June 16, 2003
Invasion!!!
While checking on my in-law's house, my wife noticed a few ants milling about. Then she noticed a few more. Then a few more. Then she noticed that they were everywhere! Well, after a phone call to me, it was decided that I would drop the boy off at his Grandma's house after work and head over there to wage war with the little invaders!
I stopped in a Canadian Tire to pick up some ant bait and thought that I would follow the United States with a "shock and awe" approach to ant control. So I bought several different kinds of bait to try and nip this problem in the bud, as it were. When I arrived at the scene, I first inspected the perimeter to see if I could see the enemies' POE, or Point Of Entry. There was no activity outside so I moved inside to do a little reconnaissance, first inspecting the kitchen, then setting up an observation post in the TV area. There I waited for troop movement. After a few minutes, I noticed a few stray soldiers marching north toward the kitchen I slowly followed them until I found their target. The in-laws had left a crock containing,of all things, honey! So, I removed the crock and looked inside to see what looked like a mass grave. There was at least 100 dead bodies in there, apparently a suicide mission! After cleaning out the crock and other potential targets, I took to leaving the bait traps everywhere. I deployed 2 by the door, one where the honey was, and one on the counter just before the final climb to the honey, where they seemed to congregate. I also used the soapy cloth I had left over from cleaning the honey container to wipe some of the counter and the floor, hopefully removing the pheromone trail. I observed a little later that the ants seemed to get confused when they reached these "clean" parts, so I grabbed the soap container and heavily soaped the suspected entry point by the front door, to slow down, if not eliminate the enemies entrance. I left the battle and will check back tomorrow....