I am grateful that our bug infestations in the PNW exclude scorpions, bed bugs and brown recluses. However, I can't bring myself to be at peace with waking up on the couch to a horde of ants crawling up my afghan and in my hair.
Neither can I abide waking up in the morning and coming downstairs to a kitchen that seems to be alive with an entire anthill. Not a crumb of food or dirty dish to be seen, mind you. The entire counter space, stove top and empty sink were crawling. (and it is of note that the fruitbowl on said counter space that held two ripe bananas was devoid of any Hymenoptera).
Thank goodness that Sunday is Adventure Day. We wiped out the horde, hopped in the car and headed north. Lego store, bit of hiking, and Phở. Standard. Phở is always good for H.K.'s sinuses and my nausea. The exercise is not so much, although as I think I've mentioned, that will hardly stop me. The nausea is settling into its Springtime routine; it swells after I've eaten [anything], when I have forgotten to eat [anything] for more than five hours, and is exacerbated when my sinuses flare. Bring it on -- I'm armed with Phở, Netti Pot, five kinds of nasal spray and even more variations of antihistamine.
Oh my goodness, it's like you live in an episode of Twin Peaks! I initially meant just the beautiful scenery, but the creepy crawlies would fit right in too, come to think of it.
ReplyDeleteMy first year in Atlanta we had "sugar ants" in the kitchen. The solution was to put sweet, poisoned ant bait right outside the kitchen door. They had it so good on the outside, there was no need to come in. Then later, fire ants made a nest in our wiring and ate through the phone lines. When AT&T came out to fix our DSL, the repairman had ant poison in his truck. This happens a lot, apparently. I kept thinking of slasher movies where the killer cuts the phone lines first.
Hah! See, that's the kind of thing that I'm grateful not to have to deal with. I'm deciding what kind of traps I want to put out this year. In the past, they have either not worked at all or only half taken care of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThey abandoned the kitchen this morning and made camp in the bathroom... I think my ants have a significant mutation somewhere in their sensory systems.
Beautiful beautiful pictures!!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the ants...blah. We had success with the sweet poisoned bait for sugar ants also.
I often find nausea to be more debilitating than the pain part of a migraine. While I've learned to work through pain up to 6 out of 10, anything other than the most mild nausea makes me hardly able to move. How do you deal with it?
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm fortunate in that my variety of nausea very rarely results in emesis. To function with the other effects I take ginger supplements and papaya enzyme chew tablets with food. Another surprisingly effective recent tip from Headstrong (see "Science Coterie") was coffee (heavily diluted with rice milk, of course).
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do?