L is such a little drama queen. She is about 23 years old, but a lot of the time she acts like she is about 12.
The other day she was going into the closet to get out some shoes and she started screeching that there was a Carpenter Ant "Nest" in the closet> Took everything out of the closet and found one ant wandering around looking confused. I put an ant poison bait in the closet just in case. I have a reason for disliking carpenter Ants.
When my son was small we lived in a house that was originally built for the supervisors of the Renton Coal mine. The house predated electricity and running water, so all of the amenities were add-on. Some of the work was pretty bad. When we first found this house, it was condemned because of the septic system. I dug a new drain field for the septic system, and the department of health declared it fit for Human habitation.
It had Two bedrooms upstairs and one down. We decided to take the upstairs, and gave N. the downstairs.
One morning I was jerked out of a sound sleep by N. Bellowing "The carpet's moving, the carpets moving!!!!"
I ran downstairs turned on the light, and sure as shit the carpet WAS moving. A section about 18" square was pulsing up and down. I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew of nothing that could make the carpet pulse up and down like that.
With my heart in my throat and my hands trembling I eased over to the corner of the carpet and flipped it back.
There was a mass of Carpenter Ants several inches thick under the carpet, and they seemed to be trying to move the carpet out of their way. It was really creepy.
At any rate I flipped the carpet back over and did an inspired flamenco on the carpet. After several minutes I ran out of energy and stopped, and pulled back the carpet. The ants were dead or stunned or injured. I quick ran down to the lawn and garden store and bought some ant killer and spread it around. Trouble was I never knew where they had come from.
WHen I bought our current house, there was the stump of an old cherry tree on the property line with the house next door. It has a carpenter ant nest in it. I didn't notice it at first, but R. Pointed it out to me. I went out and she showed me a trail of ants heading towards my house. I told her I would give her a penny a piece for all the ants she could kill. She made a couple of dollars by the time I got the stump pulled and the infestation taken care of. I still see an occasional Carpenter Ant,, but I can't find where they are coming from.
In the back of my head I am still hearing my son screaming "The carpet's moving, the carpets moving!!!!!!"
4 comments:
I would've FREAKED OUT seeing the carpet move!
We have had to have our house treated for termites...when those suckers swarm, it's HORRIFYING. There's bazillions of 'em! We actually found out where they were coming into our bathroom so The PK poked a little hole in the window sill and they started pouring in...so I got out the vacuume cleaner and attached the hose and sucked them up as they emerged. And all the while I was doing it, I was crying....I couldn't figure out what the hell we were going to do.
Usually, I'm not an emotional PQ, but when I figure the Peanut Palace is going to fall crashing all around me, well, damn...it just made me sad and angry!
Know what you mean. I see a carpenter ant occasionally around the house, and I can't help but wonder where they are coming from. I have visions of a great pulsing mass of ants hiding somewhere in the house eating up the foundations.
this was a disturbing story for me! yuck! I do not like ants of any kind.
Dapnewood: yeah, seeing that seething mass of black carpenter ants is something that stuck in my head (unfortunately)
Post a Comment