ant invasion...

...possibly partially my fault: due to stirring them up yesterday. I went out in the late afternoon to water things that were looking desperately limp and thirsty - you could almost hear them panting for a drink. When moving  the hose as I walked around the perimeter of the beds, I pulled it up and dislodged lots of highly agitated ants. Probably the mean, vicious, biting variety.

I've started to water, after letting nature do the work, as things have gotten dry in recent weeks. Remembering years ago, this was the rainy season, Dog Days, when as I child, it rained every day for weeks on end. Plus possible hurricanes blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico across the Florida panhandle. But since humans in our blissful self-centeredness have tilted the balance of the environment, no longer wet, steamy sticky summers awash with daily rain showers across GA.

When I walked into the kitchen before first light this morning, I saw at least ten thousand busy ants, swarming across the floor, up the cupboard wall and across the counter top. Having a feast on a dirty plate 'Someone' left sitting out overnight. Proving that Nature wins in the end? I am generally reluctant to spray bug killer in the house, mostly due to the greasy residue it leaves wherever you point the aerosol can.

So I went out to get the plastic bottle of Fire Ant Poison and sprinkled ant killer powder all along the trail they were industriously making under the door and across the porch. Sprinkling all around the plate and watching them scatter in distress. Went out in the yard to put some down where they were nesting and disturbed when the hose got moved. And hope the invasion has been halted.

But the powder is 'slippery as owl s**t', and now the floor needs to be mopped. I've cleaned it off the counter top. But left the used plate full of ants and white poison for the person who chose to deposit it on the counter top immediately above the dish-washing machine, instead of putting it in.  I'd actually set myself the goal of getting the kitchen floor cleaned this morning before I have to leave for work at 11:00. But there is, of course, a big difference in doing something because you want to as opposed to Doing It Because You Have To.

PS: I do not like to clean up after other people. If WE ALL did it, cleaned up after our dirty, sloppy, lazy, sorry selves - there would not be a mess left for someone else to have to take care of. From trash, cups, butts, cans tossed out the car window, to empty plastic water bottles dropped on the school playground, to waxed squares of paper given with free cookies at the bakery and casually discarded on the floor of the store, to old tires and appliances disposed of in the ditch, woods or river. Your mama does not work here.