We've had a lot of rain lately. Buckets. I mean, I'm no meteorologist, but ten straight days of (almost) all day, drenching rain is a lot. The Shenandoah and Potomac are a raging, muddy torrent. It's kinda crazy. Yesterday and today we had a bit of a respite from the downpour, and have gotten a glimpse of gorgeous weather. The kind of gorgeous that motivates this tired, aching pregnant body to push 70lbs. of toddler (that's the combined weight of two toddlers, not one massively overweight toddler!) + double stroller up our torturous hill.
Anyway, there's a downside. No creature likes that much rain. So, they start looking for new digs, and apparently, our house has some kind of ant vacancy sign plastered on it. These are some crazy sized ants, too. There are the ridiculously enormous ones - these guys are like big, plump raisin-sized dudes! They have an audible CRUNCH when you step on them. BIG. They found the syrup, and I found them (when Kyler wasn't home, naturally, so I couldn't pawn it off on him...grrrr...)
Then there are the annoyingly miniscule all-in-a-line-on-a-mission ants. It has taken me the better part of a week to figure out what the heck they have been after. They climb the kitchen bookshelf (yes, we have a bookshelf in our kitchen...think cheap makeshift pantry) and onto one shelf only. They didn't seem to be interested in any of the yummy things on any other shelf, just this one. So, I unloaded the shelf and put the things across the kitchen. Contrary to my prior experience with ants, these guys were dumb. They did not track down the contents of said shelf across the room. They just stopped coming. I did not find ants in our cereal, or anything else on the shelf for that matter, so that night I put everything back. Two days later, the ants reappeared. Same story, second verse. Go figure.
I guess I should be thankful. These ants don't bite (well, not yet). In Texas, the ants bite, and it hurts. (Hence the name, fire ants.) They are really terrible, and I'm allergic to them (seriously, I get huge welps from one tiny bite). These just go about their business, ignoring whether or not they are crawling on a person. Kayden and Cameron have desperately tried to adopt and play with the ones they find, much to my chagrin. Anyway...
It wasn't until yesterday that I really started tearing things apart trying to figure out why the ants didn't seem to be following the food across the kitchen. And, I was curious as to why many of the ants seemed to have dropped out of line to take a little nap on my shelf. They weren't dead, just sitting there having a little siesta. Then I checked the plastic storage drawers we have next to the kitchen bookshelf and VOILA! found the object of the ants' sporadic journeying. The top drawer contains all of our kiddie medicine droppers, gas drops, etc. AAAAND....cherry flavored Children's Tylenol. Apparently, there was a yummy little line of sticky, dried Tylenol on the side of the bottle drawing these little guys. And they were lapping it up, and drugging themselves into Tylenol-induced ant comas on the way home. Seeing as how the dosing guidelines suggest asking a doctor before administering to a child that weighs less than 24lbs., these guys were into some serious painkillers. Too funny! :)
Now, to keep them out of the house altogether...
Anyway, there's a downside. No creature likes that much rain. So, they start looking for new digs, and apparently, our house has some kind of ant vacancy sign plastered on it. These are some crazy sized ants, too. There are the ridiculously enormous ones - these guys are like big, plump raisin-sized dudes! They have an audible CRUNCH when you step on them. BIG. They found the syrup, and I found them (when Kyler wasn't home, naturally, so I couldn't pawn it off on him...grrrr...)
Then there are the annoyingly miniscule all-in-a-line-on-a-mission ants. It has taken me the better part of a week to figure out what the heck they have been after. They climb the kitchen bookshelf (yes, we have a bookshelf in our kitchen...think cheap makeshift pantry) and onto one shelf only. They didn't seem to be interested in any of the yummy things on any other shelf, just this one. So, I unloaded the shelf and put the things across the kitchen. Contrary to my prior experience with ants, these guys were dumb. They did not track down the contents of said shelf across the room. They just stopped coming. I did not find ants in our cereal, or anything else on the shelf for that matter, so that night I put everything back. Two days later, the ants reappeared. Same story, second verse. Go figure.
I guess I should be thankful. These ants don't bite (well, not yet). In Texas, the ants bite, and it hurts. (Hence the name, fire ants.) They are really terrible, and I'm allergic to them (seriously, I get huge welps from one tiny bite). These just go about their business, ignoring whether or not they are crawling on a person. Kayden and Cameron have desperately tried to adopt and play with the ones they find, much to my chagrin. Anyway...
It wasn't until yesterday that I really started tearing things apart trying to figure out why the ants didn't seem to be following the food across the kitchen. And, I was curious as to why many of the ants seemed to have dropped out of line to take a little nap on my shelf. They weren't dead, just sitting there having a little siesta. Then I checked the plastic storage drawers we have next to the kitchen bookshelf and VOILA! found the object of the ants' sporadic journeying. The top drawer contains all of our kiddie medicine droppers, gas drops, etc. AAAAND....cherry flavored Children's Tylenol. Apparently, there was a yummy little line of sticky, dried Tylenol on the side of the bottle drawing these little guys. And they were lapping it up, and drugging themselves into Tylenol-induced ant comas on the way home. Seeing as how the dosing guidelines suggest asking a doctor before administering to a child that weighs less than 24lbs., these guys were into some serious painkillers. Too funny! :)
Now, to keep them out of the house altogether...
No comments:
Post a Comment