Friday night at dinner with The Sister-in-Law and Brother-in-Law, we learned that fire ants are once again taking over Nanny's yard. Until this summer, The Husband and I did the yard-mowing for Nanny, and we stayed on top of the fire ant problem. Every time we'd see a new hill pop up, we'd dose it with fire ant granules or some home-made treatment. Nothing solved the problem - the survivors will just start a new colony elsewhere - but it kept them at somewhat at bay. But, for some unknown reason, the B-i-L took it upon himself to do the mowing at Nanny's this summer. Since The Husband and I haven't been all over the yard as we've done in past years, the ants have had a field day in our absence. At dinner, the B-i-L said he mowed over about 20 ant hills last weekend. We said know the routine and would do something about the problem.
So late yesterday morning, we got on it.
We had a large bag of "mound destroyer" left over from last year. The package directions said to sprinkle the granules on the mound, then drench the mound (very gently) with a gallon or so of water. You've read mentions of Nanny's l-o-n-g driveway; this is mostly where the ants are. (I guess they're running from the farming of the surrounding fields.) How are we to get water to the mounds all the way down that driveway, except with a watering can? And each mound requires a whole can full.
The Husband came up with a plan. He said he'd fill the tractor bucket with water and drive behind me as I dosed the hills.
I saw a problem with this plan the instant he voiced it. Visions flashed through my mind; water sloshing out of the bucket as the tractor moved; me, trying to fill up a watering can (it "gently sprinkles") from buckets; The Husband, seated on the tractor, while I did the work.
And me with a bad knee.
My thoughts must have shown on my face, for before I could open my mouth in protest, he started to back-track. Maybe we could fill 5-gallon buckets with water and set them in the tractor bucket, he said. I said maybe we could set them on the tailgate of his truck, since I know how to drive the truck.
We ended up tabling the water issue until we'd put granules on all the mounds. But we ran out of granules before we got to all the hills (there were far more than 20). To finish the job, we'd have to get more ant stuff. It was well after noon by then, and we had plans to attend a grandchild event that evening. A trip to the store and back would cost us an hour, then we'd have to finish treating the mounds and then do the watering, and shower and dress in time to be at our event. We decided to tack the trip to the store onto the front end of the grandchild event and finish the ant-eradication job today.
Nanny had walked with us to help spot mounds, and she overheard our discussion. She hadn't known about the great-grandchild (to her) event, and her feelings were a little hurt. The Husband invited her to go with us, and she accepted. We picked her up a little after 5.
The event we were attending was a "band showcase," where the marching bands from each of the county's three high schools were to perform their halftime shows. The first band was to take the field at 7:30. Considering the parking issue, we knew we'd best get there by 6:30 or risk walking a mile to the stadium.
It turned out that we'd left the house way too early. We'd come up with several errands to run before the band event, but they had not taken as long as we'd expected. To kill time, and because nobody had eaten, we stopped at Sonic for drinks and snacks. Nanny ordered a hot dog, which she smeared with mustard, which she later discovered had dripped onto her pants and shirt. She was mortified to have to go out in public with mustard on her clothes and berated herself all the way to the stadium.
The band showcase was very enjoyable to old band parents like us. Two of the county's bands are very large and impressive, and when they turn those horns toward the stands and let loose full blast, it'll give you chills. Every parent, grandparent, and great-grandparent in the place applauded and cheered for the "other" bands as heartily as they did for their own. And the band kids, not competing for titles and trophies on this occasion, mixed and mingled like old friends. It was heart-warming.
I had hoped to draw and paint today, but we've still got ant destruction on the agenda. We bought TWO more big bags of ant stuff - one mound destroyer, one to broadcast with a spreader. We know we're fighting a losing battle, as there are ant mounds all over the fields that we won't be able to treat, but maybe we can keep them at bay for a little while.
We may not have SO many mounds to water today. It sprinkled here yesterday afternoon, maybe enough to wet the mounds, maybe not. Yesterday, started an experiment; I watered just two of the mounds with a watering can, and today I am going to disturb the mounds to see if ants come streaming out, and if there is a difference between the ones I watered and the ones I didn't. If the rain was enough to do the job, we'll only have to water the mounds that we treat today (fingers crossed). But I already know one thing: if we have to water them all, I'm doing the driving. ;)
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