On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 21:02:45 GMT, Daniel Phillips transmitted this:

I'm not creeped out about bugs. I just don't like destructive ones.
Can't you sympathize with my concern? This is a great house. Old,
interior has wooden walls, lots of property for a suburb. Big trees
that rival most of the ones on the street. This country is accused of
not having good enough safety nets, you know, so it's up to me to take
precautions.

I would guess that unless a queen, or several, very lucky reproductive swarmers
through some bad luck (yours) managed to end up in that bag or dirt, then you'd
have a problem. I was told that subterranean termite workers can't stray too
far from the colony, this by the exterminator that treated my house after my
foot went through my floor. Since then I've sort of become an advocate for
perimeter treatment of houses.

Of course, I still have an old termite nest somewhere underground where our old
shed used to be. They ate the shed, they ate a weakened tree, and the
exterminator says he can't treat the tree stump. Lovely to see the workers
every now and then when I dig a hole to plant something. :P

The thing to always remember is not to let any dirt touch wooden framework, and
if you start finding piles of sawdust/dirt, even if it's near a concrete wall,
call an exterminator before whatever's causing the dirtpiles gets too far into
the house.

Gaping holes in the floor with termites running amok as soon as the tiles are
pulled up isn't even a good reason to end it all, believe me. It's actually fun
chasing them down and getting revenge.

On the other hand, I have no idea how "drywood" termites travel, so...good luck
with the dirt.