Man Burns Down House Trying To Get Rid Of Bees!

I'm having this trouble with bees crawling around a certain bedroom window. I can't figure out how they are getting in! The window in this bedroom has a window air conditioner in it and I'm guessing that they are getting in through the (small!) open spaces around it.

While I was looking online for some information that would help me get rid of them I found this article about a man who accidently burnt his house down while trying to get rid of them. I also found some very interesting links relating to other people and how they are having the same kind of trouble - some even more worse than me!

• How To Get Rid Of Wasps (which I think is what they are)
  

• Google Search - How Do Bees Get In The House
  

• Why Do Wasps Like Me?
  

• FAQ
  

• How To Get Bees Out Of House

10/15/07 Update - Well I found out that the bees seem to be getting inside the window between the top and bottom window panes (is that the right word?). You see there is an air conditioner in that window which means that the bottom window had to be pushed up in order to get the air conditioner in the window. Now the bees seem to be coming in between the top window and bottom window. Now there is some insulation foam in the window but it seems that the bees are pushing through it. It looks like the insulation foam has deteriorated some and the bees are getting in through it. I put some more foam-like material to close the gap and now I have to see how well that works.

Update - Saturday, October 27, 2007 - Well it looks like they are getting in some other kind of way via that area. I had a chance to do some observing and it kind of looks like they are coming from the bottom of the radiator area (the radiator that sits under the window). I could have sworn that I heard them "pushing" through something but that could just be my over-active imagination. I know not to shine a flashlight in the area because I read online that that isn't good. So I still have to wait and see where they are coming from and the sooner the better!

Pilot Light? - Dilema!

Okay so its finally getting colder after days of high humidity and heat. As a matter of fact its quite breezy outside which makes it feel even colder!

So that means its time for the inside of the house to get warmer.

I kind of thought that the colder temperature inside the house would make the heater (actually its called a boiler) come on automatically - but it didn't. So I go through my its-starting-to-get-cold routine that has to be gone through at the start of fall each year by "bleeding" the radiators. I hear the water circulating in the radiators and thought that everything was ok. So I turn up the thermostat to a higher temperature (around 75 degrees) thinking that it would warm the house up sooner - it didn't! So now I'm wondering what's wrong. I know it can't be the condition of the boiler because its only a year (if that) old. So I call the company that installed it and the guy on the phone says that it sounds as if the pilot light is out. Ok, I know WHAT a pilot light is but that is about it.

So he tells me that it should be a simple fix and that all I really have to do is light the pilot light and that the instructions for doing so should be there on the boiler itself (it is). Fear comes over me! I don't know what to do! So I go into the basement and find the instructions that are on the boiler. Now first of all there is a piece of the boiler that is partially blocking the instructions which makes it hard to read them and the "piece" is not removable! So one of the first things that I see in the instructions is that the controls should be visible but if they are not then the control panel should be removed - the what? I took a piece off but what was inside didn't look like the picture on the instructions. Plus there is this warning that if the instructions are followed exactly then serious harm could result! So now I have pictures in my mind of me blowing up the house (along with myself included).

Since I don't know what to do I have to wait until the company sends somebody out. They charge $69 for that but I'm hoping since I got the boiler with a grant that they will look at it and not charge me. I just don't want to do anything wrong (or explosive - if you catch my meaning)

Just in case you're curious, this is a picture of what my boiler looks like. Small isn't it? But last winter it kept my house toasty warm! The brand name is Peerless. It seems that my old boiler was so old that the company had went out of business a long time ago!

Strange Noise?

Ever hear a strange noise in your home?

So its like 2 o'clock in the morning and I'm typing away at my computer and I hear this strange noise! It kind of sounds like a wounded animal! Now I've been having trouble with bees finding their way into the house and I thought maybe that was it. Then it could also be squirrels because they have run rampant in my attack. But this noise sounded so close and it just happened intermittently and it wasn't a continuous sound. Everytime I got up to investigate the noise would stop. Then when I settled down the strange noise would start up again.

I managed to get up and follow the noise. It was in the bedroom across the hall. Now I still have the box that my computer came in on the floor by the front of this room and I thought that maybe something crawled inside of there. I could still hear the noise so I kicked the box and nothing happened. But now that I was in the room the sound was quite close (and quite scary!)

It turns out that the noise was a short in the answering maching that caused one of the lights to flicker! Shew! What a relief! Almost sounded like the house was haunted! (And it being so close to Halloween too!)

There have been other "noises" as well but this was the most recent and the most scary!