- Hurricane season is just around the corner, and the best time to prepare is now. State Farm agent Brittnee Barnes joins us to break down exactly what you need to know to be "insurance ready." From understanding your coverage limits to the crucial timing of policy updates, Brittnee provides a roadmap to ensure your biggest investment is protected before the first storm clouds gather.
- And as we spend more time outdoors, we aren't the only ones waking up—the mosquitoes are, too. Dr. Bart Foster from Jefferson County Mosquito Control stops by to discuss the county’s proactive efforts to manage the mosquito population. Learn about the science, the schedule, and what you can do at home to help take the sting out of your time outside this season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everyone, Welcome to the Dana Simmons Show. We're so
excited that you're here with us on this Saturday. I
have some great guests with me today. I have Britney
Barnes and she is with State Farm Insurance. We're going
to be talking things hurricane you know, hurricane season. We
deal with it every year, but there's always something to learn,
so we're going to talk a little bit about that.
(00:21):
Also have doctor Bart Foster and he is with the
Jefferson County Mosquito Control and Wow, I'm going to tell
you they're amazing. I have utilized them so many times
and you may not know that you can call them
and the ways that you can utilize them as well.
So we're going to talk a little bit about that
in our next segment. But before we do that, I
want to give you a little update on what is
(00:42):
the market doing. You know, in Southeast Texas, we have
seen some challenging years in real estate. The last two
years have been hard. Our months of inventory has been
a little higher. While we've had a really good inventory,
the challenges the number of buyers have been fewer. So
what we are seeing though is a pickup. We are
(01:03):
very thankful that things are improving and we are now
seeing buyers start to get into the market and houses
are beginning to sell. The good thing is also we
still have a great inventory. So if you're thinking about
buying or selling, we'd love for you to call our
office at four O nine eight six six eight three
two six, or go online at Dana Simmons real estate
dot com. You can even get an estimate of your
(01:25):
home's value there. Now, that estimate is just going to
be an AI generated estimate, but we are happy to
come out and give you a much better idea of
what is the market value of your house. So give
us a call or go online. We'd love to chat
with you. Well, I'm going to give you a little
bit of information so you can get to know our
guest today. Now Britney Barnes with State Farm. How long
(01:49):
have you been in the insurance business and did you
start out with State Farm?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Of course. Well, first and foremost, thank you so much
for having me here. It really is an honor. So
I've been in the insurance business for about twelve to
thirteen years now. I did start out with State Farm
fresh out of college. I originally thought I was going
to be a reconstructive plastic surgeon. That's what I was
passionate and excited about. And the Lord just had other plans.
(02:19):
And so I started working for an agent in twenty
fourteen and then took over and had my own office
started in October of twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So I'm this is my tenth year in business.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's wonderful. And did you grow up here in Southeast Texas?
I did?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I did.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I grew up kind of all around the Golden Triangle.
I went to many different schools growing up, but I
ended up at Lamar for College where I met my husband.
And yeah, have just loved serving the community that you
know is home to me.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I love that. I love Southeast Texas stories. I love
when our people stay here, go to college here, and
then decide to grow a business here. I just think
that's what we're about here in Southeast Texas. So we
want to keep our young people here and growing our community. So,
now I know you have children.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I do. I do.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I have a six year old daughter, Charlotte and an
eight year old son, Liam, and they're fully involved in
sports and dance, in church, all the things.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
They keep us very busy.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
No you, I'm sure. I know being a business owner
and being a mom comes with challenges, but great rewards too.
You know, I was working when I started my real
estate business. My kids were three and six. Oh wow,
So I completely understand that balance and wanting to be
(03:52):
there for your kids and also running a company. And
it is a juggling job, but it can be done
absolutely as long as you are just staying focused and
I like you connecting with the Lord. He gives you
what you need. Absolutely, So glad that you are here
and excited to hear more about what's going on in
the insurance world. So we'll get to that in just
a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Sounds great. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Also, doctor Bart Foster, he's now with Jefferson County Mosquita Control. Now, Bart,
this is somewhat of a new position for you.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
It is. I was in professional pest control for about
twenty three years. Just a little less than two months ago,
I started my position with the county and I'm glad
to be there learning a lot. I hope I can
be a good contributor and serve the community in that role.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well, we are so excited about that now. When I
say doctor, it is a doctor of entomology.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
It is. I am an Aggie. I started as animal
science major at Texas A and E. M was interested
in entomology when I got there. After about a year
and a half, I went ahead and changed major and
ended up staying there and got my undergrad degree and
my doctorate.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, and so did you meet your wife there?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I did. We were in the student church group and
so kind of had those common values and a good
looking freshman showed up and I took a chance and
asked her out and it went from there.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, and so I know you have a few kids
at home too, I do.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I have five. I've got my two oldest girls are
both aggies. One will finish this fall, the other has
about a year left. But we just got one daughter
home that finished the semester, the other's still working in
college station and a senior son this year, and then
two that've got a ways to go. So we've got
a big spread from twenty three years old to about
eight years old.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Oh wow. I was going to say, well, you're getting
a little bit of a raise with one graduating, but
you've got a few behind.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
There, right. I am glad to get the senior son.
To this point, it's kind of always feels like accomplishment
that you help them get through high school and still
help them a lot, but a lot more of the
responsibibility becomes theirs now.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, yeah, well congratulations on that. And of course they
had to follow in your footsteps. What would you do
if they were going to go to a different school.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yeah, I'm glad they chose Hey and m We've always
kind of tried to be open minded, but they've probably
have heard enough and been around enough their whole life
that I think it was pretty easy jump to go
up the college station.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I love that. I love it when you see kids
want to follow in the footsteps of their parents and
things like that, where they see the benefit and what
you know, what you love about it, they love about
it too. So well, we're going to come back and
talk a little bit about what does Jefferson County Mosquito
Control do. I've had some very personal experience with it,
(06:43):
and I've been very pleased with some ways that they've
assisted us. And listen, the mosquitoes are out. They are.
I mean, I have a screened in patio and I'm
trying to figure out how they'd get in there because
they're everywhere. And I have grandchildren and so we're going
to talk about what are some ways that we can
(07:05):
help so that our grandkids aren't getting bit So when
we come back, doctor Bart Foster is going to be
sharing some tips for you. So don't go away. This
is the Dana Semons Show. Welcome back. This is the
Dana Semons Show. I'm so excited that you have joined us.
And our guest for this segment is doctor Bart Foster
with Jefferson County Mosquito Control And we just learned in
(07:27):
our last segment fairly new position for you. You've been
a doctor of entomology. We talked about that for a
very long time and you were with Bill Clark, but
you have recently taken this position over. So talk a
little bit about the difference and what this brings. What
it is that you are enjoying about this current position.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, I think for me, just excited to have a
different opportunity and to kind of jump into a different role.
The biggest difference I've seen with a professional pest control company,
of course, everything is to take care and essentially contract
with a customer and provide the service that you agreed
to provide for them the role I'm in now. We're
(08:08):
really here to serve the people of the county. Were funded,
Our budget is from the county, and our job is
to try to respond when there's concerns. We do surveys,
we're trying to see what goes on in the county. But
we really are there to serve the public.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah. I love that, and I can tell you I've
had a personal experience with that. You know, several years ago,
my brother was wanting to get married on We have
a piece of land and finet with a beautiful pond,
and he's like, I want to get married out at
the farm. We call it the farm. We have no animals,
but we call it the farm. And so we knew
(08:46):
we were going to get he was going to get
married at about dusk and we're going to be out
there in the evening for the reception. I was terrified
because it was in June, about the mosquitoes, and so
I called up Mosquito Control and was so pleased that
when I called and said, I don't know if this
is something you can help me with, and they were absolutely,
(09:08):
we can help you with that. And so days before
the wedding. They were able to accommodate us by spraying
where our property was. They actually sent the airplane and
it flew out over We were there when it was
happening because we were preparing things. Flew out over the
(09:28):
land and made the wedding experience so much better. You know,
that's not something you want your guests dealing with as
a bunch of mosquitoes. And so when I went onto
the website before I knew we were going to meet today,
you have a place on the website that says request service.
