ants

Attention!!!

If you don’t like insects, skip this post!!

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We have ants in our kitchen!

I know it is early for our area,

but here they are!

Below are the responses I have received so far:

A. Oh, Gross!!!

B. What?

C. Cool!!!!

My curious boys shift between “B” and “C” and

I checked off “A” right away, but I am faking a “C” on most days!

Over the 2009 holidays, my middle son received an ant farm as a gift from some friends of ours. I thought maybe we could order the ants over the next several months. Well, the last year was not the best year for ordering ants.

Unfortunately, we had our own free, insect collection sneaking in here and there driving me batty.

We had our usual tiny, brown ants starting in April, the occasional cave crickets, my arch nemesis (which forced my husband to do all the laundry for six months, more about that later) in the basement mid-April, mud dauber wasps in May, a delightful hoard of box-wood beetles in a flower bed in June, a random spurt of horse flies in July, and let me not forget the stinkbugs in August.

I was in no mood to order any insects. Also, I am a big wimp when it comes to creepy, crawly things. On top of that, my sister and I were born with Bionic, Bug Vision; we can spot a spider a mile away. I am not joking! Needless to say, I was exhausted, come September, when we started up home school again.

So, I shoved the ant farm up on a high shelf praying my son would forget all about it. Then, in July, he got another ant farm for his birthday! Yay! Then every month I heard, “When can we order the ants?”

I broke down and must have repressed the entire last year and ordered the ants last month from Uncle Milton!

Last Thursday, they came in a tiny plastic tube, in an envelope, in the mail.

The boys were thrilled.

Their cousins liked them too

I got some books out of the library about ants and did some research online and the boys have enjoyed learning some interesting facts about these amazing insects.

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Things I have learned so far:

I still don’t like ants even if they are contained.

Ants are all type “A” personalities; they never stop working.

They bury their dead.

They communicate through chemicals and their antennas.

Some still have six legs….yuck!

and....

Having an ant farm on your kitchen table

is a great way to lose weight;

you lose your appetite as soon as you see them!!!

Maybe, I’ll keep them through the swim suit season?