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10 April 2020

Unwanted wildlife


I woke up this morning and had a huge surprise… a kitchen full of ants. 

Yes, I said ANTS. Hundreds of the damn things. It took me ages to kill them all. And what a mess. After clearing away the dead bodies I had to scrub the kitchen floor … not the happiest of jobs at my age and my poor back. It made me think! Have I got lazy in my old age or is it because I now pay people to do the jobs for me? Pity nobody was around to help clear the bodies off the floor. 

Re ants: yes, I have a powder that is supposed to kill ants. The only thing was I couldn’t get the lid off the container. I swear the ants were rejoicing at that point, but it wasn’t too long before I was able to poison the damn things.

And then the sun came out! Whoopee!

I dashed out as fast as I could because I didn’t want to miss the miracle of warm sunshine. Of course, that wasn’t the end of my outdoor experience…. completely forgetting I was bordering on insanity I began to strip brown leaves off one of the bushes. By this time my back was squealing.  It took me all my time to limp back to the house. 

I enjoyed the brief attempt at tidying one end of the garden but next time I squeal with delight when the sun shines I shall take myself firmly by the hand and rush back indoors.

Plea…. If anyone sees an ant heading in my direction, please tread on it!

21 comments:

  1. "Plea…. If anyone sees an ant heading in my direction, please tread on it!"

    HA! Valerie, your story reminds me of when I lived in Florida because I would constantly get ants in my kitchen. They would all congregate around the bowl of dry cat food I had on the floor for my cats. However, I eventually discovered something that was GENIUS for deterring ants--peppermint oil--they hate it. So, get yourself a small bottle of "peppermint essential oil"(it's very inexpensive) and place a few drops on cotton balls or cotton rounds under your kitchen cabinets along the floor and I guarantee you'll never see another ant. It's also great for deterring all bugs. You can get the oil on Amazon. And what I really like about the peppermint oil is that it makes your whole house smell fresh and clean.

    Have super weekend, my friend! X

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    1. Thanks, Ron. I will try your recipe forgetting rid of ants. Does the oil poison them or is it just the smell that pus them off?

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    2. It just deters them so that you never see them because of the smell. And the great thing about using it is that's much safer if you have a pet (a cat or dog) because pesticides can be harmful. That was always my concern when I had two cats.

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  2. We get the really tiny ones. My mom called them sugar ants. The just dabbed at them with her thumb and they occasional two or three didn't bother her. Mrs. C gets the skives from them and we also had a few swarms. Now I put some outside poison stakes (on the internet) every year. The ants take the poison to their nest and we have been ant free.

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    1. I worry about putting stuff down in case it kills the cat or makes him ill. I did notice that for several hours he wouldn't touch his food, even though I had put fresh food down.

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  3. Poor thing... that could go for the ant or for you. All kidding aside, I feel for you. I used to have ants even after the exterminator came but our new owners got a new exterminator and I haven't had an ant since. Hallelujah

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    1. I haven't heard of an exterminator but it's probably too late now that I killed so many ants. Someone said I was cruel to kill them... wondering who is right!

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  4. Do you have underfloor heating Valerie? We once lived in a flat with it and the ants came in every winter for their holidays. I am glad you enjoyed some sunshine in the garden.

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    1. No underfloor heating, I'm glad to say. More sunshine, and this time I got the chair out and relished in the warmth.

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  5. I should "knock on wood" but we haven't had ants inside for a few years. They are such a pain to have and to get rid of. I hope yours are gone for a very long time!

    betty

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    1. Hi Betty, my ants didn't get a second chance, I killed the lot in one swoop. I hadn't seen an ant for long time and I hope it's another long time before I see another one.

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  6. Bummer about the ants but I am glad you got to enjoy some magical sunshine. Take care of that back.

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    1. The ants have all gone but sunshine is still here, and I have been out sunbathing Oooh!

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  7. Sorry to read about the ant infestation, Valerie, at least that's what it sounded like. We used to get them on our kitchen counter when we lived in VA and it seems they came in through the electrical outlets as we didn't have a basement. We tried several ways to eliminate them and the one that worked for us, most of the time, was to put a small section of plastic straw with ant kill inside the outlet. Another method which someone told us about was to spray window cleaner on the counter and she swore the ants would not return. I can't recall if we ever tried that method. Glad you were able to get out into the sunshine for awhile.

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  8. I have noted your useful information in case I get more ants.Thank you. So far, so good, right now and my fingers are well crossed.

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  9. Glad you got rid of the ants, some of those lids on containers are almost impossible to get off nowadays.

    Yes the good weather is lovely but gardening and making your back worse is not so good! I'm still suffering neck pain since I had that fall outside. Be careful!

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    1. I will be careful, Joe, and I hope you pain soon goes away.

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  10. That's climate change for you right there. Usually ants appear in summer but it's been so warm in the last couple of days that they couldn't wait to get the bikini and trunks out and enjoy the weather like everyone else. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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    1. LOLOL I am having images now of ants in their summer gear!!

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  11. Ants? I had one in my kitchen last night. Just one. But what a whopper! Biggest ant I've ever seen.

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