The Ants Go Marching, Dammit!

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 4:29 pm by willduquette

The Ants Go Marching, Dammit! 2014-12-23T16:29:06-05:00 willduquette

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Of all God’s creatures, the ones I find to be the most inconvenient are the common “little black ants”, which a website at Texas A&M tells me are almost certainly Monomorium minimum. They are common all over the Los Angeles area, and they are the only kind I’ve actually seen invade my house. Sometimes they’ll come in for food, but more usually they seem to be seeking water.

In our previous house, we learned that we needed to disconnect the garden hose from the faucet by the back door when we were done with it. Otherwise, the ants would crawl up the outside of the house to the faucet, and then follow the pipe into the wall and thence into our kitchen cabinetry.

One summer in that same house I woke up with a creepy-crawling feeling—and there were little black ants all over the bed. They were coming up the outside wall, through the bedroom window, and down the wall into bed with us. As I recall, we moved the bed away from the wall, stripped it, put the bed clothes in the washing machine, applied insecticide as seemed good to us, took showers, and then didn’t sleep much.

The good side is, while it’s revolting to have ants on you, they don’t bite. They squish easily, and you can wipe them off of a counter with a sponge. Rinse in the sink and they go down the drain, and they con’t come back.

In our current house we don’t seem them very often. When we do, it’s usually in the heat of summer, and they come into the kitchen for water. When it happens, I figure out where they are coming in, and then go track the train back to the nest. Usually it’s the nest under the bush about six feet or so northwest of the northwest corner of the house. And so I spray the nest, and the trail, and we clean up inside, and have nothing to worry about for a while.

Sometimes it’s the nest just east of the driveway, but usually it’s the nest northwest of the house.

So, we are in the middle of a nasty, nasty drought here in California. We have not been watering our yard much. Everything is bone dry.

So yesterday evening (Sunday, as I write this), we found ants on the kitchen counter. I sent the boys out to scout around, and sure enough it was the nest to the northwest of the house. But there was another column almost all of the way to house from the nest to the west of the driveway. That’s where the garbage cans sit, so they usually find enough to keep them busy without bothering us in the house.

We sprayed both trails and nests, and cleaned up the stragglers, and this morning all was good, except that I needed to clean a bunch of ants out of my Mr. Coffee. (For the record, I ran two pots of hot water, and then hot water and vinegar, and then a couple of more pots of hot water to get rid of the vinegar.)

So this evening (Monday) we spotted more aunts coming in a different window on the north side of the kitchen. I went out with my trusty iPhone (it has a flashlight) and bug spray, and found the trail…going to a new nest in the middle of the patio to the north of the house. Joy! And I’ve sprayed that, and we’ve cleaned up the stragglers (and the counter), and I think we’ve got them contained.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

Random Barkings

ants

summer

Previous Post

September 2, 2014

Review: Ancient Shores, by Jack McDevitt

Next Post

September 4, 2014 Hedy Lamarr is a Beautiful Gal

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Admin App o' the Morning Ask the Dogmat Believing Thomas Bits of Fiction Blasts from the Past Bootstrapping the Interior Life Catholic Mom Christian Living Deep Thoughts from the Doghouse Dominicana Evangelii Gaudium Interviews It Was A Dark and Stormy Night Links to This and That Lumen Fidei Meme Watch On Writing Operation Gratitude Pedant Errant Photography Quill Random Barkings S'Mary's World Shakers of Salt Software Development The Dog Whistler The Dogmat Sez Third Orders Thomas Aquinas Uncategorized Vikings at Dinos Woof Guide to Cinema Woof Guide to History Woof Guide to Literature Woof Guide to Obscure Catholic Music Woof Guide to Philosophy Woof Guide to Popular Music Woof Guide to Technology Woof Guide to Theology Words I Wish I'd Written Works For Me

Select a Month September 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "be salt and light" mean in Jesus' teaching?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Be a good example Be invisible Lose your flavor Change nothing