So talk a little bit about how does that happen.
(09:51):
You know, if someone's having a significant issue with mosquitoes,
how does that work with how you can respond and
what requirements are there in order to respond.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Absolutely, yes, we don't want to use resources blindly. We
don't want to just go treat an area not knowing
what's going on. So we have our people go out
a couple times a week to different parts of the
county and they're doing what we'd call landing rates. It
sounds funny, but you're basically standing out and seeing how
many mosquitoes come on land on you. And that's just
a way to estimate population, and the other big component
(10:25):
is what you mentioned. It's just what we hear from
the residents. If we're getting a lot of calls from
Finett area, we know something is going on down there,
and we really try to make our treatments correspond with
the areas of activity. And you mentioned special events. If
we have some notice, we look at a lot of
(10:48):
the festivals and stuff that take place. It's best to
have a day or two ahead of time because we
need time from the material that we put out to work.
But if we can, we have to look the situation.
If we can, we're definitely happy to try to provide
some controls, some assistance and not having the issues. Now,
we are limited that we do treat on public property,
(11:10):
So if it's something on a private property, the vantage
you had course out in the rural areas where we're
treating in the air, we can in that situation provide
some service that would directly impact yours. But we can
potentially run the streets around a festival, streets around an
event that's going to take place at a church or
something and try to provide some assistance before that event.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah, so helpful, and I don't think the people understand
that they can do that. I don't think our listeners
may know that that is a service that you provide
for them as a Jefferson County taxpayer. So one of
the other things I wanted to talk about is we
are seeing a lot of bugs right now, including mosquitoes.
(11:55):
So talk a little bit about what is making that happen,
what is creating that mosquito population, and then let's talk
about what can people do around their house to help
prevent that.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, this is definitely the season when we start getting
little warmer temperatures, we get a little bit of rain.
It's just the time that most insects become active. This
is kind of peak. They'll slow down a little bit
when we get dry right in the middle of the summer,
but we're going to have a pretty heavy level of
insect activity all the way until we finally get cold
front or two. With mosquitoes, it's really rain a lot
(12:32):
of times is the trigger. You do have different types
of mosquitoes that live different ways. You have ones that
raise in lakes and streams that are always there, but
you have a lot of species that more are puddles
are what a lot of times gets people in the
yards is what catches in the tarp, the plant pots,
(12:53):
the objects that are around your home, and a lot
of times that's what's leading to a problem, is what
we're having happening in our own yard, right around our
own property.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Right Well, when I went on the website, I saw
all the several different species of mosquitoes named there, and
I'm like, wow, I had no idea. I thought there
was just mosquitoes. I didn't realize there were so many varieties.
Just here in Southeast Texas.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
There's a lot of difference. You've got ones that are
raised very locally in your backyard and they only leave
a go about one hundred yards from where they are raised,
and so that's your yard, your neighbor's yard. You got
other species that travel about one to two miles. So
like my neighborhood, we have a little goalie that runs
through the neighborhood. So then it may not be coming
from my yard, but we still might have an issue,
(13:42):
and we do certain times the year, probably coming from
that water source in the neighborhood. And then you get
close to the coast, you have a salt marsh. Mosquitos
that can ride a sea breeze, in and might travel
over twenty miles.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Oh wow.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
So where you live and the problem you have depends
a lot on the type of mosquitoes, right.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And so when we talk about those mosquitoes, there are
different things that you can do to treat, like for example,
I know Bill Clark has a they provide a service
that allow that they come out to my house and
they spray my yard, and so that's one way you
can try to limit those mosquitoes, right.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
And the goal of a treatment like that is to
put a little bit of material pest aside on the
underside of leaves. Mosquitoes rest on the underside of leaves.
They don't usually fly directly to feed on you in
the backyard, and so you're trying to treat those resting
areas and reduce the population. Honestly, it can be challenging
sometimes when you have a yard with no trees or bushes,
(14:43):
because where do you treat put the materials. So it
seemed like that be a good thing. Sometimes that's a disadvantage.
Now as a homeowner, one of the best things you
can do is just walk your yard pretty frequently and
try to dump out any containers of water. The kids toys,
tarp on the firewood. Think about old plant pots, the
little catch pots under plants that a lot of people
(15:04):
have on their patio as a source, clog gutters, all
those things. If you've got the local breeding ones, that's
how you can help a lot with your own yard.
Now if you've got ones coming from off property, the
challenges increase because you don't have control over that.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
So I've also you know, googled, you know, that's what
we all do. Ways are plants that you can put
in your yard to help? Is that true? Is that
really helpful? And are there things you can do like that?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
There are some different smells and stuff that they don't like.
Centronella is the one that comes to mind. It probably
would have some benefit, but probably very limited, if that
makes sense. Within a few feet of the area. You're
probably not going to put something out that I would
be aware of that you're going to completely, you know,
move them out of your whole yard.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Yeah. I think the internet tells me lavender and cella
and several things like that. But you know, I've tried
it and I don't think it's worked. But I thought,
let me see if maybe I'm doing something wrong here.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Yeah, well, I think maybe up on your patio you
might have an impact. There's so many factors. You know,
which way is the wind blowing stuff like that. From
day to day you might get better results than a
different day.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So really, the most what I hear, the most important
thing you can do are the key factor would be
to remove water.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Yes, absolutely, because that's the breeding site, that's a very
vulnerable stage. You have a lot better chance to control
mosquitoes they're confined down to a small area. Just in
my time professional pest control and also now jumping into
this role, each yard seems to be its own micro habitat,
so to speak. I've seen yards that have been treated
(16:50):
and you get very good results. I've seen yards to
me that look very similar and you don't get as
good as results. And so I think it just has
a lot to do with what is around you, what's
going on, or your own yard. But if you can
try to dump water out of containers and not let
it stand in your own yard, you at least can
have impact on the ones that are raising right next
(17:10):
to you. And course hopefully your neighbors are doing the
same and you all can contribute to helping that out.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And part of the challenge is I have a bird bath.
I love, you know, I've gotten to the age where
I love to feed the birds and watch the birds.
I'm doing all the birding things that we do.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
But that.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Bird bath is probably one of the things that you're
talking about that can create that or is that something
that since they're in and out of that, it's less
likely to be an issue.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
The most risky or most vulnerable be if it's in
a shaded area, just because you start getting the other conditions.
One out in the hot sun, probably a lower chance,
but still possible. There are products there are what they
call BTI products that you could put in standing water
like that they have very little impact on on other
(18:00):
insects or animals. In fact, a lot of those products
can be put in drinking water, so it could even
potentially be put in a dog dish, you know, of course,
following the label and not worry about what's going to
happen to the pet. So those are things to think about.
Our take the containers like a dog bowl, rents it
out every four to five days, clean out the algae,
(18:21):
the junk on it. Don't just dump it and refill
it because there still could be eggs that are in
the bowl, but just trying to clean us out. I
know it's easier to say than to do. I probably
let mindset to in my backyard, but I do try
to catch things. If I see a bucket or something
that I left, dump it out and you'll help yourself
out a lot.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
What about if you have, like I have a little
water fountain in my backyard, just moving water make a difference.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
It does that they're not going to raise in moving water.
A mosquito has to larva, has to come up the
larva and the pepe have to come to the top
of the water. And you think about if you are
snorkeling with white caps, that doesn't work very good. So
they have a little air tube that has to come
to the top of the water, and so they don't
do very good in moving water.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Good. That's helpful to know. Well, when we were talking
before this segment, Brittany, you were talking about you're seeing
a lot of bugs. You have a garden. I do,
so talk a little bit about what are you seeing
right now as well?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yeah, I haven't I haven't really seen too many mosquitoes
out at this point.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Last week, gosh, I had.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
What seemed like a love bug infestation at my house,
and come to find out, I mean, I was just
I'd come home from the grocery store and I was
blown away.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I'd never seen anything like it. Now.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
My neighbor was pressure washing his driveway and I mean,
I gpt'd, you know, and it says that they like
exhaust and so, and I mean they were I mean
his windows were just black, you know, and I thought,
oh my goodness, you know, what am I gonna do?
