Winning The War

I've always believed it's important to pick and choose your battles. However we sometimes get dragged into skirmishes we would rather not be involved in. I have been raging war for the past decade with the same enemy. This morning I scored a giant victory.

I am convinced that under my neighborhood has to be one of the largest ant metropolitan areas in the entire city. We moved into this house at the end of October, so our foe went unseen for a few months. Then Spring arrived and so did the never ending army.

The first couple years I fought to reclaim the garden area in front of the windows in the front yard. I finally succeeded in taking the hill so to speak when the reconverged in my bathroom wall.

One loose shower tile and we discovered thousands of ants behind it in the wall much to my horror. So R pulled down all the tile and replaced the drywall with concrete.

But they are persist ants, and they simply moved to the back yard. A whole variety of pet safe sprays and powders later they moved again.

This year my bathroom was plagued by sugar ants, but I did a search online and discovered that peppermint oil, which I just happened to have, is a great deterrent.

This morning I went outside to get the paper and put a letter in the box when I saw literally HUNDREDS of the nasty things building 6 different ant hills in the place where my driveway meets the garage floor.

Armed with a gallon of vinegar, which I also read they don't like, I poured it over all of them. Now I know that might seem merciless, but I am fairly certain that ants outnumber human beings 9 billion to one. I refuse to go quietly into the night...or in this case into the house. I noticed that the vinegar had brought the queens out and I know the best way to kill an ant colony is to kill the queen. So I sprinkled the ant powder I had left on top of the hills, and then just for good measure I sprayed the entire mess with Raid.

I know I am not alone in this fight, since I have seen hundreds of ant hills all over the neighborhood. I may not have won the war, but I have taken a small step for all people everywhere who can't escape the encroaching enemy. And some day....as God is my witness *assumes Scarlet O'Hara pose* I shall never have to fight another ant again!