Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Great Ant War (part 2)

We've been ambushed. I woke up this morning to an army of ants on the kitchen counter, pilfering (of all things) my toaster. Apparently little toasted crumbles of goodness are what ant armies crave at 0630 in the morning. NOT my favorite way to start the day. My first thought was "What can I use to get rid of these things quickly, and without poisoning my family?" So out came the Lysol - Or rather, our generic brand Lysol equivalent (Who can afford to spend 5 bucks on name brand cleaner every month?!). I felt like I was in one of those gun-slinging western movies, armed with my spray bottle and ready to fight back. I didn't even give them the count of three before I blasted every one of them away. Of course, as I sprayed, more of their friends came out of the woodwork to fend me off. They were no match for the fat drops of antibacterial spray and the power of citrus. I laughed my evil laugh and holstered my weapon after half an hour (yes, half an hour!) of shooting.  As the smoke cleared, my skin began to crawl as my imagination told me "That one on the far left is moving! I swear it is!" Of course it wasn't.. but I sprayed it again anyway.

I hate ants (Have I mentioned this before?). I am convinced they are remnants of one of the plagues. A plague of ants would have definitely changed my mind about letting God's people go. I would have been like, "OK! Take them! Would you like some gold, too? Some food? Water? Anything else?" I'm sure ants have a wonderful role in nature and all that, but when they enter my house it's a different story. And mostly I despise them because they are so hard to get rid of. Sure, it's easy when they're outside. Use some heavy duty spray or pest dust and... Voila! No ants for 3-6 months. But when it comes to the indoors, you just don't want to use that kind of stuff in certain places. Especially the kitchen. Can you imagine? "Sorry you're so sick, Timmy. Mom had to kill the ants on the counter again. Oh, you made your sandwich on the counter? Well.. Now we know better, don't we?"

As I've stated before, and as experience has taught me, ants typically disappear (both inside and out) when the cold weather arrives. So bring on the cold weather! We're ready. We can handle it. Besides, that gives me a great excuse to get out my cute sweaters and wear my booties!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Random Ramblings

Every now and then (OK, more often than not), I get these random thoughts or ideas. So, I write this stuff down (if I remember to) and look it up later. Right now, for instance, I'm googling "biggest McDonald's play place" in another tab. Having small kids, I thought it might be a cool thing to check out. FYI, it's just south of Orlando, FL. It has an elevator leading up to a kids' treehouse themed area, the usual tubes and slides, a toddler area, and - get this - an arcade. Whoa!


(I did not take this picture, and claim no rights to it, whatsoever.)


In a separate tab, I'm googling pics of something altogether different.. "icebox early 1900s."  I know, random, right? I was thinking yesterday(ish?) that I don't think I've ever seen a real one. I mean, I've seen plenty of refrigerators, come on! But an icebox? Like my great-grandmother used? Nope. Can't say that I have. Apparently there are lots of different sizes of these, and they were made from different types of materials. Like any type of furniture, you could buy the icebox of your liking, or simply whichever type you could afford.  For those of you (if any) who may not know what I'm talking about, an icebox is not just a type of pie. It is (was) the prelude to our present-day refrigerator. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers would buy a block of ice and store it in one compartment of the icebox. Then perishable items such as milk and meat would be kept in a separate compartment, to be kept cold. Of course, the problem with this is that once the ice would melt, Granny had to replace it and clean out the water or empty the tray that caught the water. And I can imagine the icebox didn't keep things too cold for too long.  Thank goodness for current technology!

The fourth tab I have open right now is a search for a cinnamon apples recipe. Yum. Fall is the perfect time for these. Hubbs and I love cinnamon apples, and, having discovered some decently priced manzanas here, I thought I might try to make some. Maybe. If I'm feeling creative enough.


(Again, this photo is not mine. I claim absolutely no rights to it, yadda yadda.)

I'm not sure why I'm telling the world these things, but it does make me happy to think that perhaps someone else out there was wondering "Hey, am I the only one who has intruding random thoughts?" No, Dear Someone. You are not alone.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Great Ant War

Ants ants everywhere, and not a place to sit!

Or, something like that! All summer long we have battled ants outside our home, and over the past few weeks they have been trying to break in. Luckily, my fabulous hubby bought some spray that we can use both inside and out, which seems to be keeping them at bay (Hooray!). Well, a week or so went by with no sign of ants in the house... until a few days ago.

Needing to wash my hands, I turned the knob on the bathroom sink and lo and behold, ants came pouring out of the faucet! They weren't with the flow of water, but rather hidden in the millimeter space around the spout. Now, sometime before this I had watched a few minutes of a documentary about a man who worked with and studied ants.  He found that they leave a scent trail behind them so that other ants will be able to follow them and find food or whatnot.  So, armed with this new information, I smashed each ant I saw (which is very gratifying when you have had ant problems such as we have) and promptly scrubbed the surface of the sink, countertop, faucet, etc, in hopes that any remaining ants would not be tempted to come out. Then, following my husband's instructions, removed the towels from the cabinet under the sink and sprayed liberally inside. Again, this was done as a deterrant. 

I am quite proud to say that I think we may have won this battle, as I have yet to see more than one or two ants since.  However, the war won't completely be over until the cold weather sets in.  Only then will we truly have our house back.  To those of you who are currently fighting the good fight, stand tall! We will divide and conquer!