(19:59):
But thankful after he stopped pressure washing, they dispersed. And
so that that's crazy to me, So.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Tell me what is that about?
Speaker 4 (20:10):
They do definitely you see, like when heat's rising off
the highway. I agree with you. I don't know all
the details to explain it well, but there do is
some attraction to heat, and that's probably what you're seeing.
But as far as lovebugs, there's really Unfortunately, because anything
that's an area wide problem like that, there's just no
practical method. Yeah, and the material like even with that
we're put out on the airplane. The droplet size is
(20:32):
intended to treat a small insect size of mosquito, So
we're not aiming to do anything about lovebugs, and you
probably wouldn't have the impact you want there without having
risks to other larger insects that you don't want to urt.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, it's crazy though this year they are so bad
the front of my car. I like your explanation about
the way they like heat. So I guess that's why
they're there where the freeway is, and that's why we're
getting hit by them, because they are in enjoying the
heat coming off of that freeway. But I mean, it's like,
you can't go anywhere on the highway and come home
(21:07):
and not have your the front of your car black.
So it's an issue.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
But we also, yeah, yesterday, my neighbor you know, they
love me. But I went out yesterday to throw some
some strawberry tops in my garden and I noticed all
these all these bugs. And you know, I have an
organic garden. I don't usually spray, and so I was like, oh, gosh,
(21:31):
what are these things? And they looked like many Honestly,
they looked like baby carpenter ants, but they were After
some Internet searching, it looked like they were wing tiny
winged ants and it said that they're gosh, I don't
know if they're just like migrating at the moment or something.
(21:53):
But they were everywhere and they got all over us.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
It was it was awful.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It's it's sad that they you know, will move on
in a day or two, but nothing to be concerned about.
But it talked about you know, the moist, humid air
and them showing up after that.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So I just we are having a year of bugs.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
It's possible when you see the wing once potential it
was a swarm similar to the like we're used to
our termite swarms. That's going to happen here in just
a couple of weeks, right, Yeah, it's just a dispersal.
So probably, like you said, a lot of times they
will move on. Of course, you know, seeing the fire
ant mounts or something like that would be a higher concern,
(22:36):
but seeing we nants usually is probably a swarm event.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Speaking of ants, let me just tell you at our farm,
our place in Finet, we had these itty bitty tiny
ants everywhere and you were working at Bill Clark then
and reached out and you called them crazy ants. So
talk a little bit about those.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Yes, No, we had a species of crazy ant that's
been in this area for a long time, but probably
ten to fifteen years ago, we had a new species
that kind of came in and they ended up being
called originally a raspberry crazy ant because a gentleman that
found them was named Tom. Raspberry came from his name,
not from the fruit. Yeah, and then they are officially
(23:23):
named the tawny crazy ant. They do not sting, so
medically it's not really a threat, but they just build
up huge populations.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And huge It's like they were everywhere more.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Than you can imagine, yes where Sometimes if you have treated,
you could pick up a bucket full of dead ones.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Just that's exactly what happened to us. She'all came out
and treated, and they were, I mean tons of piles
of those little bitty tiny ants.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
The challenge with those is most do it yourself products
will kill thousands of them, but you have thousands more.
A typical pest control treatment treating around the proven the
home will kill thous but you have thousands more. So
what you need to do is treat a bigger area
around the house, the whole yard in town, if it's
out in the country. We might say we're going to
treat to this fence line, to this tree, line to
(24:11):
kind of make a buffer. Yeah, and they will start
to encroach on the edge of that. But what you
can do is maybe get most of the season without
the peak population is really summer into the fall. We
have a really warm winter, might go into December, but
you're fighting the battle about half to three quarters of
the year. But that's really the best solution. There's some
(24:34):
products that may work a little better than others, but
I think the real secret is treating the bigger area,
not just right around the mediate perimeter of the home.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Well, Bart, I know we've gone past what you were
doing now with Jefferson County mosquito control, but I can't
help it. You know, you are the doctor of bugs.
So it's just all the questions we get to ask you.
But if someone has additional questions about mosquito control, let
me tell you. You guys have a great website. And
on that website, I noticed that you have schedules about
(25:05):
where you're going to be and at what time, and
it does say subject to change. Of course, things can change,
but that's helpful to have that on there. It also
has where you can request service or requests that they
you know, if you're having an issue on there as well.
But if they needed to get in touch with you, guys, bart,
what would be the best way for them to reach
(25:26):
out and contact you.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Well, of course you can do a request like you
mentioned on the website, but if you'd like to call
the office, you can ask a question or put a
request and in person. And it's four oh nine seven
nine two three, And you mentioned Jamie. Jamie probably answered
the phone wonderful lady. Yes, and she's been with us
a long time and are you're welcome to visit with
me and we can talk about the concerns or the
(25:50):
questions you may have.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, I have you on speed doll in my phone
because living in Finet, we're surrounded by water tailor's values
on our property line and then we have pawns on it.
So yeah, mosquitoes have been an issue, and I've often
called and said, hey, we have a lot of mosquitoes.
Can you at some point in time? And Jamie has
always been so kind and said, yeah, let me look
(26:12):
at the schedule and when we can get out there.
But she is so pleasant and so kind, So if
you have any questions, don't hesitate to give them a
call and let them help you. When we come back,
we are going to be visiting with Britney Barnes with
State Farm Insurance. Did I say yes? State Farm Insurance,
And we'll be right back. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons.
(26:35):
We have been visiting with doctor part Foster and he
is now in charge of Jefferson County Mosquito Control and
we've been talking about the mosquito issue here and the
things you can do to limit the exposure for you
for mosquitoes. And so if you miss that, you can
go back to that segment once the podcast is posted
this week on iHeartRadio, so you can do that or
(26:59):
go to the Mosquito Control website. It is very informative
and it gives you a lot of great information that
he talked about also with us today, Britney Barnes with
State Farm Insurance. Thank you Brittany for being here. And
you know, with hurricane season there's always questions, so wanted
to kind of talk a little bit about how people
should prepare. So what are the ways that you should
(27:24):
prepare insurance wise to make sure that your property is protected?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, absolutely great question.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So first and foremost, I always like to tell people
photos you know it seems so basic, but I I
suggest that you create yourself a folder in your email
and every year go around your property and take photos of,
you know, all sides of your home. If you have
a fence, take photos of your fence, outbuildings, pools, things
(27:53):
of that nature. And then go inside your house and
you know, take photos of your garage room, all the closets,
open the drawers, photograph the drawers, open the cabinets, photograph
the cabinets, refrigerators, freezers, just anything storage, you know, storage closets,
(28:16):
anything that you can photograph, do so email them to
yourself and then save them in that folder and just
redo that every single year. Because in the event that
we do have a storm and you need to follow claim,
you're going to have to create an inventory of contents
and this just helps with that. With creating that inventory,
(28:41):
it also shows your adjuster you know that that you
do have these items, and so that can be helpful
for you as well. And then second would be meeting
with your agent, so reviewing your policy, making sure that
you know what you have versus what you don't. You
want to ask some very specific questions about that policy.
(29:03):
So if I'm going through reviewing a policy with a customer,
you know, first and foremost, I'm making certain that the
address is correct. I know that might seem very basic,
but you know, if if you're a renter and you
moved and you forgot to update your address, you know,
things small things like that can cause problems replacement cost.
(29:24):
So going back and reviewing the estimated replacement cost tool,
how much are we covering the house for. What does
your dwelling coverage look like? What does your your coverage
for your outbuildings, your dwelling extension, what does that look like?
How much do I have for contents? I also want
to know what are my deductibles? Really big, big, really big,
(29:48):
you know thing to make certain that there's no question
about do I have a separate wind in hail deductible?
And then do I have a separate hurricane or tropical
cyclone deductible? Because some policies, some policies do, some policies don't.
