The invasion has begun. Usually the ants arrive a bit earlier, but this year they waited till the end of June, and came in full force. Now there are ants in the bathroom, ants in the living room, ants in the kitchen (but not on the counter) and ants in the office.
In order to set up a counter attack, I tried to figure out the main area of activity. The office seems to be ant central, so that is where I put the little piece of cardboard, with the liquid bait. Once they eat this, and take it back to their source, the problem should be lessened or eliminated.
Kind of makes me wonder if the rain and wet weather have driven them inside to a drier climate? Of course, there are other insects that have been making our enjoyment of the out of doors a bit uncomfortable.
I hear the wood ticks are thicker than usual. Since I have moved to town, I haven’t had too much experience with those creepy crawlies. The walks I take are not in long grass, but on paths, and I have no pets to bring them in to share. The wood ticks themselves are a nuisance, but it is the diseases they can carry that we have to watch out for.
There is one insect, however, that has been the No. 1 topic of conversation for most Wisconsinites: mosquitoes. Those annoying, buzzing, biting buggers swarm anyone daring to go outside these past weeks.
A couple of my friends said that they have them in their house as well as their yard. I had a few inside, as they sneak in the door while I am going inside.
Now that we are in the last few days of June, it is time to consider the 4th of July holiday coming up. It seems everyone has their own tradition in celebrating the day. Since I spent much of my life on a farm, I remember the day often being spent on a hay field during the day, and taking in fireworks at night.
Cooking out was something we did while the family was growing up, but at times I felt it was a lot of work to carry everything out to cook it, and then back in to eat it. The whole backyard cookout never quite caught on with my farmer husband. That hard working man looked most forward to coming into the house and getting out of the hot sun during meal times.
In these past years, I have been spending my July 4th days at the Tigerton Main Street Block Party, with music, refreshments and silent auction items. There are also plans for fireworks at night.
Life here has been spent trying to beat back the weeds and watching the progress of my plants. The beet greens look about ready for harvest. The tomatoes are in bloom and looking healthy. The squash and cucumbers are beginning to vine out.
I don’t have to be concerned about watering at this point; that is one good thing about rain.
Meanwhile, summer is moving on, and today I had a thought that it won’t be long before the back-to-school sales will begin.
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