Ants

I was working in the backyard, doing various things, including getting rid of the curvy brick border around my never-realized flower bed. Half the bricks were used last year when we had our front yard professionally made over by ABC Home Services (whom we have used for almost 20 years for in-home pest control, handyman services and landscaping... on the upper-middle cost side but they absolutely stand behind their work and do the best quality home services I've ever had done). They expanded the front bed with bricks from the back to match the existing front bricks, which had been weathered for the same number of years. If we had used new bricks, they would have been a different color. Smart, eh?

Anyhoo... I was pulling these remaining bricks from the border, which is embedded in the dirt. I pulled one up that was covered with ants. Amazingly, I only got four bites. We've all had chicken pox, poison ivy, etc. that covered us in itchy spots, and we make it through. I'm telling you though, these four bites are making me cRaZY!!! Yeesh, am I a wimp.

I tried Orajel on them the other night, a tip from someone online, and it worked for a bit, but it was far too sticky to be practical. I need some Lidocaine cream. Or four tiny ice packs.

I pulled the other bricks from the underground ant colony area one at a time. In incredible haste, I extracted one brick, tossed it into the grass, left the area and waited about two hours for things to settle. Then I returned to extract the next brick. Time consuming, but I didn't get any more bites.

Another mini-project I took care of was nailing a fallen fence board back up. My neighbor happened to be in his backyard while I was hammering, and came over to find out WTH I was doing chat.

Matt: Whatcha doin' there?
Me: Nailing this board back in.
Matt: Nice work.
Me: I hope I'm doing it correctly. I used a galvanized nail. Isn't that the right kind?
Matt: Yes! Good job. I'll have to tell Jeff to...

At this point I think he's going to say, "...take you out to dinner" or "...buy you something with diamonds."

He says, "...get you a Home Depot gift card!"

Ahh. Yes. Well, I do need new gutter downspout splashes!