Some carriers provide wind and hill coverage in their hazard
(30:09):
policy as an all in one policy, and other carriers don't,
and they'll require a separate windstorm policy, and sometimes that
can be confusing for folks. So just having that conversation
with customers as well. Here recently a lot of carriers
have been introducing roof surfaces schedules, so depreciated roof settlements.
(30:30):
That's really important. You need to know, am I going
to get replacement cost on my structure? Do I have
replacement cost on my contents? And then do I have
replacement cost on my roof? Because you might have replacement
cost on your structure but not replacement cost on that roof.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I think that is a huge point that needs to
be made.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
One of the challenges that I know some of my
clients have had is that they were unaware that their
insurance carrier had changed the coverage. Yes, and while they
may have received a notice that they didn't read, potentially
when they receive that renewal, the coverage had dropped and
(31:13):
when they went to fill acclaim, they had no idea. Absolutely,
And so I love what you're saying about renew that
when you every year at your policy renewal, you know,
I may not be able to know how to read
all of that. I'm not in the insurance business, but
go sit down with your insurance agent and go over that.
(31:33):
And so the benefit of having a local person is
to be able to walk into your office and say, Brittany,
can you help me with that? So having a local
insurance agent versus trying to get the cheapest one online
when you have an issue, it's invaluable, right, So talk
(31:54):
a little bit about how that can change and what
you were able to do in that.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, absolutely, so you are absolutely correct.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Policies can change at renewal, and you know the company
will send a notice, often in the mail or if
you're on paperless, sometimes it's email. And in nine times
out of ten, the consumer just doesn't know.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
And so you know, it's really important that you sit down.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I would say, you know, try to annually and just
go back over the policy. Make sure nothing changed, make
sure there's not any updates that you need to make.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
To the policy.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
There are life events that happen, and you know, changes
that you might make to your house, upgrades that you
don't think would have any kind of bearing on a
homeowner's policy, but they do, some do, some don't, and.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
So it's worth the question.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
But also you know on the policy there there are
special limits as well, so things like jewelry and firearms
and valuables that are just not covered the way that
you might want them to be covered, and so sitting
down and reviewing those as well is huge. So I
(33:12):
agree having a local agent number one is valuable because
they give back to your community and they invest in
your community. But also too, you know they are familiar
with this area, and they're familiar with the ins and
outs of the policy and how they work, and they
can really get down into the weeds and answer some
of those questions and make you feel really good about
(33:34):
the policy that you have.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Now talking about those policies, does standard homeowners insurance typically
cover hurricane related flooding?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
So standard hometer's policy does not typically cover hurricane related flooding.
So flood you want to think about. Flood is rising
water from the outside in and it's got to be
two or more acres or two or more properties. So
you know, for example, Harvey was primarily a flood event.
(34:06):
It was a lot of rain and a lot of
rising water that just happened over time, and that's going
to be a separate flood policy. So very important that
you know whether you have a separate flood policy and
if you want one, and you don't have one historically,
and right now there's a thirty day waiting period for
that flood policy. So you can't wait until there's a
(34:27):
hurricane in the Gulf to go out and purchase a
flood policy on a house that you already own.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Now, there are some exceptions to that rule.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
If you're purchasing a home and there's going to be
a mortgage on it, you can purchase that on or
before closing, and you can get around that thirty day
waiting period. But again, these are just questions that your
local agent can help with. So again, very invaluable to
make sure that you've got someone that you trust and
that's honest and very transparent with you.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Well, and what you said about a new homeowner, it
is a new homeowner that flood policy has to be
attached to that house on or before closing. You can't
do that in a couple of days and think, oh,
I'll do this a couple of days after closing. If
you do, you have to wait the thirty days.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Correct. Yeah, there's no way around that. Yeah, absolutely, So.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
That's super important. So what steps should a policy holder
take immediately after hurricane damage occurs?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Great question? Obviously, photos and videos. Photos and videos are invaluable.
You have to have photos and videos of the damage
that has occurred. Second would be mitigate any damage that
has occurred. So, for example, if a hurricane tears a
portion off your roof and there's a hole in your
(35:46):
roof and obviously that water has come in, you know,
you can't just leave that hole wide open until your
adjuster comes out a week or two later. The insurance
company is not going to pay for that edition damage
that happened for because you failed to mitigate that damage.
So it's very important that you do what you need
(36:06):
to do to mitigate any further damage. Obviously, save all receipts,
document to everything for that adjuster, and then let's wait
until the adjuster gives.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
You the go ahead for repairs.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
So go ahead and start contacting contractors getting estimates. If
you can have all of that ready for your adjuster
when they come out and visit with you, that just
sets you a little bit more ahead of the game.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Okay, so real quickly, a final question to wrap this up,
what are the common challenges or pitfalls people face when
following hurricane insurance claims?
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, I think the biggest pitfall or challenge would just
be unaware of their deductible, unaware of their coverage, unaware
of their deductible. They have this expectation that this claim
is going to be covered and damage will be covered,
and it's just it's just not for whatever the reason.
So that would be number one, and then number two
(37:04):
is just improper expectations. When there's a storm event, you know,
you're not the only one, and it bogs down our
claim adjusters and our phone lines. And we really are
working as quickly as we possibly can because any negative
experience impacts us as well. We don't want our customer
(37:26):
to have a negative experience, and so just being kind
and gracious and a little bit patient during those times
is a big deal.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yeah. Well, I've had flooding and Harvey and also an
Amelda and Hurricane Rita went through my roof, so you know,
I've had all the fun with insurance and learn so much.
Thank you, Brittany. And when we come back, we are
going to wrap up our segment with both Britney Barnes
and doctor Bart Foster. So don't go away. This is
(37:56):
the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Ana Simmons.
We have had incredible conversations. This show has been wonderful.
I hope you'll go back and listen to it. It'll
be on the podcast on KLBI and listen. You can
now go to my Spotify. We will upload this as
well as our other shows on Spotify if you want
(38:18):
to go listen to any of the shows we've played
in the past. So Channing has done a great job
getting us on Spotify. Let me let you speak to
Britney one more time, Brittany Britney Barnes with State Farm.
Let's talk a little bit about Let's say someone wants
to contact you and get more information when you're getting
a renewal. That is a great time to price check pricing.
(38:43):
If they want to contact you and see what you
can do, how would they do that?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, absolutely, so they can contact us. However they want
to call, text, email, drop in or online, so phone
number four zero nine eight sixty six britt So eight
sixty six two seven four. They can reach me at
Brittany at Britney Barnes dot com. Just check Google for
the spelling to tease to ease, they can go to
(39:08):
Britney Barnes dot com or they can come right to
our office twenty one oh five Dollen Road, Beaumont, Texas.
But hey, you know, we would love to price those policies,
but we are here to help. So if you just
have questions about your policy, whether it's with us or not,
like we can help you with that and we want.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
To help you with that.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, that's wonderful. Well, Brittany, it's been such a pleasure
having you on the show. Thank you for sharing all
kinds of great information about hurricane hurricane insurance so that
we can make sure that we're prepared in whatever we do. Also,
doctor Bart Foster with Jefferson County Mosquito Control if someone
wants to reach out to you guys again, let's talk
(39:48):
about they can go to the Jefferson County Mosquito Controlled
page or they can also call your office as well.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
Right absolutely, either one work. The phone number is four
nine seven two three and happy.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
To talk with you and I have it saved in
my phone. You may want to save it in yours
as well in case you ever need it. Well, as
you know, this is not the only thing I do
during the week. I also sell real estate. So if
you have any questions about whether you'd like to sell
your home or if you're thinking about buying. We would
love to just sit down and talk to you. There
(40:25):
is absolutely no pressure. We love giving you information as well.
So if you want us to come out and give
you a market value to say, you know, what is
your home worth right now? Is it the right time
for you or not, we would love the opportunity to
do that for you. Or if you are thinking is
now the right time for me to buy, we would
love to sit down and go through our buyer consultation
(40:46):
with you, give you what you would need and how
to do that and see if now is proper for
you or if you need to wait a little bit.
