It’s Cottage Week!

For us, I mean. Even though we basically live in a cottage anyway, we still look forward to going away to another. Since pest control is SO seasonal – except for mice and bedbugs – we don’t really get ALL that much time to enjoy it. And going away is better because we don’t go alone. 

My girls will come up for a visit – not a long one because they work too much, and Ross’s daughter and her family come too. Lots of fishing, losing at euchre, and this year, a new baby!!!

Pappy and Noah

So ….if you’re looking for help with whatever is irking you, we’re sorry, but we’re away. The good news is that it’s only a week – we’ll be back on the 24th and Ross will be totally ready to take care of your pest problems whatever they are. 

If you need advise or want to book an appointment for as soon as we’re back, please do feel free to email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com – I’m sure I’ll have to let others have a turn at holding Noah once in awhile. 

 

Spring!

So happy to look out my window and see water again! So much prettier than ice.

All kinds of ducks around, plus a few swans; geese haven’t shown up yet – so it’s about perfect.

Ross has started gearing up for another season – ordered his products, cleaned my junk out of his car, all that fun stuff.

I’m still doing the computer and phone thing for him, as much as I can – but I’m also working a few days a week at a group home in Orillia. Really do need to figure out how to update my phone message so I can be a ~little~ more informative… but email IS going to be the best way to reach us to schedule your exterior spray, carpenter ant treatment, and/or any other pest control you need.

You can reach us by phone at 705-534-7863, or email us at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com.

Hope to hear from you soon 🙂

Lauralee

 

We were back – but now guess what?!

Got it in one – we are taking off again.

Well, assuming we can get everything done that needs doing 🙂  Got some bedbugs that must die, rats that need a new home, and on and on it goes.

Bedbugs seem to be picking up this month- let’s hope THAT is a short-lived aberration! Nobody wants bedbugs! Ever! We’ve also had our very first ever case of termites! Hundreds & hundreds of carpenter ants over the past few years – but not one termite to be seen. Until this week. Also not a positive development! Interesting that the one and only case we’ve seen is in Tiny – that’s where the carpenter ants seemed to start from, also!

But not to worry – Ross just ~loves~ to help people solve their pest problems, whether they are common or rare. For quickest response over the next week or so, email is your best bet …my dog sitter is great, but he isn’t up for doing the phone thing, so I’ll have to call home to get messages. Which I will do my best to do – but if you CAN email, please do!

Or if you prefer, you can always use the chat function on our Facebook page – that works too 🙂 And as an added bonus, you can like our page while you’re there because, you know, it will not do to have my kid’s Facebook page getting more likes than ours just cuz her pictures are ever so much cuter than ours.

Oh, one last thing – if you happen to be over in the Kawarthas/Peterborough area, we no longer cover that region. Not sure why we’ve all of a sudden started turning up in your search results but we sold our Peterborough property several years ago and I haven’t included any of those place names in my tags in forever!

Yep, we’re back :)


Wouldn’t know it though, given how slow I’ve been responding to calls and stuff this weekend. My apologies!! But one day old baby beats carpenter ants any day of the week!

My nephew had his first, so no sooner got back from Havelock than I was in the car again to go meet him. In Oakville. Yes, on a Friday. So yes, again Ross got to shake his head at me 🙂  He tries to avoid putting himself into Friday night cottage traffic. Me, not so much! If I want to go meet my kids at the zoo, or go hold a new baby, or …whatever, off I go. Even if that means I’ll have to drive back up with all the rest of you that are trying to escape the city.

Thinking my next car will need to be an automatic though! Traffic jams and standards suck!

Anyway, we’re home now, and I’m ready to fill up the few remaining spots in his calendar for this week, so if you’ve got carpenter ants or spiders or mice or whatever, feel free to give us a call at 705-534-7863, or email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com.

Or you can use the quote form above BUT please do be advised that I’m hearing that my responses are getting caught in people’s spam filters lately! I DO reply to each and every quote form, usually within an hour of receiving it – so if you haven’t seen my response, maybe search to see if it got filtered!

Carpenter ants!

Carpenter antsMy goodness, have we ever become inundated with carpenter ants. We are getting SO many calls from throughout Tay and Tiny Townships. They started early this year, and so many of them, we’ve been having a hard time keeping enough product in stock to treat them.

Could be worse though – from what I’ve been reading, some areas are starting to see increasing numbers of termites. We have never had a single call for those – and would rather like to keep it that way!  While both carpenter ants and termites can do a great deal of damage to a home or cottage, termites tend to do it faster – we can do without that!

Just because they’re slower, doesn’t mean you should ignore carpenter ants though! In addition to the structural damage they can do, and the very annoying noise they can make if you leave them untreated long enough, you just might find your cottage poked full of holes. Woodpeckers just love carpenter ants – and they can and will do a lot of

Woodpeckers are ~cute~ …sometimes!

damage very quickly once they discover them.

And of course, just like most everything else, it’s usually easier – and cheaper – to solve problems when they’re small. Do you suspect you have carpenter ants? Ross will be happy to help you with those – before the woodpeckers show up 🙂

Give us a call at 705-534-7863, or email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com. Or you can click on the quote form up there and get a guesstimate that way, too.

Have a great day!

Lauralee

 

Maybe I’m working him too hard?

Or maybe I just need to buy him a whole case of hats?

