Johanna: May 2009

Thursday, May 28

Out in Full Bloom...

The schools are out...

...the summer heat is rising...

and all over town the Sno Ball stands are opening up! (practically on every corner) Yesterday at Neal Co., we all had a Sno Ball day and my Cream Soda was yum-YUMMY!

Tuesday, May 26

I HATE THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone tells me, not to worry! Everyone says this is a "traditional" New Orleans late spring/early summer occurrence! Why don't I remember this from last year? Why does this freak me out so much? Everyone keeps on telling me - my story is nothing new and I should be "lucky" I don't have a swarm flying around INSIDE my house. UGH, gross! I mean, I only see 2-5 on average a night and that's only b/c my backdoor neighbor has this bright light right outside my bedroom window and thus the little creeps seek light inside my house and somehow get in the air vents. I know this b/c I literally see them falling out of the vent above my bed, in the bathroom, etc. I have no fear in squashing these things with my bare hands, but enough is enough already. I cannot WAIT till this crazy season is OVER! Thus ends my rant...

Pests thrive in humidity

Ashley Thibodaux and her family first noticed the invading hordes of tiny, winged insects as they pulled into their driveway.
“They were everywhere. Thousands of them. Wherever there was a light, there they were,” Thibodaux said about the May 15 incident.
Because Thibodaux works as an accountant in LSU’s entomology department, she knew exactly what was swarming around her home.

Formosan termites.

Large clusters of the half-inch, amber-colored and white-winged bugs buzzed around every light outside her home and the light pouring out from the windows.
“They were on the back windows, sliding glass doors, in our carport. Wherever there was a light,” she said. “They even got in my house when we went inside.”
Thibodaux’s house, in the Perkins Village subdivision near Perkins and Picou Roads, and the trees nearby are not infested with termites, she said.
Gregg Henderson, an LSU entomologist, said May 15 happened to be the first swarm of termite season in Baton Rouge and residents can expect four or five more before the two-month season ends in July.
“The swarms usually start around Mother’s Day,” Henderson said. “I got calls May 15 about the swarm in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. And there will be a number of flights before it’s over.”
Termites — especially Formosan termites, which live in much larger colonies than dry wood or native subterranean termites — are not harmful to people (I think the little creeps bite!!!!!!), but they can wreak havoc on homes or anything made of wood, Henderson said.
Recent heavy rains could be one of the reasons the first swarm occurred May 15, he said.
“Humidity, rain, moisture, low wind — those are the times they swarm,” Henderson said.
Different colonies of termites swarm at the same time each year, from Lake Charles down to New Orleans, Henderson said.
It’s almost impossible to track exactly how and when the termites arrived in Baton Rouge, where infestations are occurring more often, Henderson said.
“Some have moved out of Lake Charles and New Orleans and have been moved here,” said Floyd Simpson, general manager of Dugas Pest Control.
“Termites are hitchhikers. They have to be brought here,” Simpson said.
Termites can be found in railroad ties, utility poles, wood structures, lumber, pallets, firewood, trees, mulch, potted plants, paper and homes.
“Someone could have moved a box of magazines they were keeping in their house … and it’s possible that’s how they got to Baton Rouge. No way to tell exactly,” Henderson said.
The annual five or so major swarms of Formosan termites are royal flights of sexual conquest and propagation of the species.
Kings and queens have four wings and fly to mate to start new colonies, Henderson said.
Worker and soldier termites don’t have wings, so they stay grounded.
A queen can lay 1,000 eggs a day and there can be millions of termites in a nest, Henderson said.
Formosan termites start colonies in the soil, require moisture and build mud tubes to access above-ground wood and bring soil in to the wood they infest, according to the LSU Agricultural Center.
The termites enter a house primarily by building soil shelter tubes to protect themselves as they migrate from the soil to a house.
Although termites can’t eat through a concrete slab, they can come up around the outside edges or enter through some other opening in the slab.
Simpson said his business gets four to five calls a day requesting termite inspections.
The cost to destroy termites and eradicate an infestation is anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars depending on the size of a house and the type of construction, Simpson said.
And the process can take some time, he said. It can take about three months to eradicate a termite infestation.

A Few of My Favorite Things...