No pressure at all, We want to just educate you
and give you what you need to do that well,
I want to say thank you so much for joining
us on the show this week, and thank you to Brittany,
and thank you to Bart for giving great information to
(41:09):
all of you out there. I hope you are having
a great Saturday. If you don't have a local church
fun one tomorrow, be there. This is the Dana Simmons Show.
Hello, everyone, Welcome to the Dana Simmons Show. We're so
excited that you're here with us on this Saturday. I
have some great guests with me today. I have Britney
Barnes and she is with State Farm Insurance. We're going
to be talking things hurricane you know, hurricane season. We
deal with it every year, but there's always something to learn,
so we're going to talk a little bit about that.
(00:21):
Also have doctor Bart Foster and he is with the
Jefferson County Mosquito Control and Wow, I'm going to tell
you they're amazing. I have utilized them so many times
and you may not know that you can call them
and the ways that you can utilize them as well.
So we're going to talk a little bit about that
in our next segment. But before we do that, I
want to give you a little update on what is
(00:42):
the market doing. You know, in Southeast Texas, we have
seen some challenging years in real estate. The last two
years have been hard. Our months of inventory has been
a little higher. While we've had a really good inventory,
the challenges the number of buyers have been fewer. So
what we are seeing though is a pickup. We are
(01:03):
very thankful that things are improving and we are now
seeing buyers start to get into the market and houses
are beginning to sell. The good thing is also we
still have a great inventory. So if you're thinking about
buying or selling, we'd love for you to call our
office at four O nine eight six six eight three
two six, or go online at Dana Simmons real estate
dot com. You can even get an estimate of your
(01:25):
home's value there. Now, that estimate is just going to
be an AI generated estimate, but we are happy to
come out and give you a much better idea of
what is the market value of your house. So give
us a call or go online. We'd love to chat
with you. Well, I'm going to give you a little
bit of information so you can get to know our
guest today. Now Britney Barnes with State Farm. How long
(01:49):
have you been in the insurance business and did you
start out with State Farm?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Of course. Well, first and foremost, thank you so much
for having me here. It really is an honor. So
I've been in the insurance business for about twelve to
thirteen years now. I did start out with State Farm
fresh out of college. I originally thought I was going
to be a reconstructive plastic surgeon. That's what I was
passionate and excited about. And the Lord just had other plans.
(02:19):
And so I started working for an agent in twenty
fourteen and then took over and had my own office
started in October of twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So I'm this is my tenth year in business.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's wonderful. And did you grow up here in Southeast Texas?
I did?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I did.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I grew up kind of all around the Golden Triangle.
I went to many different schools growing up, but I
ended up at Lamar for College where I met my husband.
And yeah, have just loved serving the community that you
know is home to me.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I love that. I love Southeast Texas stories. I love
when our people stay here, go to college here, and
then decide to grow a business here. I just think
that's what we're about here in Southeast Texas. So we
want to keep our young people here and growing our community. So,
now I know you have children.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I do. I do.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I have a six year old daughter, Charlotte and an
eight year old son, Liam, and they're fully involved in
sports and dance, in church, all the things.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
They keep us very busy.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
No you, I'm sure. I know being a business owner
and being a mom comes with challenges, but great rewards too.
You know, I was working when I started my real
estate business. My kids were three and six. Oh wow,
So I completely understand that balance and wanting to be
(03:52):
there for your kids and also running a company. And
it is a juggling job, but it can be done
absolutely as long as you are just staying focused and
I like you connecting with the Lord. He gives you
what you need. Absolutely, So glad that you are here
and excited to hear more about what's going on in
the insurance world. So we'll get to that in just
a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Sounds great. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Also, doctor Bart Foster, he's now with Jefferson County Mosquita Control. Now, Bart,
this is somewhat of a new position for you.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
It is. I was in professional pest control for about
twenty three years. Just a little less than two months ago,
I started my position with the county and I'm glad
to be there learning a lot. I hope I can
be a good contributor and serve the community in that role.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well, we are so excited about that now. When I
say doctor, it is a doctor of entomology.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
It is. I am an Aggie. I started as animal
science major at Texas A and E. M was interested
in entomology when I got there. After about a year
and a half, I went ahead and changed major and
ended up staying there and got my undergrad degree and
my doctorate.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, and so did you meet your wife there?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I did. We were in the student church group and
so kind of had those common values and a good
looking freshman showed up and I took a chance and
asked her out and it went from there.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, and so I know you have a few kids
at home too, I do.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I have five. I've got my two oldest girls are
both aggies. One will finish this fall, the other has
about a year left. But we just got one daughter
home that finished the semester, the other's still working in
college station and a senior son this year, and then
two that've got a ways to go. So we've got
a big spread from twenty three years old to about
eight years old.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Oh wow. I was going to say, well, you're getting
a little bit of a raise with one graduating, but
you've got a few behind.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
There, right. I am glad to get the senior son.
To this point, it's kind of always feels like accomplishment
that you help them get through high school and still
help them a lot, but a lot more of the
responsibibility becomes theirs now.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, yeah, well congratulations on that. And of course they
had to follow in your footsteps. What would you do
if they were going to go to a different school.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yeah, I'm glad they chose Hey and m We've always
kind of tried to be open minded, but they've probably
have heard enough and been around enough their whole life
that I think it was pretty easy jump to go
up the college station.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I love that. I love it when you see kids
want to follow in the footsteps of their parents and
things like that, where they see the benefit and what
you know, what you love about it, they love about
it too. So well, we're going to come back and
talk a little bit about what does Jefferson County Mosquito
Control do. I've had some very personal experience with it,
(06:43):
and I've been very pleased with some ways that they've
assisted us. And listen, the mosquitoes are out. They are.
I mean, I have a screened in patio and I'm
trying to figure out how they'd get in there because
they're everywhere. And I have grandchildren and so we're going
to talk about what are some ways that we can
(07:05):
help so that our grandkids aren't getting bit So when
we come back, doctor Bart Foster is going to be
sharing some tips for you. So don't go away. This
is the Dana Semons Show. Welcome back. This is the
Dana Semons Show. I'm so excited that you have joined us.
And our guest for this segment is doctor Bart Foster
with Jefferson County Mosquito Control And we just learned in
(07:27):
our last segment fairly new position for you. You've been
a doctor of entomology. We talked about that for a
very long time and you were with Bill Clark, but
you have recently taken this position over. So talk a
little bit about the difference and what this brings. What
it is that you are enjoying about this current position.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, I think for me, just excited to have a
different opportunity and to kind of jump into a different role.
The biggest difference I've seen with a professional pest control company,
of course, everything is to take care and essentially contract
with a customer and provide the service that you agreed
to provide for them the role I'm in now. We're
(08:08):
really here to serve the people of the county. Were funded,
Our budget is from the county, and our job is
to try to respond when there's concerns. We do surveys,
we're trying to see what goes on in the county. But
we really are there to serve the public.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah. I love that, and I can tell you I've
had a personal experience with that. You know, several years ago,
my brother was wanting to get married on We have
a piece of land and finet with a beautiful pond,
and he's like, I want to get married out at
the farm. We call it the farm. We have no animals,
but we call it the farm. And so we knew
(08:46):
we were going to get he was going to get
married at about dusk and we're going to be out
there in the evening for the reception. I was terrified
because it was in June, about the mosquitoes, and so
I called up Mosquito Control and was so pleased that
when I called and said, I don't know if this
is something you can help me with, and they were absolutely,
(09:08):
we can help you with that. And so days before
the wedding. They were able to accommodate us by spraying
where our property was. They actually sent the airplane and
it flew out over We were there when it was
happening because we were preparing things. Flew out over the
(09:28):
land and made the wedding experience so much better. You know,
that's not something you want your guests dealing with as
a bunch of mosquitoes. And so when I went onto
the website before I knew we were going to meet today,
you have a place on the website that says request service.
So talk a little bit about how does that happen.
