When I was little, one of my Grandfather’s nicknames for me was “Katydid”, after the long-horned grasshoppers or crickets (in the family Tettigoniidae). Last week, I noticed a bright green insect half as long as my finger wandering around on the top of our laundry room door here in Willow Glen (San Jose, California). The katydid seemed as interested in me as I was in her…
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Images Copyright 2010 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under News & Reviews
Sometimes I take photos to document events. Other images are simply interesting or pretty…
Oil Drops, Katy |
Oil Drop Rainbows on Pavement |
Lichen on Wood, Ivy |
Eucalyptus leaf |
Eucalyptus leaves |
Small Jerusalem Cricket |
Geraniums, Yucca |
John and Ruby, Andy’s Pet Shop |
Ruby the Macaw |
Images Copyright 2010, Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under News & Reviews
Living on the Guadalupe River in San Jose, California, we often see raccoons, opossums, Jerusalem crickets, squirrels, black snakes, toads, mallard ducks, Canada geese, plus song birds and hawks of all sizes.
This week, our neighbor Jamie called John to come see something interesting on the street. John took pictures of an odd very long and thin pinkish-tan worm, about 1-1/2 feet in length (45 cm). It was very lively – wriggling all over the rain-wet pavement. I saw something like it several years ago at night when it was too dark for detail. We are still trying to figure out what it is.
Suggestions?
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Images Copyright 2010 John Plocher
Filed under News & Reviews
My husband John Plocher has finished the roof of our former-garage turned model-train-room-and-workshop. He has been working on this project to rebuild what the termites ate, between job interviews and his obligations as a member of the OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB). Our neighbor Felix Quintero is a professional roofer, so John worked with Felix on the roofing.
This week all projects are on hold while John and the OGB attend CommunityOne, meetings associated with Sun’s huge JavaOne conference in San Francisco.
JavaOne Billboard on Highway 101 in Silicon Valley
| roof work in progress
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new roof and cupola
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Felix Quintero
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Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family
The continuing saga of a garage repair… (taking up the story from the 6 May update). My husband John Plocher is making progress on replacing the formerly-termite-infested walls and roof of our garage-turned-model-train-room-and-workshop. The most visible progress
is on the cupola he designed to let in light and air. Next steps are siding, roofing, and paint.
| cupola side wall on the ground
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first cupola wall on roof
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John with cupola walls
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| John, roof framed and windows in
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John on roof with cupola
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cupola roof covered
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Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family
On 5 August 2008, I wrote about the termites we found in our 1930 home in San Jose, CA. We had the termites killed last summer but the insects had done major damage to one end of our garage. (Well, it used to be a garage but has long been home to John’s HO-scale model train layout and workshop.) Termites prefer to infest where the morning sun first shines: the worst damage was on the eastern face of the garage, next to the river wall.
In between looking for work, my husband, John Plocher, has been ripping out the damaged areas and rebuilding the two walls and roof. In addition to being a experienced Software Architect and Engineer, John is a capable electrician and carpenter (as well as being an apprentice welder).
Most of the demolition happened last autumn but work stopped when it started to rain. The construction area was covered by a huge blue tarp all winter. Now that the year’s rain is mostly done, repair construction is progressing well. We are taking design inspiration from many sources (including the old Stanford barn in creating a roof cupola for air and light, instead of a simple skylight).
Here are some photos of the project so far:
| termites hollowed out a wood beam
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ripping out damage
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Paul & John save eagle doorknocker
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| more termite damage
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new wall under blue tarp
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new roof frame
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| Stanford barn cupolas
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John’s cupola plans
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looking through cupola-to-be
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Images Copyright 2008-2009 Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family
Some months ago, I saw some black stuff on the white lid of my washing machine. I brushed it off but it was back the next day. Eventually, I looked up and saw a little hole in the ceiling. A piece of clear tape looped under the hole soon filled up with black and brown granules. Termite crud!
We had two inspections – by Terminix and Killroy Pest Control (Campbell, CA), resulting in two reports and different recommendations. The Terminix inspector recommended a full-house tenting “just in case”. The Killroy inspector recommended spot treatment because he found just the one infestation. We went with the spot treatment which was much less expensive (and we didn’t have to move out with plants and pets for several days).
Unfortunately, soon after the treatment, I lifted an ornament on the windowsill in the same laundry area and saw under it another little heap of termite crud. I pushed the crud heap away from its center and saw a tiny hole. A new crud pile heaped up above the hole over night. The Killroy inspector was out again this morning and we will have another spot treatment soon.
It is interesting that we had the deck above the laundry room treated for termites about 6 years ago. (We replaced the deck with Trex, so no more problems there.) The Killroy inspector said that termites prefer to infest where the morning sun first shines and, indeed, the laundry room is on the eastern face of our house here in San Jose, California.
Image Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under News & Reviews
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