California State Bird?

O.K., I know that the official state bird of California is really the California Quail, but I've heard it said, only half jokingly, that the real state "bird" should be the termite.

If you live anywhere in Southern California, you pretty much expect to have termite damage, but it's really shocking just how much damage these little bugs can do in a short period of time.  We recently noticed that the outside framing around one of the kitchen windows had pulled out from the wall of the house; when we investigated, we discovered that termites had been at work on it.  Those windows are less than ten years old, but the framing around one of them was riddled with termite damage.

Termites At Work

Getting that damage repaired of course led to those fatal words, "Well, as long as we're doing this, why don't we...."  (ka'ching, ka'ching, ka'ching....).  In this case, it was, "as long as we're having this trim replaced and painted, why don't we go ahead and have the rest of the exterior painted, too?"  

Anyway, when the carpenter pulled the window framing out to replace it, I was stunned to see how extensive the damage was; one whole piece of the frame was so hollow that only the paint seemed to be maintaining the shape of the frame.  

We're glad we had it done, but we know more of them are undoubtedly still at work.