PB225747

PB225747
Originally uploaded by Andy Murdock

Fun in the sun Jamaica style

Black Widows

Black Widows, the fall days are great for getting the last little bit of yard work done.  Just watch where you put your hands.

Bedbugs

I picked a topic and will keep saying short blurbits about it until some group of people find out that bedbugs are real.  I have been asked a million of the same five questions over the past few months.

Here goes
 How do I get bedbugs?  I answer go where bedbugs live and bring one home.
How do I get rid of bedbugs?  Remove them from where you are.
Where do they come from?  Somewhere out there.
I am not a dirty person, why do I have bedbugs?  Well I give them a blank stare, walk over last years pile of laundry and then answer, dirty or cluttered what is the differnce.  You have bedbugs and you need to clean every item of clothing and place them in garbage bags...

Bedbugs in the news

Bedbugs the hottest topic in bugs.  Yes they are real and yes I as a Pest Control Technician has seen an increase in them.  I have been ready a lot about the how and best practices on how to prevent and rid your life of bedbugs.

The best way to get rid of bedbugs is to not get them in the first place.  Keeping bedbugs out of ones stuff is easier than one might think.  First beware of your surrounding.  Think about where you go everyday and what you do.

Are you a traveler.  Then there are some basic things that you need to keep in mind when traveling.

I will post these later, when I have completed my list.  Keep checking back and I will have an update.

Bedbugs

P9163941
Originally uploaded by Andy Murdock

Here is a recent photo of an infestation of bedbugs. Notice all stages of growth are in this picture.

PA164597cropped

PA164597cropped
Originally uploaded by Andy Murdock

First down run.

Bed bugs everywhere

What should one do.  I think there is as much information on bedbugs as the bedbugs themselves.  One site says to this and other says do the opposite.  What is one to do. 
First Don't panic.
2nd Don't panic.

I will keep trying to post what I think are the best options and ways to minimize the risk of bedbugs but until then.  Just wait.  Please comment if you have questions, that may be the best way to get this conversation started.

Bedbugs

Thinking about bedbugs and how to deal with them.  There are so many different ways.  Keep checking back and soon I will have a great way to deal with bedbugs.

P9163931

P9163931
Originally uploaded by Andy Murdock

A Face only a photographer could love. I found this Praying Mantis at a customers house and had to share a picture of it with the world.

P9053788 cropped

P9053788 cropped
Originally uploaded by Andy Murdock

On top of the world in Colorado. So much to see in our wonderful State. Fall colors are on their way. Hope I can take a day and go for a drive in the mountains to see the wonder gold colors in the hills.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Driving Ideas

Our economy is in bad shape.  Here is how I fix it.  First every kid you see selling lemonade on the street corner.  Buy from him.  Every road side stand selling produce, buy from them.  Every store selling locally made products buy from them.  Go to the flea market.  Go "Loco"l on foreign trade.  If it is a daily consumable that is not made here don't buy it.  So what if that tee-shirt costs 50 cents more, than the made in Viet China Honduras one.  Buy Made in South Carolina.  If we all just bought American, we as individuals can bring America back.

Snakes

Snakes seem to be everywhere this summer.  I have relocated a record number of bull(gopher) snakes to my backyard this summer.  Most have been little fellas not more than a foot long, but the other day, I relocated a bull snake that was over 6 feet long and thick.  This was the first time a snake wrapped its body around my forearm and made my hand go numb.  Well off for now on other daily adventures.  Some ants and spiders in my future.

Busy as a bee, and have not updated in a long while

I have been very busy and the world apparently does not revolve around blogging.  I am glad I only have a few followers or else they would be very dissappointed in me.  Well hopefully sooner than later I will continue but for now it is off to bed.  Morning comes early around here.

San Diego Day One

San Diego Morning up and ready for breakfast and then Sea World, wonder what the boys will think.  WE have plenty of cameras for our little journey.

Spring at the CPCA

It is interesting that the busier you are the more people want from you.  I fulfilled my 2nd term on the CPCA board.  It was a fun 6 years, but as they say all things must end.  I am sure I will return but for now, the direction on our fine organization is in other peoples hands.  It is interesting how in just a few short years, how much new regulation has been placed upon our industry.  I would like to place the blame on this administration or that but in the end it is our fault.  Our group has a harder sell than some of the feelgood groups who can use emotion to sway opinion, rather than fact.  We are loosing the ability to be indiviuals and being forced into the community collective.  As a pest control operator it is my goal to do things correctly so that others do not get hurt and are able to live a healthier life.

Snow Delay Days

I call them the two hours of catch up.  After a long weekend of sub freezing snow at the annual scout winter campout, I get a two hour reprieve from getting the boys ready for school and hurrying off to work myself.  Well really one hour.  I still have to be at my first job on time.  Trying to get ready for spring in a blizzard is a tough sale.  Everybody wants to wait until the weather is better, but then I get so booked up that nobody is happy and I am tired.  So I go forth into this cold winter wonderland called slush in the streets and snow on the yard.  Onwards and upwards.

