On Sat, 17 Jun 2017 21:14:02 GMT, Sharon
m wrote:

I successfully (I thin) got rid of carpenter bees, only to find that
woodpeckers took their place., but the holes were now long and gouged.

Did you dust the holes before filling them? Likely, the reason the
woodpeckers were going after the wood was that they could hear bees in
the wood. If you didn't dust for the bees, the next brood will hatch
next spring and tunnel their way out. ...and the cycle repeats.

Carpenter bees are a RPITA. Our last house had exposed (fake) beam
ends. The bees _loved_ them. I had to have exterminators out every
spring to dust and fill the holes.

I
filled the holes with a filler, then sanded them, and then I started to stain
them. The stain would not work, and then, way too late in the day of course, I
read the directions on the wood filler, which stated 'non-stainable'. My
question is what can I use to cover, or get rid of those unstainable patches?

Chisel out the filler and start over? Paint?