Nothing Like An Ant Invasion to Get You All Wigged Out

DISCLOSURE: If the posting about half-eaten chocolate made you feel sort of creepy-crawly, you may not want to read any further. However, you enjoyed in some sick way being freaked out, double click on the fotos and get a serious close up of the action.

Way back in March, Josh went to Maharastra to wander through centuries-old Buddhist caves and bond with other Fulbrighters. I stayed at home to wander through Kafka and bond with Hemingway--a combination that left me feeling totally existentially distressed and craving large amounts of whiskey. But that is neither here nor there. Although my chosen company was a bit intense, I was appreciating the solitude and quiet space....UNTIL...

ANTS INVADED OUR HOME! I am not even kidding. This was not a matter of a few ants scrambling for food scraps in the kitchen or meandering aimlessly through the living room. I woke up one morning, went to the kitchen to make myself a cup of delicate Darjeeling tea and literally THOUSANDS of ants were moving their entire nest from somewhere outside the kitchen window to the hole behind the kitchen faucet. The busy little workers were trudging along with eggs on their backs and provisions for their new home. I was paralyzed with disgust. And where was my husband when I desperately wanted someone else to deal with this madness? AWAY!!



I proceeded to wave my hands uselessly and emit a sort of low-frequency shriek. And then I left the kitchen and pretended it had never happened. A couple of hours later, I snuck back up the the kitchen door and peeked in. They were gone. Phew. I took some deep breathes and made that postponed cup of tea.

BUT THE MADNESS WASN'T OVER!! Later that afternoon, I pulled my head out of Kafka and headed back to the kitchen where....the ants were on the move again!!!! They were quickly and methodically relocating to a crack in the corner of the bathroom, streaming by the thousands along the kitchen wall. At this point, I totally lost it. Maybe it was the Kafka. Maybe it was the Hemingway. Maybe it was the inch-wide trail of insects rampaging through my home. I decided to take action.

I calmly (sort of) filled up bucket after bucket of water and poured it over the ants on the wall and the floor and swept them down the drain as those who'd so far escaped the water continued busily on their way. I poured and swept and poured and swept. BUT THEY KEPT COMING.



So I left the house. And contemplated never going back. But upon further consideration, decided that I would NOT be evicted by ants. Back at home, the ants stayed (mostly) in their hole. I kept the buckets and broom at the ready. And my husband came home, which helped. There's strength in numbers. We all seem to have struck up a rather symbiotic relationship now. Josh put the trash can outside and they can dig through that as much as they like. But if they come into the kitchen, there is a flood of Biblical proportions awaiting them...


Paz y Amor
J&J