A Valentines Day to Remember

I fixed something and it worked.  It just took a trip into town before I realized it was working.  I changed out an Ice maker today.

Somedays the harder I work the more I see.  It is interesting when you treat an apartment directly accross from the Community Health care Building and Pharmacy.  I think we need to really think about our healthcare system.  I am not seeing healthcare go out of business, I am seeing starting to see that healthcare is not a personal responsiblilty anymore.  I think that is one of the fundamental changes we have to make a society.  I am beginning to think that for us to survive and grow as a nation, we need tough love.  It is time to let people take responsiblity for the little things.  Basic care.  Stop the school lunch programs.  I am tired of seeing as the politicains put it starving kids.  I think they maybe hungry but they are overweight.  So my question is:  How do we have Starving, Obese Kids? and Why are mainly childeren of Assistance overweight?

Snowy days

Snowy days help me bond with my customers.  First, I have to come back and finish what I started.  The snow prevents me sometimes from treating the outside properly, and in turn that gives me extra time to talk with the customer.

A

Superbowl Sunday

Normally Superbowl Sunday is a day where I look at next week and relfect.  February is usually a very slow month by comparison to the rest of the year.  It started the same as every February, not a lot of phone calls, everyone just waiting.  This February seems to be different, not sure why, but why question it.  Mice have waited a little longer to make their appearance, but they have showed up in force.  The b\Bessemer area seems to have been hit hard.  Unfortunately this in one of the areas in the Pueblo area that can least afford standardized pest control.  The difficulty for a small pest control company is how to do the right thing and still pay the bills.  You feel sorry for these people in some regards, but in others you realize that they have created their own squaller.  Some comments really hit you hard.  Statements like, "I have been cleaning the kitchen all week", and yet I see three week old pizza boxes on the floor shoved in a cabinet...I just don't get the disconect.

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10 minutes before work

Reviewing my work day.  They say bugs are not as much of a pest in the winter.  In some cases that is true, but in others it is totally the opposite.  I seem to have to deal with German roaches in the winter quite a bit, mice are way more numerous.  Some other pests that occur in the winter in fairly large numbers are bed bugs.  As a small company I do not deal with lots of bed bugs, just because I have to be very selective on the bed bug jobs I do.  They can be very time consuming and many times need a second hand to help.
I do what I can.  Bed bugs are best when you take care not to get them.

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Udating my blog

Since I am still my only follower, I keep thinking should I monetize my own blog and sell adclicks to myself.  Maybe I could make maybe a penny a century.  A better interest rate than we are getting with our money in banks today.  I will keep talking to myself until somebody listens.

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Consumerism

Comparison shopping for a Pest management professional.

How much service are you getting when you hire a pest control company.  Some of the large companies are publicly traded, some regional companies are investor owned.  Most local companies are small operations that are concerned with their product and image in the community.  What do you want.  The local guy who supports the middle school basketball team or the National chain that supports it stockholders.  It is up to you the consumer.

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Mouse season

It must be January, mice are starting to make their rounds.  It always astounds me when people say I spent all day cleaning the kitchen(Yesterday) and there are pizza boxes sitting on the stove top from Jan 15th.  Hmm.  I guess some people think cleaning the kitchen means they took the paper plates from the living room coffee table and putting them in the sink, and soaking them with the dripping faucet.  You ask them to vaccuum the areas behind the stove and fridge and they give you a blank start.  Almost as if asking, what is a vaccuum? yet they have two in the corner of the kitchen making sure their coats don't fall on the floor.

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Pest Control

Service in the winter.  Many people try and postpone their winter Pest Control Service.  If they don't see bugs that is why they postpone.  But a a regular service customer.  The reason they are not seeing critters is because we are planning ahead and treating for what is to come, not what is already there.

During the past few days, one has to wonder what is going on.  Americans still don't seem to be getting it.  Where is personal responsibility.  Who job is it to make sure I am safe, healthy and happy.  Ask your coworker, who should pay for healthcare.  Who should pay to keep your family safe.  Who do you trust when a burgler is pounding at your door at 2 in the morning.  America needs to return to it frugality and live life, simply.  Businesses will change to suit our needs.  If they go bankrupt so what, they became expendable.

2010

What does 2010 bring...more ups and downs.  If as individuals we could get ahold of ourselves, stop looking outward and look inward.  I think we can help ourselves.  I read in the news that budgets are wilting everywhere except where we expect.  A bloated government is going to make our lives more difficult.

How does one end Social Security.  I feel that it is my responsibility to start a movement.  First I must organize myself to get financial security, then my family.  After that then it is my job to teach others.  My first goal is to teach the Franklin Principle of Compounding Interest.

Washington DC

Go to Washington DC, ignore the crowds, ignore the high cafeteria prices, just focus on America and the great City. Pay attention, it lets one know what our founders thought, it lets us know how far we have strayed from our roots. Listen to the town and it will tell you which is the correct path. We need to find the path and follow it to where we should be, not where we are now headed.