(09:51):
You know, if someone's having a significant issue with mosquitoes,
how does that work with how you can respond and
what requirements are there in order to respond.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Absolutely, yes, we don't want to use resources blindly. We
don't want to just go treat an area not knowing
what's going on. So we have our people go out
a couple times a week to different parts of the
county and they're doing what we'd call landing rates. It
sounds funny, but you're basically standing out and seeing how
many mosquitoes come on land on you. And that's just
a way to estimate population, and the other big component
(10:25):
is what you mentioned. It's just what we hear from
the residents. If we're getting a lot of calls from
Finett area, we know something is going on down there,
and we really try to make our treatments correspond with
the areas of activity. And you mentioned special events. If
we have some notice, we look at a lot of
(10:48):
the festivals and stuff that take place. It's best to
have a day or two ahead of time because we
need time from the material that we put out to work.
But if we can, we have to look the situation.
If we can, we're definitely happy to try to provide
some controls, some assistance and not having the issues. Now,
we are limited that we do treat on public property,
(11:10):
So if it's something on a private property, the vantage
you had course out in the rural areas where we're
treating in the air, we can in that situation provide
some service that would directly impact yours. But we can
potentially run the streets around a festival, streets around an
event that's going to take place at a church or
something and try to provide some assistance before that event.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah, so helpful, and I don't think the people understand
that they can do that. I don't think our listeners
may know that that is a service that you provide
for them as a Jefferson County taxpayer. So one of
the other things I wanted to talk about is we
are seeing a lot of bugs right now, including mosquitoes.
(11:55):
So talk a little bit about what is making that happen,
what is creating that mosquito population, and then let's talk
about what can people do around their house to help
prevent that.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, this is definitely the season when we start getting
little warmer temperatures, we get a little bit of rain.
It's just the time that most insects become active. This
is kind of peak. They'll slow down a little bit
when we get dry right in the middle of the summer,
but we're going to have a pretty heavy level of
insect activity all the way until we finally get cold
front or two. With mosquitoes, it's really rain a lot
(12:32):
of times is the trigger. You do have different types
of mosquitoes that live different ways. You have ones that
raise in lakes and streams that are always there, but
you have a lot of species that more are puddles
are what a lot of times gets people in the
yards is what catches in the tarp, the plant pots,
(12:53):
the objects that are around your home, and a lot
of times that's what's leading to a problem, is what
we're having happening in our own yard, right around our
own property.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Right Well, when I went on the website, I saw
all the several different species of mosquitoes named there, and
I'm like, wow, I had no idea. I thought there
was just mosquitoes. I didn't realize there were so many varieties.
Just here in Southeast Texas.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
There's a lot of difference. You've got ones that are
raised very locally in your backyard and they only leave
a go about one hundred yards from where they are raised,
and so that's your yard, your neighbor's yard. You got
other species that travel about one to two miles. So
like my neighborhood, we have a little goalie that runs
through the neighborhood. So then it may not be coming
from my yard, but we still might have an issue,
(13:42):
and we do certain times the year, probably coming from
that water source in the neighborhood. And then you get
close to the coast, you have a salt marsh. Mosquitos
that can ride a sea breeze, in and might travel
over twenty miles.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Oh wow.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
So where you live and the problem you have depends
a lot on the type of mosquitoes, right.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And so when we talk about those mosquitoes, there are
different things that you can do to treat, like for example,
I know Bill Clark has a they provide a service
that allow that they come out to my house and
they spray my yard, and so that's one way you
can try to limit those mosquitoes, right.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
And the goal of a treatment like that is to
put a little bit of material pest aside on the
underside of leaves. Mosquitoes rest on the underside of leaves.
They don't usually fly directly to feed on you in
the backyard, and so you're trying to treat those resting
areas and reduce the population. Honestly, it can be challenging
sometimes when you have a yard with no trees or bushes,
(14:43):
because where do you treat put the materials. So it
seemed like that be a good thing. Sometimes that's a disadvantage.
Now as a homeowner, one of the best things you
can do is just walk your yard pretty frequently and
try to dump out any containers of water. The kids toys,
tarp on the firewood. Think about old plant pots, the
little catch pots under plants that a lot of people
(15:04):
have on their patio as a source, clog gutters, all
those things. If you've got the local breeding ones, that's
how you can help a lot with your own yard.
Now if you've got ones coming from off property, the
challenges increase because you don't have control over that.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
So I've also you know, googled, you know, that's what
we all do. Ways are plants that you can put
in your yard to help? Is that true? Is that
really helpful? And are there things you can do like that?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
There are some different smells and stuff that they don't like.
Centronella is the one that comes to mind. It probably
would have some benefit, but probably very limited, if that
makes sense. Within a few feet of the area. You're
probably not going to put something out that I would
be aware of that you're going to completely, you know,
move them out of your whole yard.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Yeah. I think the internet tells me lavender and cella
and several things like that. But you know, I've tried
it and I don't think it's worked. But I thought,
let me see if maybe I'm doing something wrong here.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Yeah, well, I think maybe up on your patio you
might have an impact. There's so many factors. You know,
which way is the wind blowing stuff like that. From
day to day you might get better results than a
different day.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So really, the most what I hear, the most important
thing you can do are the key factor would be
to remove water.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Yes, absolutely, because that's the breeding site, that's a very
vulnerable stage. You have a lot better chance to control
mosquitoes they're confined down to a small area. Just in
my time professional pest control and also now jumping into
this role, each yard seems to be its own micro habitat,
so to speak. I've seen yards that have been treated
(16:50):
and you get very good results. I've seen yards to
me that look very similar and you don't get as
good as results. And so I think it just has
a lot to do with what is around you, what's
going on, or your own yard. But if you can
try to dump water out of containers and not let
it stand in your own yard, you at least can
have impact on the ones that are raising right next
(17:10):
to you. And course hopefully your neighbors are doing the
same and you all can contribute to helping that out.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And part of the challenge is I have a bird bath.
I love, you know, I've gotten to the age where
I love to feed the birds and watch the birds.
I'm doing all the birding things that we do.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
But that.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Bird bath is probably one of the things that you're
talking about that can create that or is that something
that since they're in and out of that, it's less
likely to be an issue.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
The most risky or most vulnerable be if it's in
a shaded area, just because you start getting the other conditions.
One out in the hot sun, probably a lower chance,
but still possible. There are products there are what they
call BTI products that you could put in standing water
like that they have very little impact on on other
(18:00):
insects or animals. In fact, a lot of those products
can be put in drinking water, so it could even
potentially be put in a dog dish, you know, of course,
following the label and not worry about what's going to
happen to the pet. So those are things to think about.
Our take the containers like a dog bowl, rents it
out every four to five days, clean out the algae,
(18:21):
the junk on it. Don't just dump it and refill
it because there still could be eggs that are in
the bowl, but just trying to clean us out. I
know it's easier to say than to do. I probably
let mindset to in my backyard, but I do try
to catch things. If I see a bucket or something
that I left, dump it out and you'll help yourself
out a lot.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
What about if you have, like I have a little
water fountain in my backyard, just moving water make a difference.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
It does that they're not going to raise in moving water.
A mosquito has to larva, has to come up the
larva and the pepe have to come to the top
of the water. And you think about if you are
snorkeling with white caps, that doesn't work very good. So
they have a little air tube that has to come
to the top of the water, and so they don't
do very good in moving water.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Good. That's helpful to know. Well, when we were talking
before this segment, Brittany, you were talking about you're seeing
a lot of bugs. You have a garden. I do,
so talk a little bit about what are you seeing
right now as well?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yeah, I haven't I haven't really seen too many mosquitoes
out at this point.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Last week, gosh, I had.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
What seemed like a love bug infestation at my house,
and come to find out, I mean, I was just
I'd come home from the grocery store and I was
blown away.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I'd never seen anything like it. Now.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
My neighbor was pressure washing his driveway and I mean,
I gpt'd, you know, and it says that they like
exhaust and so, and I mean they were I mean
his windows were just black, you know, and I thought,
oh my goodness, you know, what am I gonna do?
(19:59):
But thankful after he stopped pressure washing, they dispersed. And
so that that's crazy to me, So.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Tell me what is that about?
