My archenemies returned

The ants are back in my kitchen. Just like always, it started with one on Friday. Then there were a couple on Saturday. And three more Sunday. And today they're coming in droves - I've already killed about ten.

I don't mess around with ants. I called the Ant Man. (I'm myrmecophobic) This will be his third visit to our house in four years. The first visit, he determined we had a satellite nest actually in our house. The next year we found its remnants under our side stairs. The second visit, last year, he thought we might have a nest starting in the attic. No idea what their deal is this year; they seem to be coming in from about the kitchen window. I will let Ant Man be the judge. Typically after his visits, they immediately stop entering the house.

Tomorrow he'll do his inspection. I don't know how I'll manage until he can do the treatment. Disgusting six-legged freaks. Until they are gone I live with a constant uneasy feeling, waiting for them to creep or dash suddenly out of nowhere. *shudder*

Return of the Ants

The ants are back. They have taken over my kitchen. I am officially surrendering it to them. I cannot get the dishwasher unloaded and reloaded without one surprising me, so I quit. Now, they will be able to find food, and they will invite friends, and they will make a tent and decide to stay. I don't see them anywhere outside - just in my kitchen. I think they already decided to live there.

Ant remediation and property lines

The husband has handled the ant problem. He sprayed, and poisoned, and put out death bait. I'm sure it helps that it got cold again, too. Knock on wood - there have been no ants in the house this week. This is extraordinarily exciting for me, and if it keeps up, I can stop obsessively searching the bed every night and my socks every morning. Last week, there was a day of winged ant infestation in my kitchen window. I made the husband handle it, which he did. Because it was so gross.

Then we discovered a problem of a different nature - we found out our property line is different than we thought it was. Our neighbors apparently put up a fence inside their property line. I am not sure why they would do this. There is no gate, or anything, just a fence, and then a strip of land a few feet across, and then our property apparently starts. We had just been assuming that the property line started at the fence - but instead it starts at this decades-old retaining wall, which clearly runs between two metal posts. The posts are actually mentioned in the deed. Obviously we failed to do our due-diligence here (not that it would have mattered to us at the time of purchase, but still a failure). It's a bit disappointing to find out that you don't own a strip of land, however small, that you thought was yours.

Ants are back

Unfortunately, it seems like winter has stopped pretending to exist and completely given up and it's intermittently floating up into the 70's every few days. So earlier this week I went to put the recycling out on the curb and.... THERE WAS AN ANT. He was sitting in the recycling. He was pretty sluggish - probably just woke up and came out of the ground and was enjoying his first good meal for months.

Then it kind of got cold again and ... I mean... he was outside, so... not so awful yet, right? But... today... I found two dead ants in my living room. THEY ARE BACK. I begged the husband to put out bait, but he said we should avoid attracting them unnecessarily. Maybe I can convince him to spray the foundation this weekend at least.

I will now spend the weekend feverishly cleaning my house so as to not attract them.

Also... I have no idea how they wound up dead on the floor??