Every summer something decides to become the number one pest. Last year it was the wasps. They were everywhere...hovering around the flowers, making nests under the eaves of the house, trying to get water from hoses and grass. I suffered greatly from their angry stings.
Two years ago the number one pest was the frogs...croaking constantly, sticking to the windows with their suction cup feet and sometimes hopping right in through open doors.
This year is the year of the turkeys who make their rounds just about every morning, sitting on, breaking off and scratching up my petunias looking for bugs. Along with the turkey, this is the year of THE MOST PESKY OF ALL...the sugar ants, also known as piss ants.
First of all they figured out how to get into the humming bird feeder which is hanging by a wire from the eave of the house. And during ninety degree weather when our air conditioning stopped working, they were to blame. They had gotten into the inner workings of the heat pump, died there by the dozen and their little ant bodies piled up high enough to stop an electrical connection.
I've seen them all summer long marching in lines across the driveway, through the garden and along their own personal super highway...the hose.
Three mornings ago I was going to make waffles for breakfast, I opened my baking center cupboard where I keep baking supplies, mixer, blender, bread maker etc., and was horrified to see the whole inside crawling with sugar ants! They were scurrying around and up and down among the spices. They had found their way inside a bag of sugar...under the mixer, bread maker and toaster. I could see them scurrying up the walls of the cupboard and across the tops and bottoms of shelves...even under the shelf liner.
Needless to say, breakfast was late that morning as I vacuumed up, wiped down and cleaned like never before.
For the moment we are ant free, but you never know what they are planning, where they are heading or when they will next be discovered.
