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Erby Crofutt, Central Kentucky Home Inspector

Poisonous Critters in the Crawl Space by Erby the Central Kentucky Home Inspector

I've been fortunate that in all the crawl spaces in all the world (that I've been into) I hadn't yet found any of those nasty poisonous critters that tend to inhabit those dark nether regions of a house.

Until TODAY that is. Inspecting a brand new (one year, never been occupied) home in a subdivisiion north of Georgetown, Kentucky.

Fortunately I saw her before she saw me.

Black Widow Spider by Erby the Central Kentucky Home Inspector

Pretty as she was, there was still an audible "pop" as gloved hands sent her to Heaven. Along with a short note in the buyer's report about treating the crawl space for spiders.

Worst I've ever ran into before (and still) was a snarling possum behind a piece of plywood in the dirt floored cellar of an older home in Georgetown, KY.

Spring is blooming in Casey County, Kentucky by Erby the Central Kentucky Home Inspector

Today I had an occassion to visit Casey County, Kentucky . The morning was a bit wet as it rained almost the whole home inspection. Lord willing, the creek won't rise and flood the house I was inspecting.

Dry Creek, Casey County Kentucky by Erby the Central Kentucky Home Inspector Dry Creek, Casey County, Kentucky by Erby the Central Kentucky Home Inspector

Strangely enough, the property was located on "Dry Creek" Road. Just didn't look very "DRY" to me.

BUT, passing back through Liberty, Kentucky, I realized the rain had stopped. The sun hadn't quite come out, but look at the signs of spring in front of the Casey County Courthouse.

Blooming going on!

Casey County Courthouse by Erby the Central Kentucky Home Insector

But the Casey Count courthouse square was a busy place. After five minutes, I gave up trying to get a shot without a moving car in it.

After seeing, this I noticed all kinds of blooming going on! Just not any good photo ops.

Rainbow at Sunrise (Sun Dogs) in Georgetown, KY by Erby, The Central Kentucky Home Inspector

The other morning, I was out on my second run of the day (yep, I'm an early riser) and noticed a rainbow at sunrise over Georgetown, Ketucky. I snapped this picture and wanted to share it with y'all. I actually took several but shooting into the sun isn't exactly my strong point.

See the rainbow ends at both sides of the sun??

Georgetown, Kentucky sunrise by Erby, the central Kenetucky Home Inspector

Yeah, there's a little snow on the ground, but it was gone just a couple of days later. That's what I like about the weather here. We get these little touches of winter, play, and then it's gone again. Not much extended cold weather around here.

Was it really that cold in Lawrenceburg?

As I returned from a home inspection in Willisburg, KY on Saturday, I saw this on the Bluegrass Parkway just south of Lawrenceburg, KY

Icy water fall in Lawrenceburg, KY by Erby the Central Kentucky Home Inspector Icy Waterfall in Lawrenceburg, KY by Erby, The Central Kentucky Home Inspector

Most of this is not water running on the surface of the ground. It's seeping out of the rock walls of a cut thru a hill leading down to the Kentucky River Bridge on the Bluegrass Parkway just south of Lawrenceburg, KY.

I see a lot of this type of ice when the weather gets cold enough.

When I woke up to let the dog out, the next morning, this is what greeted me as I opened the inside door. Yup, mother nature's artists had been at work overnight on the glass of the rear storm door. That's the sunrise shining behind it.

Mother Nature's artists at work in ice on the back storm door.  By Erby, The Central Kentucky Home Inspector

I was glad to have my long johns and insulated coveralls for the inspection. Kept me nice and warm.

AND, no it wasn't really that cold. I thought it was, until I talked to my sister in Northwest Nebraska, where the temperature was 10 below zero. It made me realize that 15 degrees above zero wasn't really all that cold.

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Well, Judith Reppert mentioned frost flowers, which piqued my curiosity. So I went and found a couple of pictures of them to share with y'all.

Frost flower in Shepherdsville, KY Frost flower in the Ozark mountains

Pretty things aren't they?

Erby Crofutt, Central Kentucky Home Inspector (B4U Close Home Inspections & Radon Testing): Inspector in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Did you play with Mercury in Grade School? by the Central Kentucky Home Inspector

I finally figured out what happened to me in grade school. It was the mercury, in the broken thermometers, that we played with.

Remember those little silver balls that would roll around, break apart and come back together. Roll them from hand to hand. Everybody thought it was pretty cool stuff back then. Did the teacher give it to us or did we break the thermometers on our own. Heck, I don't remember. I just remember how cool it was to play with the little balls of mercury.

While surfing around today, I ran into this article about a lady who had chosen to seal off her daughter's bedroom while she tries to come up with the $2000.00 an environmental company wants to charge her for cleaning up the remnants of a Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) that broke in the room.

Though the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Snopes.com (Urban Legend Reference Website) now say that was a serious over reaction and overkill.

I didn't even know that CFLs contained mercury. Now, I find we need to recycle them as hazardous waste. Are CFLs worth all the hassle. It seems we don't have a choice. Congress passed an energy bill, on December 18th, 2007, that calls for regular tungsten filament light bulbs to be banned by the year 2014.

I hope that Georgetown, Kentucky soon develops a hazardous waste recylcing center for the bulbs as this ole Home Inspector has already changed all the bulbs in the house to CFLs and those few that stopped working have been put in the regular trash.

And if you didn't click on the links above to see how to clean one up when it breaks, here's a short summary of

What the Environmental Protection Agency says you should do when a Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) breaks:

The following steps can be performed by the general public:

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

2. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag.

  • Use disposable rubber gloves, if available (i.e., do not use bare hands). Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag.
  • Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

3. Place all cleanup materials in a second sealed plastic bag.

  • Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.
  • Note: some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a local recycling center.
  • Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

4. If a fluorescent bulb breaks on a rug or carpet:

  • First, remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner, following the steps above. Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.
  • If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag or vacuum debris in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.

Dang, I guess popping those long fluorescent bulbs in the trash can is a no-no too now! Guess I should have popped them and ran from the dust cloud it created. But no, I'd just fling another one.

Erby Crofutt, Central Kentucky Home Inspector (B4U Close Home Inspections & Radon Testing): Inspector in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky