Humbled by Ants

I’ve beaten two big C’s (Covid and Cancer), parallel roller-coaster rides replete with worries and wins a minute. I still haven’t caught the Covid virus and PET scans hunting for my melanoma, once three months apart, are an extra three months down the road.

Yes, I’ve been diligent with exercise, eating right, cutting down on wine and sugar. I’ve been boosted, infused, and pilled-up, dodging severe illness, even death.

So why can’t manage to keep ants out of my house?

The pest people have sprayed the exterior of my house three times in the last month. One day, they sprayed the inside, so we had to leave the house to air out for a couple hours. Two kinds of little traps I’ve set out haven’t worked. I have done due diligence with cleaning. I even began a cleaning service every two weeks (the ants were a good excuse…I needed to hire cleaners so I could write more.)

My house is spotless, but the ants are still looking for a dropped morsel so they can call all their friends to the tiny feast. I understand why they might roam in my kitchen, but why are they on the hunt in my bathroom, my office, and my walk-in closet?

My plastic jar of honey is their one obsession. The attacked it in my cupboard when it sat on a lazy susan. I cleaned the shelves and the bottle thoroughly with soap and they still located it…even though it sat in a cup on a higher shelf. Last night, I placed the clean bottle on the kitchen island, surely out of reach. This morning, I began to pour honey on my toast, confident my strategy was foolproof. Twenty ants swarmed around the bottle!

I cleaned the bottle again, Windexed the ant trail and wiped away the carcasses. Presently the bottle of honey sits in the ice/water shelf of the refrigerator. Will the ants discover its new location?

Probably.

As I’ve said, ant behavior has rendered me humble. Control is truly an illusion.