Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Invasion

I'm blogging because I'm procrastinating perfecting avoidance techniques. This morning when my husband woke me, he said, "We've got a bit of a problem." Who wants to hear that first thing after opening her eyes? Especially when she's not a morning person?

"The ants are back. And this time they brought the army."

We had a minor problem with ants last fall when we moved in. It was actually kind of strange because we never did find a horde of them like you would normally expect. Always just one here and one there, on one area of the countertop and in the cupboard above. We took everything out of the cupboard more than once...finally Steve caulked all around the inside of the cupboard, as there appeared to be tiny holes where a couple of the shelves met the back, and that wall has no insulation--so they were probably just wandering in from outside. Problem solved, no more ants (except in the bathtub...but that's another story).

Well, yesterday Steve sprayed the seasonal bug-repellent all around the house, and apparently that ticked them off. Maybe it gave them the final push of motivation to finish chewing through the caulk? Can ants chew through caulk?

So my project for the morning is to empty out the cupboard and clear off the countertop so that Steve can work on the problem tonight when he gets home. I shiver at the thought of opening that cupboard door and seeing a swarming sea of tiny brown ants...or having to pick up bottles and jars they're crawling all over...oh ew. Now my skin is crawling. I know, I know, it could be a lot worse things. I know. Anyway, I decided to pour myself a bowl of cereal and catch up on blogs first, but now I've got no excuse; I need to put on my big-girl panties and commit mass anticide.


UPDATE, 9:00 AM: Well, that wasn't nearly so bad as I expected. Maybe it's good to be prepared for the worst...I'd rather expect a nasty situation and have it turn out to be not so bad, than vice versa. The biggest pain was just inspecting all the jars--because of course that's the cupboard with honey, molasses, peanut butter, syrup...yep, pretty much everything sweet and sticky that ants love. Thankfully the only thing they actually managed to get into was the vanilla syrup, which was nearly empty. Here's hoping my brilliant, handy husband can come up with a more permanent fix later today. Good riddance, ants!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It could be worse... we have these horrible stink ants all over the place. When you step on them, there is only one word that I can use to describe the smell-DEATH. Everyone makes fun of me, but I think they smell like death.

Hope you get rid of the ants quickly!!!

Amy said...

I know, Lauren...when I think of what you guys deal with on a daily basis I am such a wimp to complain about a few harmless ants!! Just something to blog about...no one ever said I wasn't a drama queen ;)

Kelly said...

Windex.... Use Windex.

This isn't a permanent fix by any means. However, should you open up a cupboard and find a swarm, spray Windex ALL over them. It will kill them in a matter of minutes....and you can just wipe them out/sweep them up.

Unfortuantely, this is experience talking. ;)

Kat Coble said...

We've had ants from time to time. The last time they invaded our second-story kitchen by climbing up our deck post!

I do admire their determination.

The single best solution I've ever seen for an ant infestation are those ant traps placed at each point of entry.

It's easy as pie--open box (Husband should handle the things as you're pregnant), place little traps on the floor at the doorways and presto. No more ants.

Amy said...

ironically, we have one of those little black ant traps still sitting in the corner of the cupboard from last fall. fat lot of good it did (do those things expire?).

Amanda said...

Alrighty, I know you're pregnant, but I'm hoping this is going to be the last mention of "big-girl panties" on your blog!

:)

Amy said...

hope that wasn't offensive...I heard that expression somewhere and thought it was funny :)