What we really did for Earth Day

So nobody commented on our Earth Day excursions. In reality, maybe I was pmsing a bit when I wrote that. ;) But we did actually have the exterminator out that day to spray for ants outside. I have never had a bug guy out to my house. You might say that even though the gov't says it's safe, I'm a skeptic and I'd rather not have all that stuff around the house. However...

Every spring, we get ants in here for a few weeks while it's quite wet in March/April. This year has been flood city. We're just drowning here in the midwest. It makes me sad that we can't send it all out to my brother in CA, whose favorite hiking grounds have gone up in flames this week. I'm not sure of the source of this photo or I'd leave a link but I think pictures really do speak 1,000 words or more.


Anyway, so we're flooded out here...and apparently so are the ants. They've come to my home for refuge (I mean, come on...I have 4 kids under the age of 8. I obviously have lots of cheerios and crumbs all over my floors! It's ant heaven!). I was willing to work with them for a while and then they just took over in a major way. Usually when it starts drying out each spring, they leave. But not this year. So we called Ant Man. Bless his soul, they were gone almost immediately...I certainly didn't expect THAT quick of a response. But I'm glad. I have one trail left open and I put down some Terro stuff and they are soooo happy to have it. [evil mode] All my little worker monkeys are doing my bidding...and they will have very bad tummy aches tonight! mwahhhaaaaahaaaahaaaaaa... [end evil mode] But even doing such evil things to the little pests, we did learn a lot about ants. Ant Man told us many interesting things about them. Did you know that when they sense a sick ant, they will grab him and drag him away from the colony to die alone? It sounds cruel but it makes sense. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" I suppose it's similar in thought to leper colonies of ancient times. But, true to form, a couple days after Ant Man came, we did find our driveway lined with piles of dead ants.

However, we did do our part for Mother Earth as well on Earth Day. Hubby and the kids did a lot of dividing and transplanting our larger plants outside. They moved a lot of plants to the front garden to weed out the back. And on our trip to the Botanical Gardens last week, I did get some herbs to grow and potted those as well. So all in all, maybe we evened out?? ;)

This afternoon, we're headed to a super big annual used book fair. MECCA for homeschoolers!! :) I guess tomorrow's post will be about our finds. :)