The Year of the Sugar Ants

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.

Gardens are great!

Zucchini

I can never get it right...I always end up with zucchini coming out of my ears in the summer. The first year I had a garden I didn't know any better and planted the whole packet of seeds. The huge plants took over almost the entire garden and demanded tons of water. The rate of grow was staggering...I could harvest at least a half a dozen zucchinis every day. We ate them, we gave them away we threw them out for the deer to eat and some just got left where they were. One time I didn't make it out to the garden for a about three days and when I did venture out there I came upon a zucchini that actually scared me and made me gasp it was so big. My first thought was that it was some sort of animal laying there.

Every year since then I have planted a few less zucchini seeds, but I still have tons of them. This year I planted two seeds and guess what...they are everywhere! I'm desparately looking for that zucchini relish recipe that my Mom used to use.

They're Bustin' Out!

The tiny occupants of the bird house I've been watching for most of the summer are ready to bust out! It took forever for the parent birds to build the nest in the first place; one of the birds was very fussy - I watched both of them spend their days hauling in sticks and fuzz, and occasionally I saw HER throw out some of the sticks and white fuzz that weren't to her satisfaction.

For weeks it seems like the pair was just using the house as their summer cottage but eventually I started hearing the tiniest peeping sound. And the parents began making frequent deliveries of worms and bugs. Each day the peeping became louder and more intense and the parents could barely keep up with the demand for food!.. more food!

Yesterday I started to see little heads and yellow beeks looking out of the round door of the house. I knew the time was nigh. And today I happened to be watching when one little curious head stretched out so far that the rest of the body came with it and the little bird found itself perched on the limb attached to the house. It teetered there for a few seconds before it lunged for safety and disappeared back into the round door.

I'm sure that it's just a matter of days or even hours before the baby wrens are out into the world hunting their own bugs and worms. Maybe they'll come back to visit the old homestead once in a while...maybe even spend the night?

I Saved a Life Today

If we leave our garage open during the day, humming birds fly in. The problem is that they are unable to figure out how to get back out - they fly around the ceiling and buzz around the windows until they are so weak they can't fly any more. And when that happens they become victims of the kitties.

I bought a butterfly net just for the purpose of catching these tiny birds that get trapped. And this morning I caught another one...taking it's picture before I opened my hand and sent it buzzing off into the sky.

shoes

I had done it only once before - when I worked for the telephone company in Anchorage. As I entered the building and walked up the hall, I looked down at my feet and saw to my horror that I was wearing not only two different sandels but they were different colors. My excuse was that I got dressed in the dark that morning, which was true.

This time, I was at church this morning, walking down the hall. I sort of felt like I was limping so I looked down at my feet and saw, once again, that I had two different shoes on. At least this time they were the same color.

I received a few comments and snickers, but it wasn't until I returned home later that I thought of what my reply should have been. "Why thank you, I have another pair just like them at home."

I Have Eaten Worms!

Cherries have always been my favorite fruit...ever since I can remember. I'd rather have a cherry pie than a birthday cake. And I can eat all the Bing cherries I want in the summertime with no adverse affects. So, on a drive through the mountains one afternoon just above Tum Tum, near our house, I passed by a HUGE cherry tree. It must have been planted when the pioneers or the early Indians roamed the country. It was at least 40 feet tall...or as tall as the ceiling in our ward chapel. And most amazing of all, every branch was covered, laden and drooping with red cherries!

As I filled a grocery bag I wondered why no one else seemed to be interested in this tree. Oh well, all the more for me, as I grabbed handful after handful of the precious fruit and once in a while popped one into my mouth.

After washing the cherries it was a long and tedious task (since I don't have a cherry pitter) to cut the pit out of each and every one. Finally, when I had a big pot full, I added water and sugar and set it on the warm burner of the stove. As I waited for the mixture to warm up and start boiling, I started to see little white things floating in the warm water. As I watched, the water got warmer and warmer and the white things began to wiggle!

The lesson of this story is to never eat the fruit of a wild and uncared-for cherry tree. My sister Rosalin said that once a tree is invested like that the only solution is to chop it down. And she thinks that there may be more to the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree.