Thieves

I have an ant problem, and it's driving me batty. 

The first indication occurred when construction began on the patio, and I found teeny tiny ants walking across my desk--right in front of me, casually waving as they strolled. I killed them. (Sorry, Madison, but they were so minuscule that there was no way I could've trapped them quickly--and I say quickly because of course, I could've set out some trap but then I would've been further distracted from my writing--and released them back into the wild or wherever it is that ants reside.) 

So, I killed them.

With the Clorox wipes that I keep on my desk. 

For four days, I went through a container of those wipes ridding my desk of ants. It drove me insane because I couldn't figure out where they were coming from as both windows were void of the small creatures. I concluded the digging outside both windows had uprooted these critters' nests, and they, in turn, blamed me. Because I didn't see them on Darcy's desk. Or Madison's desk. Or anywhere else in the playroom/office/Steelers Room. 

Eventually, however, my diligence paid off, or they got tired of losing their relatives, and they disappeared from my desk.

Apparently, to move into my kitchen.

I spotted them in the kitchen after, let me say that again, AFTER I devoured a large bite of Easter cake. I was going for a second when I realized the cake was crawling with ants. I gagged for fifteen minutes. Now, if food is left on our counter, we have ants. If food is not out, we have ants. Except in the window or window sill. There are no ants there.

I'm Clorox's biggest fan, but that stuff ain't working.

Today, I turned to the Internet. The ants are either thief ants or pharaoh ants. According to the worldwide web, I'd need to view them under a magnifying glass to determine which one, and while I'd most anything for a blog post, I'm TRYING TO FINISH MY BOOK. 

I don't have time for blogging, let alone an infestation of ants. I have no clue whether they are yellow (pharaoh) or brownish (thief), but I'm leaning more toward the thief ants because one, I think the name fits as they are stealing hours in my day, and two, I dislike what I'm reading pharaoh ants. 

Those suckers have multiple nests, exceeding a quarter million ants, numerous queens, and are hard to control. If I can't get rid of them, they will be with me forever. 

I'm sure these are thief ants.

I read through the multitude of ways to be free of them. I went with a suggestion of sprinkling cinnamon in the area. I'm not sure if these suckers like sweets or how the spice will repeal them, but I've sprinkled cinnamon along the seam in my kitchen counter from where I've concluded they are living.

 This makes me think my kitchen renovation is going to happen sooner rather than later because maybe these countertops are infested. Hey, this could be the upside! 

I'm leaving the cinnamon for an hour to see what happens. It does smell better than the bleach solution, so at least there's that. 

Also, my bug man is scheduled to appear tomorrow. Between him and the Internet, someone should be able to figure this out. Because seriously, I've had ENOUGH.