Pat24601
Well-Known Member
This story has nothing to do with fish, but it reminded of one of @Paul B stories, so I thought I'd share.
So, I live in Georgia now where they make real bugs. I spent most of my life up north and I only thought I knew what bugs were. Once I moved to Georgia, I saw scorpions, cockroaches the size of a small car, and ants that will attack and do real damage to people. It was then I realized what real bugs were.
Now, the good thing is most of these bugs prefer to be outdoors not like the small, but super gross roaches from up north. But, that doesn't stop the occasional mailman sized cockroach from bursting through the front door, ripping the remote control from my 4 year old's hands, and watching his favorite TV show, which apparently is a fairly boring documentary on landfills. But, I digress.
So, we try to keep our house super clean because we fear bug incursions. However, I have been letting the kids have a bedtime snack by my bed and while I try to be really careful about cleaning up after, I guess there is only so much you can keep ant size crumbs from developing because all the sudden I had ants by my nightstand.
Now, ants are small and I don't fear them and it was "only a few", but if you are anything like me, having one ant crawl on you while you are falling asleep makes me feel about 100 ants crawling on me while I'm trying to sleep. 99 of those 100 are probably entirely fictional and in my head, but one might actually be real and therein the problem lies.
We've never dealt with this problem before, but naturally I want to run out and buy some poison and kill the ants RIGHT NOW because I don't want ants crawling on me while I'm falling asleep...or even worse thinking they might be crawling on me. It's really the psychology of it that's the problem. The ant itself isn't any real threat.
But, my wife says, "Hey, we pay an exterminator on a retainer to keep bugs out of our house let's just call him!". BTW, having an exterminator on retainer is a VERY normal thing to do in Georgia because of those bus sized cockroaches. Actually, it's even more about the termites, but I digress.
So, after a few days of me hoping it's only a few ants and maybe I killed them all I realize they just keep coming if only in small numbers. So, my wife calls the exterminator and he says sure. He can be here in 3 days. So, that's 3 more days of me thinking I have ants crawling on me when I probably don't, but I figure @Paul B dealt with way worse stuff in Vietnam, so I tough it out.
The exterminator comes by and tells my wife he doesn't see any ants because they are nocturnal ants and it's daytime. So, he can't do anything.
I scream when she tells me.
So, she calls him back and he says he can be by on Monday (tomorrow). This was Friday. What he will do when he just told her he can't do anything, I don't know. But, maybe he'll come again and say he doesn't see any because it's daytime and they are nocturnal. That was clearly super helpful the last time.
I say I just can't take that and I run out to Home Depot and buy Terro Liquid Ant Killer. I read reviews online and as a Borax base it's supposed to be human safe and ant deadly.
My wife hears the words "Borax" and says "that sounds awful!" because she fears pesticides. So, I point her to the articles that say it's not so bad. She isn't really convinced I know what I'm doing, but she's very convinced I'm doing it no matter what she says, so she lets it go.
I put the ant bait down and a virtual army of ants storm it. Probably sugar ants not army ants, but anyway a bunch of them. I'm stunned at how many ants there are as I've never seen more than a couple at a time before.
I start to fear we've entered an age of an ant plague of biblical proportions and I sleep in another room.
24 hours later no ants anywhere. Not one.
That stuff really friggin works. I should have done it in the first place. A lot of drama trying to get someone else to do something that $5 and about 10 minutes solved easily.
Lesson to learn, I guess.
So, I live in Georgia now where they make real bugs. I spent most of my life up north and I only thought I knew what bugs were. Once I moved to Georgia, I saw scorpions, cockroaches the size of a small car, and ants that will attack and do real damage to people. It was then I realized what real bugs were.
Now, the good thing is most of these bugs prefer to be outdoors not like the small, but super gross roaches from up north. But, that doesn't stop the occasional mailman sized cockroach from bursting through the front door, ripping the remote control from my 4 year old's hands, and watching his favorite TV show, which apparently is a fairly boring documentary on landfills. But, I digress.
So, we try to keep our house super clean because we fear bug incursions. However, I have been letting the kids have a bedtime snack by my bed and while I try to be really careful about cleaning up after, I guess there is only so much you can keep ant size crumbs from developing because all the sudden I had ants by my nightstand.
Now, ants are small and I don't fear them and it was "only a few", but if you are anything like me, having one ant crawl on you while you are falling asleep makes me feel about 100 ants crawling on me while I'm trying to sleep. 99 of those 100 are probably entirely fictional and in my head, but one might actually be real and therein the problem lies.
We've never dealt with this problem before, but naturally I want to run out and buy some poison and kill the ants RIGHT NOW because I don't want ants crawling on me while I'm falling asleep...or even worse thinking they might be crawling on me. It's really the psychology of it that's the problem. The ant itself isn't any real threat.
But, my wife says, "Hey, we pay an exterminator on a retainer to keep bugs out of our house let's just call him!". BTW, having an exterminator on retainer is a VERY normal thing to do in Georgia because of those bus sized cockroaches. Actually, it's even more about the termites, but I digress.
So, after a few days of me hoping it's only a few ants and maybe I killed them all I realize they just keep coming if only in small numbers. So, my wife calls the exterminator and he says sure. He can be here in 3 days. So, that's 3 more days of me thinking I have ants crawling on me when I probably don't, but I figure @Paul B dealt with way worse stuff in Vietnam, so I tough it out.
The exterminator comes by and tells my wife he doesn't see any ants because they are nocturnal ants and it's daytime. So, he can't do anything.
I scream when she tells me.
So, she calls him back and he says he can be by on Monday (tomorrow). This was Friday. What he will do when he just told her he can't do anything, I don't know. But, maybe he'll come again and say he doesn't see any because it's daytime and they are nocturnal. That was clearly super helpful the last time.
I say I just can't take that and I run out to Home Depot and buy Terro Liquid Ant Killer. I read reviews online and as a Borax base it's supposed to be human safe and ant deadly.
My wife hears the words "Borax" and says "that sounds awful!" because she fears pesticides. So, I point her to the articles that say it's not so bad. She isn't really convinced I know what I'm doing, but she's very convinced I'm doing it no matter what she says, so she lets it go.
I put the ant bait down and a virtual army of ants storm it. Probably sugar ants not army ants, but anyway a bunch of them. I'm stunned at how many ants there are as I've never seen more than a couple at a time before.
I start to fear we've entered an age of an ant plague of biblical proportions and I sleep in another room.
24 hours later no ants anywhere. Not one.
That stuff really friggin works. I should have done it in the first place. A lot of drama trying to get someone else to do something that $5 and about 10 minutes solved easily.
Lesson to learn, I guess.
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