Fast Fiction

I went out today for a few hours (to pick up a red windbreaker for my whale-watch trip tomorrow) and when I got back to the house, I entered to find a huge mass of ants by the back door.

They were in a steady line from the door to the dogfood bowl. Grrrr.

I have to say, I fed the dog this morning and rinsed out her water dish and I saw no evidence of ants. I came back and there they were, in full force.

I wiped them up and of course scrubbed the bowls and put the mat for the bowls outside. I wiped up all the ants with a sponge. Then I put some boric acid along the door opening. Sadly, when I went back in the kitchen about an hour later, they were still plugging away, not with no particular aim because I’d taken away the one food source they had access too (the fantabulous new pantry really doesn’t allow for infestations by crawly creatures).

The second time around I cleaned them up and got out the big guns. I don’t care for using pesticides, but I also don’t like my dog shunning her food and water because of ants. I sprayed a few spots where I could see them streaming up the side of the house between the shingles, hopefully that’ll dissuade them from coming back. I checked a little while ago and saw only a few, which I think are just ones I missed when I was wiping the other ones up/out.

I wonder if it’s safe to put the dog bowls back down again?

UPDATE: 1/10/2005 - This morning I found that the ants were no longer coming in under the door. This time through the window over the sink and were just covering the new little rosemary bonsai we got for the holidays, the counters, in the sink and all over the toaster and rice cooker. Feh! I spent a half an hour cleaning them off and headed to work. Who knows that they’ll attack next?