In 2010, we made a move that we had been talking about since we first got married. We packed up the house, all of the kids, and moved from the DC area to the Atlanta area.
Since 2010, we’ve definitely adjusted and grown into our home and surroundings. We’ve made new friends who will be there for life. And the area has nurtured our marriage, our children, our business and our souls.
But there are a few things no one told me about in regards to moving to Georgia. Actually, to be honest, I don’t share these things either with our friends who consider moving down, so let me begin today.
Below are three things we didn’t expect when we moved to Atlanta:
1. We didn’t expect to see the circle of life played out firsthand over and over again.
We started off battling squirrels that were in our attic for over a year. We’re constantly fighting birds that think our front door is their front door. The latest intruders are snakes we’ve encountered en masse this year. On Memorial Day we had two in the backyard, and since then we’ve seen several others.
So besides the birds, squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks we see running around our yard, we have the lizards that camp out on the walkway, driveway and back patio trying to eat bugs. We have snakes trying to eat the lizards. Then whenever the snakes die or get occasionally run over by cars, we have buzzards the size of giant turkeys who swoop down to finish them off in the middle of our street.
Like I said, it’s the circle of life for real.
2. We didn’t expect to be in a never-ending insect battle! (Hide your kids, hide your wife)
#BugLife is real in Georgia, and if you have a wife who is petrified of bugs, you’ll definitely stay busy in the south. Before moving to the south I never saw cockroaches outside walking through the grass, aka chilling, and apparently if you leave your outside lights on at night that attracts them to your home.
Over the past few years, we’ve found several scorpions in various areas of our house.
And beetles, spiders, ants and other insects are par for the course with all of the greenery surrounding our home. Actually my car is covered in small white spiders for a month or so in the summer, and last year we would find 1-2 wasps in the house each day!
The worst part is, since we really haven’t had any long-term cold temperatures during the winter other than a little snow, they never really die; they just multiply.
3. We didn’t expect that a little snow would shut the city down!
The year we moved to Georgia, I was expecting a calm winter season full of warm temps that would abolish my memories of the snow and ice I experienced in the Mid-Atlantic region. Ummmm, I was wrong.
Our first winter here, we had six inches of snow. That’s not a problem… unless the city that you’re in doesn’t have snow equipment. Six inches of untreated snow turns into a sheet of ice the next day, and without equipment to treat it, we had to wait until the streets thawed out on their own. It really was unbelievable.
What We Can Do About It
While we can’t do anything about the rampant wildlife or the weather, we can control the bug situation. I don’t play with the bugs, especially with small children in the house, so I go straight to Raid® products. (Please exercise caution when using Raid® products when children are present; always read the directions.)
Not only is Raid® offering their popular products like Raid® Ant & Roach, Raid® Ant Gel and Raid Max® Bug Barrier, but they also offer tips and information through their website RaidKillsBugs.com and Twitter handle @AskRaid.
The new Raid® Defense System helps people outsmart bugs and achieve targeted pest control. Each System provides a regimen of products and non-chemical tips that work together to ATTACK the bugs you see, CONTROL the ones you don’t, and PREVENT home-invading pests.
Visit RaidKillsBugs.com to build a customized Raid® Defense System and take advantage of the following free tools:
- System Creator™: Answer just four questions to get a customized Raid® Defense System.
- Select & Compare Products: Select products using a series of filters and compare them against a variety of attributes.
- Bug ID Tool: Answer a series of questions to properly identify the species of insect you’re dealing with and then find more information about the insect.
- How-to videos: Watch simple step-by-step instructions on how to solve the top bug problems.
- Expert Help: Search top bug questions and read through the answers, and view the insects that are receiving the most mentions on Twitter.
- Heat Map: Track bug-related web searches across the continental U.S. Observing the map reveals if there is an elevated presence of each bug in a specific area.
Get Raid® products to defend your home.
BMWK family, do you ever have to go into battle with the bugs? Do you or your spouse freak out over bugs, and someone has to come to the rescue? Did you find out anything about your city after you moved there that you wish you’d known before?
Thanks Raid® Defense System for sponsoring this post and for offering solutions, tips and tricks to our bug problems. All opinions are our own.
Cola says
We bought boric acid and raid defense…also taped up windows, doors, cracks, and cut on vent in bathroom. Sprayed outside and took door light out bc some nights we couldnt get in our own home they would bang on the door. They love water heaters and bathrooms. We aint seen a waterbug since. I will take little spiders over big flying plamento GA bugs smh.