Poor Ross!  I’ve been keeping him hopping lately. He did get a day off – well, sort of off. He got to stay home and work on getting the dock in this weekend – does that count? I think he’d probably say no, but hey, we had helpers! And beer! And food! So that counts, right?

And the dock is – mostly – in; just a few floating bits to more into place and secure. He’ll soon be able to start fishing off the end of it. When he gets home. After lots of long days spent driving all over cottage country 🙂

Have been able to do a lot better scheduling than in some previous years, though. Today, for example, he was in Tiny. All over Tiny, but hey – at least all in that one general area. Tomorrow, weather permitting, he’ll be heading up to Gravenhurst area, I hope. And in between times, got lots of Tay Township, Midland & Penetanguishene area calls to get done.

Sure miss his helper though! He needs one to keep track of his hat(s), if nothing else!

Anyway, even though we’re crazy busy right now, I’m always happy to add more to his calendar – give us a call at 705-534-7863, or email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com.

And we’re off…. and running, that is

I finished work Friday – well, aside from dealing with ~I don’t like my mark~ emails!

It’s like y’all knew that – today has been hopping with lots of little-critter issues – and even better (depending on one’s perspective), the rest of the week is starting to fill up as well. Works for me – got lots of Judge Judy episodes to catch up on! Joking – I have plenty of other things to keep me busy in between your phone calls and emails.

Got pests? As long as they’re not the ones you brought into the world, give us a call and I’ll be happy to send Ross over to fix them for you: 705-534-7863. Or you can email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com, or use the handy-dandy quote form up there…whatever works.

Apparently a full day’s work means ~someone~ is hungry enough to start cooking his own dinner …. guess I’d best get moving.

New & somewhat improved quote form

Made a couple of changes to the Quote form for your…well, no, really… my convenience. Added a spot for an explanation of when people choose “Other” and also made providing an email address required.

If by chance it was you that asked for a quote re: an 800 sq ft (water access) cottage recently and never got a reply, that would be why! No email address means I have no way to contact you.  Please do try again!

And thanks for motivating me to finally stop thinking darn, I need to fix that “Other” thing (which I’ve been doing for WAY too long) and getting me to actually get ‘er done.

In other news, we’ve had a very, very busy few days and even though I THINK I have everything sorted out now, I definitely couldn’t swear to it. If you are waiting for something from me, please do feel free to remind me!

You can always reach us by phone at 705-534-7863, or email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com .

 

Raccoons vs fishing

ross bass2Well, we thought we might get out in the boat to go fishing today – and we might yet … but first, Ross is running around dealing with raccoons in places they don’t belong. Lots of raccoons, chipmunks and squirrels this season. And bats seem to be starting to make a comeback too… which is a very good thing, actually.

In any case, no fishing for now – he’s got raccoons in Port McNicoll, Brechin, and Gravenhurst – so suppose I might as well head out for a kayak and we’ll try again later… or tomorrow… or whenever 🙂

Joys of living & working in cottage country – such a short season that we have to do the work when it presents itself and fit our own cottage adventures in wherever we can.

But we don’t mind…we know that we are truly blessed to be here all the time…so we’re happy to help you enjoy your visits by solving your pest problems quickly with a minimum of fuss while you’re here.

Give us a call at 705-534-7863 or email us at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com and Ross will be happy to help you with your pests.

 

HELP! Banquet Happening In My Garage … & I’m Not Invited! Raccoon!

They're only adorable in cartoons!!

They’re only adorable in cartoons!!

Don’t you wish raccoons were the adorable cute and cuddly creatures you see in cartoons like in Disney’s “Pocahontas”? But yeah, nope. There’s a reason they are classified as pests. And this is true even if you live in Victoria Harbour, where nature is abundant.

When you actually get close up to them (not that you ever should), they can actually be quite vicious and bold, surprisingly. Never mind the diseases that they carry.

One of the first signs that you need help because you have a raccoon problem is that you might notice that there is damage to the actual structure of your house (like around the attic). This is caused by the raccoon trying to dig its way into your house. Seriously!

Basically, their main goal is to get to your trash cans, and feast on what you consider to be garbage… anything from leftover food, to eggs, old pet-food…you name it.

And when you walk into your garage the next morning, and find things overturned with garbage strewn everywhere… chances are there was a secret raccoon party the night before (rather than a garbage-specific burglar).      alg-resize-raccoon-jpg

One of the things you can do to make the situation a little better is use garbage cans made of hard plastic and/or metal. You should make sure they have tight-fitting lids, straps or clamps to keep them shut. You should also tie them to a support or in some kind of a rack structure, so that they can’t be tipped over.

Raccoons also tend to like chimneys, which of course ALSO means they can fall right through them and …dum dum DUM… into your house. NOT a likely pleasant experience.

Instead of having to go out and buy all sorts of expensive contraptions to keep them from getting into your chimneys, or having to consider trying to kill them (which really can’t be pleasant, especially if you have kids or grandchildren who could be around), or coming into direct contact with them (they CAN be pretty snarly and vicious), your best bet is to get help from Cottage Country Pest-Control. Just give us a call, and have Ross come around, or call to get a quote!

Cottage Country Pest Control uses humane methods (trapping and relocating), and does all the dirty work for you, so that you can throw your garbage out at night, then go to bed without wondering if there is a banquet happening in your garage!

So, give us a call at 705.534.7863 or email us at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com. Or you can Get a Quote.

– Ammario R.