When The Ants Come Marching In
01/06/18 07:28
My honey-do list is growing by the minute. These are not personal requests, mind you, but things I just have on my plate which require doing. They may or may not please my darlin but that is secondary (don't tell her that.) Some are recurring in that they happen every year around this time and others are one-off's. The black ant thing is an annual event and just like clockwork they appear rummaging around our kitchen like they own the place. I'm generally against extinguishing the existence of god's creatures big and small but make an exception when it comes to sharing our living space with black ants. To say that hearing them crunch underfoot gives me a pleasurable pause might be an understatement but it's true nonetheless.
They also seem to know what fate awaits them should they be seen in open spaces and they frantically scurry back to the nearest crevice or opening when I make an appearance. Knowing what I know about ants and their duty to the queen, the goal is to kill the queen and by extension imperil the colony. Any short term satisfaction I get from hearing them crunch underfoot has to be secondary to the long game of killing the queen and restoring order to our usual ant-free environment.
To that end, I typically employ the use of a poison which, deployed in just the right dosage, has the soldier ants taking the poison back to the queen. Make the concoction too strong and it will kill the soldiers on contact. It needs to be weak enough not to kill them and strong enough to kill the queen once the poison is delivered for her consumption. Once consumed, it is lethal and the queen will get her just desserts. I'm not sure where the ants go once their queen is dead but gone they are. The natural order of things has been restored and my to-do list is shorter by one.
I'm quite satisfied with just how much I've accomplished in servicing the machines we own which typically require annual maintenance of one kind or another. I don't consider myself to be all that handy when it comes to mechanical matters but am willing to surprise myself at just how good I can be when I want to be. I get an occasional glimpse into what it feels like to be satisfied at having done such things although people who do it for a living probably lose perspective over time. I do it so infrequently, mind you, that the learning curve is quite steep and more often than not I need to reference Youtube videos for guidance.
I'm talking about changing spark plugs, changing oil, draining gas, tightening belts and cleaning filters so nothing remotely complicated. Taking things apart is easy. Putting them back together can be an even greater challenge. I'm done with the snowblowers now and I just have the generator left to tend to. I should be running that every now and then but don't do anything religiously so carry that guilt around like a sack of potatoes. Time to make some french fries!
One little irksome task calling out for my attention now is the door that leads out onto our back deck. It isn't opening and shutting well these days and I suspect that the culprit is a strip of wood at the bottom of the door that has swelled over time with exposure to excess moisture. I'm doing my best to plane down the piece of wood but the sweetness of success seems to be eluding me for the moment. Is my analysis correct? What rabbit hole have I gone down now? I'll keep planing away and see if my hunch pans out before I do too much damage to the existing structure. File this under "when you are in a hole, stop digging."
Nancy and I will get out on our bike ride early today since the weather looks like it could take a turn for the worse any moment. Rain is expected but not until later today. And the clouds are just pervasive enough to keep the beach goers at bay and the traffic down on Ocean Boulevard in check. She may well turn around once she gets to the beach club and I will continue on while she turns back and heads for home herself. It's just a matter of her getting up to speed and that will not happen overnight. I've had more than enough of a head start since I have more free time on my hands so can complete my usual route without any trouble. Before long, we'll be starting and finishing together and while our speeds may differ our points of departures and destination will be the same.
They also seem to know what fate awaits them should they be seen in open spaces and they frantically scurry back to the nearest crevice or opening when I make an appearance. Knowing what I know about ants and their duty to the queen, the goal is to kill the queen and by extension imperil the colony. Any short term satisfaction I get from hearing them crunch underfoot has to be secondary to the long game of killing the queen and restoring order to our usual ant-free environment.
To that end, I typically employ the use of a poison which, deployed in just the right dosage, has the soldier ants taking the poison back to the queen. Make the concoction too strong and it will kill the soldiers on contact. It needs to be weak enough not to kill them and strong enough to kill the queen once the poison is delivered for her consumption. Once consumed, it is lethal and the queen will get her just desserts. I'm not sure where the ants go once their queen is dead but gone they are. The natural order of things has been restored and my to-do list is shorter by one.
I'm quite satisfied with just how much I've accomplished in servicing the machines we own which typically require annual maintenance of one kind or another. I don't consider myself to be all that handy when it comes to mechanical matters but am willing to surprise myself at just how good I can be when I want to be. I get an occasional glimpse into what it feels like to be satisfied at having done such things although people who do it for a living probably lose perspective over time. I do it so infrequently, mind you, that the learning curve is quite steep and more often than not I need to reference Youtube videos for guidance.
I'm talking about changing spark plugs, changing oil, draining gas, tightening belts and cleaning filters so nothing remotely complicated. Taking things apart is easy. Putting them back together can be an even greater challenge. I'm done with the snowblowers now and I just have the generator left to tend to. I should be running that every now and then but don't do anything religiously so carry that guilt around like a sack of potatoes. Time to make some french fries!
One little irksome task calling out for my attention now is the door that leads out onto our back deck. It isn't opening and shutting well these days and I suspect that the culprit is a strip of wood at the bottom of the door that has swelled over time with exposure to excess moisture. I'm doing my best to plane down the piece of wood but the sweetness of success seems to be eluding me for the moment. Is my analysis correct? What rabbit hole have I gone down now? I'll keep planing away and see if my hunch pans out before I do too much damage to the existing structure. File this under "when you are in a hole, stop digging."
Nancy and I will get out on our bike ride early today since the weather looks like it could take a turn for the worse any moment. Rain is expected but not until later today. And the clouds are just pervasive enough to keep the beach goers at bay and the traffic down on Ocean Boulevard in check. She may well turn around once she gets to the beach club and I will continue on while she turns back and heads for home herself. It's just a matter of her getting up to speed and that will not happen overnight. I've had more than enough of a head start since I have more free time on my hands so can complete my usual route without any trouble. Before long, we'll be starting and finishing together and while our speeds may differ our points of departures and destination will be the same.