Bugs 3; Me 0

I arrived home to find my husband battling ants.  Again.  This time, they were swarming over a section of counter that we reserve for non-food items (dish drying rack, etc.)  In fact, they were crawling on freshly cleaned dishes.  eeuw.

As he finished wiping up ant carcasses, Amelia complained that she had sand in her shoes from preschool, so I took her to the front door so we could dump the sand outside.  Around the sides of the door, numerous love bugs were crawling in past the weatherstripping.   When we opened the door, we found mounds of love bugs (that link has great pics, incorrect text) literally heaped along the doorsill.  (And I do mean the denotative literally and not the connotative literally.)  There's not much to love about these bugs, but normally they have the decency to at least stay outdoors.  I've never seen them invade a house like that.  eeuw. 

Daddy, with bug spray still in hand from the ants, charged over to wipe away the love bugs and spray the sill.  Amelia was much too fascinated by the process to remove her shoes.  I decided to pull a couple of weeds while I was waiting for the bug wars to abate.  Unbeknownst to me, a thriving wasp colony had taken residence in the flowerbed. As soon as I pulled a weed, I receive a nasty sting on my forearm.

Insects may not survive a nuclear holocaust, but they are winning everywhere else.

Comments

[Mommyprof]

I don't know what kind of ants you have in Florida, but here in Central State, sprays are not an effective control. We use the Raid 2 in 1 baits which are spill (kid) proof and use two different flavors to attract the two major ant feeding groups. They kill the colony and work very well.

My $.02. I hate ants, too, especially fire ants.

[Beth]

Thanks, Mommyprof. We've had baits out for weeks, and they have proven ineffectual. I don't know if they were the Raid 2 in 1 baits though. I'll look into that. Sprays are also unsatisfying, for lots of reasons. We're just getting so tired of ants!