Speaker 4 (20:10):
They do definitely you see, like when heat's rising off
the highway. I agree with you. I don't know all
the details to explain it well, but there do is
some attraction to heat, and that's probably what you're seeing.
But as far as lovebugs, there's really Unfortunately, because anything
that's an area wide problem like that, there's just no
practical method. Yeah, and the material like even with that
we're put out on the airplane. The droplet size is
(20:32):
intended to treat a small insect size of mosquito, So
we're not aiming to do anything about lovebugs, and you
probably wouldn't have the impact you want there without having
risks to other larger insects that you don't want to urt.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, it's crazy though this year they are so bad
the front of my car. I like your explanation about
the way they like heat. So I guess that's why
they're there where the freeway is, and that's why we're
getting hit by them, because they are in enjoying the
heat coming off of that freeway. But I mean, it's like,
you can't go anywhere on the highway and come home
(21:07):
and not have your the front of your car black.
So it's an issue.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
But we also, yeah, yesterday, my neighbor you know, they
love me. But I went out yesterday to throw some
some strawberry tops in my garden and I noticed all
these all these bugs. And you know, I have an
organic garden. I don't usually spray, and so I was like, oh, gosh,
(21:31):
what are these things? And they looked like many Honestly,
they looked like baby carpenter ants, but they were After
some Internet searching, it looked like they were wing tiny
winged ants and it said that they're gosh, I don't
know if they're just like migrating at the moment or something.
(21:53):
But they were everywhere and they got all over us.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
It was it was awful.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It's it's sad that they you know, will move on
in a day or two, but nothing to be concerned about.
But it talked about you know, the moist, humid air
and them showing up after that.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So I just we are having a year of bugs.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
It's possible when you see the wing once potential it
was a swarm similar to the like we're used to
our termite swarms. That's going to happen here in just
a couple of weeks, right, Yeah, it's just a dispersal.
So probably, like you said, a lot of times they
will move on. Of course, you know, seeing the fire
ant mounts or something like that would be a higher concern,
(22:36):
but seeing we nants usually is probably a swarm event.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Speaking of ants, let me just tell you at our farm,
our place in Finet, we had these itty bitty tiny
ants everywhere and you were working at Bill Clark then
and reached out and you called them crazy ants. So
talk a little bit about those.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Yes, No, we had a species of crazy ant that's
been in this area for a long time, but probably
ten to fifteen years ago, we had a new species
that kind of came in and they ended up being
called originally a raspberry crazy ant because a gentleman that
found them was named Tom. Raspberry came from his name,
not from the fruit. Yeah, and then they are officially
(23:23):
named the tawny crazy ant. They do not sting, so
medically it's not really a threat, but they just build
up huge populations.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And huge It's like they were everywhere more.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Than you can imagine, yes where Sometimes if you have treated,
you could pick up a bucket full of dead ones.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Just that's exactly what happened to us. She'all came out
and treated, and they were, I mean tons of piles
of those little bitty tiny ants.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
The challenge with those is most do it yourself products
will kill thousands of them, but you have thousands more.
A typical pest control treatment treating around the proven the
home will kill thous but you have thousands more. So
what you need to do is treat a bigger area
around the house, the whole yard in town, if it's
out in the country. We might say we're going to
treat to this fence line, to this tree, line to
(24:11):
kind of make a buffer. Yeah, and they will start
to encroach on the edge of that. But what you
can do is maybe get most of the season without
the peak population is really summer into the fall. We
have a really warm winter, might go into December, but
you're fighting the battle about half to three quarters of
the year. But that's really the best solution. There's some
(24:34):
products that may work a little better than others, but
I think the real secret is treating the bigger area,
not just right around the mediate perimeter of the home.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Well, Bart, I know we've gone past what you were
doing now with Jefferson County mosquito control, but I can't
help it. You know, you are the doctor of bugs.
So it's just all the questions we get to ask you.
But if someone has additional questions about mosquito control, let
me tell you. You guys have a great website. And
on that website, I noticed that you have schedules about
(25:05):
where you're going to be and at what time, and
it does say subject to change. Of course, things can change,
but that's helpful to have that on there. It also
has where you can request service or requests that they
you know, if you're having an issue on there as well.
But if they needed to get in touch with you, guys, bart,
what would be the best way for them to reach
(25:26):
out and contact you.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Well, of course you can do a request like you
mentioned on the website, but if you'd like to call
the office, you can ask a question or put a
request and in person. And it's four oh nine seven
nine two three, And you mentioned Jamie. Jamie probably answered
the phone wonderful lady. Yes, and she's been with us
a long time and are you're welcome to visit with
me and we can talk about the concerns or the
(25:50):
questions you may have.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, I have you on speed doll in my phone
because living in Finet, we're surrounded by water tailor's values
on our property line and then we have pawns on it.
So yeah, mosquitoes have been an issue, and I've often
called and said, hey, we have a lot of mosquitoes.
Can you at some point in time? And Jamie has
always been so kind and said, yeah, let me look
(26:12):
at the schedule and when we can get out there.
But she is so pleasant and so kind, So if
you have any questions, don't hesitate to give them a
call and let them help you. When we come back,
we are going to be visiting with Britney Barnes with
State Farm Insurance. Did I say yes? State Farm Insurance,
And we'll be right back. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons.
(26:35):
We have been visiting with doctor part Foster and he
is now in charge of Jefferson County Mosquito Control and
we've been talking about the mosquito issue here and the
things you can do to limit the exposure for you
for mosquitoes. And so if you miss that, you can
go back to that segment once the podcast is posted
this week on iHeartRadio, so you can do that or
(26:59):
go to the Mosquito Control website. It is very informative
and it gives you a lot of great information that
he talked about also with us today, Britney Barnes with
State Farm Insurance. Thank you Brittany for being here. And
you know, with hurricane season there's always questions, so wanted
to kind of talk a little bit about how people
should prepare. So what are the ways that you should
(27:24):
prepare insurance wise to make sure that your property is protected?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, absolutely great question.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So first and foremost, I always like to tell people
photos you know it seems so basic, but I I
suggest that you create yourself a folder in your email
and every year go around your property and take photos of,
you know, all sides of your home. If you have
a fence, take photos of your fence, outbuildings, pools, things
(27:53):
of that nature. And then go inside your house and
you know, take photos of your garage room, all the closets,
open the drawers, photograph the drawers, open the cabinets, photograph
the cabinets, refrigerators, freezers, just anything storage, you know, storage closets,
(28:16):
anything that you can photograph, do so email them to
yourself and then save them in that folder and just
redo that every single year. Because in the event that
we do have a storm and you need to follow claim,
you're going to have to create an inventory of contents
and this just helps with that. With creating that inventory,
(28:41):
it also shows your adjuster you know that that you
do have these items, and so that can be helpful
for you as well. And then second would be meeting
with your agent, so reviewing your policy, making sure that
you know what you have versus what you don't. You
want to ask some very specific questions about that policy.
(29:03):
So if I'm going through reviewing a policy with a customer,
you know, first and foremost, I'm making certain that the
address is correct. I know that might seem very basic,
but you know, if if you're a renter and you
moved and you forgot to update your address, you know,
things small things like that can cause problems replacement cost.
(29:24):
So going back and reviewing the estimated replacement cost tool,
how much are we covering the house for. What does
your dwelling coverage look like? What does your your coverage
for your outbuildings, your dwelling extension, what does that look like?
How much do I have for contents? I also want
to know what are my deductibles? Really big, big, really big,
(29:48):
you know thing to make certain that there's no question
about do I have a separate wind in hail deductible?
And then do I have a separate hurricane or tropical
cyclone deductible? Because some policies, some policies do, some policies don't.
Some carriers provide wind and hill coverage in their hazard
(30:09):
policy as an all in one policy, and other carriers don't,
and they'll require a separate windstorm policy, and sometimes that
can be confusing for folks. So just having that conversation
with customers as well. Here recently a lot of carriers
have been introducing roof surfaces schedules, so depreciated roof settlements.
