Well Friday was a very wet and soggy day which helped to raise the aquifer. This summer so far has been rather dry except for the past couple of weeks. We never saw the sunshine at all on Friday but the rain did let up around 6:30 so we could get our daily hike in to the top of the mountain. The view off the top was really different as the clouds and fog made the scene look like you were on an mountainous island if we didn't know the difference. It was almost ghostly and spooky as the daylight was fading as well. It wasn't long after our hike the skies opened up once again and it was a steady rain all night long with the patter of the rain drops on the tin roof. Now today(Sat.) I'm ready for some sunshine but the weather pattern is much the same as Friday, oh well!!!
I slept in until 8'ish to start the day and noticed the rain had stopped briefly so I made plans to sow some grass seed and cover it with some old hay after my usual routine(s). After the posting of this ramble and a few quiet moments I headed out with my gum boots on to the back woods yard. The new grass looked good on the areas of the stump removals but I had to sow it sparingly as I was nearly out of seed. I picked up a large bag and now have plenty but it looks as if the hard rain that was a gully washer later in the morning may have washed what I sowed today away. We had a hard rain for about an hour that saw water running down the drive in a small stream and with it I think went my grass seed, oh well!!!
We have been having our share of large black ants come into the cabin especially since I cut down the old black pine in the backwoods yard. That pine was loaded with ants and despite burning the wood and the stump I think maybe they were able to move a nest into the cabin. Well we have been spraying and finding several dead each morning and of course a few alive during the day. I removed a piece of molding over near where I thought they maybe hiding and sure enough I uncovered a nest of the them. Well needless to say that sparked a controversy about how to rid the cabin of the ants so Nancy took it upon herself to call Orkin Pest Control and for a rather high fee they came out. The technician sprayed a different pesticide into the area I had uncovered which is supposed to keep them away and then they will come every other month to treat the outside for a year under the contract for another fee.
Well after the cleanup of the dead ants that I killed and the spray he used to drive more out of the walls; we didn't seen another ant dead or alive the rest of the evening. Nancy cancelled our supper get together scheduled for Sat, evening right away when the ants came out of the wall so we were invited by the Tracy's to their place instead to eat and to spend the night if necessary due to the ant problem. I found out carpenter ants don't actually eat the wood they use the shaving for nest building and they can move their nests in hours to a new location, oh well I should have researched this better when I first saw a few ants on the porches and decks; but I always thought since we built the cabin in the woods you would have a few ants no matter what, occasionally wondering around looking for food, etc.
We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and cleaning up from the dead ants. I put the molding back into place after the technician sprayed some powerful residual pesticide into the walls. It did have a smell but dispersed with the windows open and then he treated the outside in the rain with granules that supposedly is water activated. Hopefully this make life a little more pleasant that we paid a ton of money to correct instead of a do-it- yourself job, oh well!!! I watched a little of pre-season football on the tube and both the Bucs and the Panthers loss; of course these games aren't supposed to mean anything but they do to a teams psyche. It's hard to believe the season is upon us already and I'm ready for football a couple nights a week, LATER
