood massacre.  They’ve got 400 acres of wood out there – what’s so bloody tasty about my furniture???!!
Poor Shirley and Marcel have recently discovered White Ant in their Guest Annexe so both Marcel and I have been investigating options.  He is Sherlock Holmes, I am Watson.  He has gone down the pest man route, to the detriment of his bank balance.  We are still looking for solutions which go back to the nest and kill the queen, because we need an on-going long-term solution.
We are avidly watching the second series of The West Wing on DVD (which Neil and Jane lent us) and I am simultaneously reading ‘A Woman In Charge’ – Carl Bernstein’s balanced portrayal of Hillary Clinton.  Since The West Wing is based on the Clinton era I found factual events and actions on which the plots were based as I read on.  I found the book absolutely fascinating.  Highly recommended to anyone who lived through, and wondered about, the Clinton history, marriage, Whitewater and all those women . . . I’m not sure whether to be sad or relieved that she’s been sidelined by Obama.  The feminist in me wants a woman in the White House very badly.  But Hillary – I’m not so sure.
I am loving being at home more, revelling in the beauty of this idyllic spot, and most definitely nesting . . .
Return of the platypus . . .