(30:30):
That's really important. You need to know, am I going
to get replacement cost on my structure? Do I have
replacement cost on my contents? And then do I have
replacement cost on my roof? Because you might have replacement
cost on your structure but not replacement cost on that roof.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I think that is a huge point that needs to
be made.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
One of the challenges that I know some of my
clients have had is that they were unaware that their
insurance carrier had changed the coverage. Yes, and while they
may have received a notice that they didn't read, potentially
when they receive that renewal, the coverage had dropped and
(31:13):
when they went to fill acclaim, they had no idea. Absolutely,
And so I love what you're saying about renew that
when you every year at your policy renewal, you know,
I may not be able to know how to read
all of that. I'm not in the insurance business, but
go sit down with your insurance agent and go over that.
(31:33):
And so the benefit of having a local person is
to be able to walk into your office and say, Brittany,
can you help me with that? So having a local
insurance agent versus trying to get the cheapest one online
when you have an issue, it's invaluable, right, So talk
(31:54):
a little bit about how that can change and what
you were able to do in that.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, absolutely, so you are absolutely correct.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Policies can change at renewal, and you know the company
will send a notice, often in the mail or if
you're on paperless, sometimes it's email. And in nine times
out of ten, the consumer just doesn't know.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
And so you know, it's really important that you sit down.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I would say, you know, try to annually and just
go back over the policy. Make sure nothing changed, make
sure there's not any updates that you need to make.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
To the policy.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
There are life events that happen, and you know, changes
that you might make to your house, upgrades that you
don't think would have any kind of bearing on a
homeowner's policy, but they do, some do, some don't, and.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
So it's worth the question.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
But also you know on the policy there there are
special limits as well, so things like jewelry and firearms
and valuables that are just not covered the way that
you might want them to be covered, and so sitting
down and reviewing those as well is huge. So I
(33:12):
agree having a local agent number one is valuable because
they give back to your community and they invest in
your community. But also too, you know they are familiar
with this area, and they're familiar with the ins and
outs of the policy and how they work, and they
can really get down into the weeds and answer some
of those questions and make you feel really good about
(33:34):
the policy that you have.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Now talking about those policies, does standard homeowners insurance typically
cover hurricane related flooding?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
So standard hometer's policy does not typically cover hurricane related flooding.
So flood you want to think about. Flood is rising
water from the outside in and it's got to be
two or more acres or two or more properties. So
you know, for example, Harvey was primarily a flood event.
(34:06):
It was a lot of rain and a lot of
rising water that just happened over time, and that's going
to be a separate flood policy. So very important that
you know whether you have a separate flood policy and
if you want one, and you don't have one historically,
and right now there's a thirty day waiting period for
that flood policy. So you can't wait until there's a
(34:27):
hurricane in the Gulf to go out and purchase a
flood policy on a house that you already own.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Now, there are some exceptions to that rule.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
If you're purchasing a home and there's going to be
a mortgage on it, you can purchase that on or
before closing, and you can get around that thirty day
waiting period. But again, these are just questions that your
local agent can help with. So again, very invaluable to
make sure that you've got someone that you trust and
that's honest and very transparent with you.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Well, and what you said about a new homeowner, it
is a new homeowner that flood policy has to be
attached to that house on or before closing. You can't
do that in a couple of days and think, oh,
I'll do this a couple of days after closing. If
you do, you have to wait the thirty days.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Correct. Yeah, there's no way around that. Yeah, absolutely, So.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
That's super important. So what steps should a policy holder
take immediately after hurricane damage occurs?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Great question? Obviously, photos and videos. Photos and videos are invaluable.
You have to have photos and videos of the damage
that has occurred. Second would be mitigate any damage that
has occurred. So, for example, if a hurricane tears a
portion off your roof and there's a hole in your
(35:46):
roof and obviously that water has come in, you know,
you can't just leave that hole wide open until your
adjuster comes out a week or two later. The insurance
company is not going to pay for that edition damage
that happened for because you failed to mitigate that damage.
So it's very important that you do what you need
(36:06):
to do to mitigate any further damage. Obviously, save all receipts,
document to everything for that adjuster, and then let's wait
until the adjuster gives.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
You the go ahead for repairs.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
So go ahead and start contacting contractors getting estimates. If
you can have all of that ready for your adjuster
when they come out and visit with you, that just
sets you a little bit more ahead of the game.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Okay, so real quickly, a final question to wrap this up,
what are the common challenges or pitfalls people face when
following hurricane insurance claims?
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, I think the biggest pitfall or challenge would just
be unaware of their deductible, unaware of their coverage, unaware
of their deductible. They have this expectation that this claim
is going to be covered and damage will be covered,
and it's just it's just not for whatever the reason.
So that would be number one, and then number two
(37:04):
is just improper expectations. When there's a storm event, you know,
you're not the only one, and it bogs down our
claim adjusters and our phone lines. And we really are
working as quickly as we possibly can because any negative
experience impacts us as well. We don't want our customer
(37:26):
to have a negative experience, and so just being kind
and gracious and a little bit patient during those times
is a big deal.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yeah. Well, I've had flooding and Harvey and also an
Amelda and Hurricane Rita went through my roof, so you know,
I've had all the fun with insurance and learn so much.
Thank you, Brittany. And when we come back, we are
going to wrap up our segment with both Britney Barnes
and doctor Bart Foster. So don't go away. This is
(37:56):
the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Ana Simmons.
We have had incredible conversations. This show has been wonderful.
I hope you'll go back and listen to it. It'll
be on the podcast on KLBI and listen. You can
now go to my Spotify. We will upload this as
well as our other shows on Spotify if you want
(38:18):
to go listen to any of the shows we've played
in the past. So Channing has done a great job
getting us on Spotify. Let me let you speak to
Britney one more time, Brittany Britney Barnes with State Farm.
Let's talk a little bit about Let's say someone wants
to contact you and get more information when you're getting
a renewal. That is a great time to price check pricing.
(38:43):
If they want to contact you and see what you
can do, how would they do that?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, absolutely, so they can contact us. However they want
to call, text, email, drop in or online, so phone
number four zero nine eight sixty six britt So eight
sixty six two seven four. They can reach me at
Brittany at Britney Barnes dot com. Just check Google for
the spelling to tease to ease, they can go to
(39:08):
Britney Barnes dot com or they can come right to
our office twenty one oh five Dollen Road, Beaumont, Texas.
But hey, you know, we would love to price those policies,
but we are here to help. So if you just
have questions about your policy, whether it's with us or not,
like we can help you with that and we want.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
To help you with that.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, that's wonderful. Well, Brittany, it's been such a pleasure
having you on the show. Thank you for sharing all
kinds of great information about hurricane hurricane insurance so that
we can make sure that we're prepared in whatever we do. Also,
doctor Bart Foster with Jefferson County Mosquito Control if someone
wants to reach out to you guys again, let's talk
(39:48):
about they can go to the Jefferson County Mosquito Controlled
page or they can also call your office as well.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
Right absolutely, either one work. The phone number is four
nine seven two three and happy.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
To talk with you and I have it saved in
my phone. You may want to save it in yours
as well in case you ever need it. Well, as
you know, this is not the only thing I do
during the week. I also sell real estate. So if
you have any questions about whether you'd like to sell
your home or if you're thinking about buying. We would
love to just sit down and talk to you. There
(40:25):
is absolutely no pressure. We love giving you information as well.
So if you want us to come out and give
you a market value to say, you know, what is
your home worth right now? Is it the right time
for you or not, we would love the opportunity to
do that for you. Or if you are thinking is
now the right time for me to buy, we would
love to sit down and go through our buyer consultation
(40:46):
with you, give you what you would need and how
to do that and see if now is proper for
you or if you need to wait a little bit.
No pressure at all, We want to just educate you
and give you what you need to do that well,
I want to say thank you so much for joining
us on the show this week, and thank you to Brittany,
and thank you to Bart for giving great information to
(41:09):
all of you out there. I hope you are having
a great Saturday. If you don't have a local church
fun one tomorrow, be there. This is the Dana Simmons Show.
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