NEW Favorite TV Show: http://tori-and-dean.oxygen.com/ Not exactly NEW, but it's a new Season! I love this show! Honestly, I never got into the whole 90210 phase, but watching the past 3 seasons of this - Tori has really grown on me. She's so down to earth and funny! Season 4 Starts tonight...

Hollywood’s hottest family is back for more! Actors and proud parents Tori Spelling and husband Dean McDermott are back balancing parenthood with the pressures of living in Tinseltown in the fourth season of their hit reality series “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.”

Creating a steady workflow in the entertainment industry is tough enough, but this season Tori and Dean try to do it all while catering to their two children and keeping their romance alive. In this season of “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood,” they juggle TV appearances, another move, a movie of the week, another book, a jewelry line…AND a pilot for their production company. Is this modern day Hollywood family up for the challenge?

NEW Favorite Movie: http://www.theyoungvictoria.co.uk/#/en/home/ I'm a sucker for History movies and this one was right up my alley. It hasn't been released in the States yet, but came out in the UK in March 2009. The movies exactly what the title portrays - the YOUNG 18 year old newly crowned Victoria, not the stuffy strict older version everyone automatically thinks of. Enjoy!

Watch it here!

(posted on our refrigerator - part 1)

NEW Favorite Website: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

Yes! That's right, passive...aggressive...notes. I love it - This site cracks me up! I'm not sure if it's b/c the notes remind me so so so much of my auction job (all pictures attached are actual notes posted all over Neal Co.) or just b/c they're so oddly crazy, but it's my new favorite bookmarked website that I check almost every morning! :)

(Posted on our 2nd floor AC unit)

(posted on our refrigerator - part 2)

(Posted on our back hall door)

(Posted by our Copy Machine) Note: It's from The Paper Company Filler-Upper Fairy

(Posted by our Kitchen sink)

Saturday, May 23

Don't we all have these?

www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Farewell to Em

It's a rare event to get this many NAC employees together for happy hour, but we all came out (including our President Neal) to wish Emily and her newly graduated Doctor husband Ryan a farewell before they move to Little Rock.

Lots of Blue Moon (the orange beer you actually put slices of oranges in) was the poison of choice. It must be a NOLA thing, b/c I haven't seen Blue Moon elsewhere, yet.

We went to the Patio Bar a few blocks from our work location on Magazine St.

Jackie shocked that Neal actually came out!

Yes, these are the faces behind the auction business!

Needless to say Jackie wasn't too happy Ryan was taking Emily away to Little Rock to continue his residence.

The night actually went pretty late, but it was good to have one last bash with Em! Bye, Girl - you will be DEARLY missed when our next auction comes up.

Wednesday, May 13

It just gets better...

...and better!

Tuesday, May 12

Breakfast of Champions Book Club

Yes! That's right, I joined a book club. I came across this ad on Craigslist a week ago called "Breakfast of Champions Book Club" - started by two girls all about reading literary classics by authors who truly belonged in AA. We're talking Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Hunter Thompson, etc. All authors of really mentally messed up books (all involving characters drinking lots of

alcohol) where we'll debate these books at super dive-y bars around New Orleans while drinking cocktails in their honor. Sounds interesting, huh? I invited my friend Amie from work since we both share the love of good books and good wine and hit the Bridge Lounge tonight at 7:30 for the first Book Club meeting. It was great! There were 10 people in all and we're all around the same ages but from all over America and with totally different jobs. We opted to meet twice a month on Tuesday nights at different hole-in-the-wall bars around town and our first book is Hemingway's very first novel, The Sun Also Rises, written in 1926.

What's the book about?

The novel explores the lives and values of the so-called "Lost Generation," chronicling the experiences of Jake Barnes and several acquaintances on their pilgrimage to Pamplona for the annual fiesta and bull fights, known more commonly as the Running of the Bulls. After serving in World War I, Jake is unable to consummate a sexual relationship with Brett Ashley because of either psychological or physical damage that leaves him impotent. However, he is still attracted to and in love with her. The story follows Jake and his various companions across France and Spain. Initially, Jake seeks peace away from Brett by taking a fishing trip to Burguete, deep within the Spanish hills, with companion Bill Gorton, another veteran of the war. The fiesta in Pamplona is the setting for the eventual meeting of all the characters, who play out their various desires and anxieties, alongside a great deal of drinking.