By Marilyn Jozwik
Remember that children’s song, “The Ants Go Marching” – one by one, two by two, etc.?
Well, the ants were marching in a couple weeks ago – more like 10 by 10. A highway of tiny red ants heading in two directions from the front door of our condo, along the hallway baseboard and into the kitchen, following the baseboard highway.
I am always intrigued by ants. Each one always seems to have a specific mission. There is something really quite organized about their movements. And while I really hate to extinguish anything living, I just can’t tolerate having insects raiding my pantry, their likely destination.
I did some research and found that ants don’t like cinnamon. So, I sprinkled a little along the baseboard by the door and checked the next day for an update. The ants were still there, but instead of making the left turn around the baseboard into the kitchen, the ants avoided the powder and trailed off into the living room where they seemed to be quite disoriented. I think the cinnamon messed up their little internal GPSes. I took my trusty Dustbuster and sucked up the lost little guys. I put the Dustbuster in the garage in case they wanted to escape. This went on for a couple days and soon they totally disappeared, no doubt in search of less cinnamony environs.
We’ve had to live with various insects throughout the years. In recent years, box elder bugs have occasionally taken up residence. I think it started a few years ago when I brought in a plant from outside in fall. I picked the bugs out and shook the plant, hoping I had kept them outside before I brought the plant in. But throughout the fall and spring, the hard-shelled, shield-shaped pale bugs stowed away and made themselves comfortable. The last couple years, we’ve seen a couple handfuls, but this year they were lying in wait and, come May, they partied like it was 1999. Their buzz is unmistakable, hovering around the room like some clumsy dirigible.
My worst encounter was when I settled under the covers one night, picked up a paperback from the night stand and was eyeball-to-eyeball with the creature. The book went flying and I’m sure I gave the poor bug an even bigger scare with my screech. Every day I plucked them off the screen door, grabbing them with Kleenex on their sides and depositing them outside. For the time being, the house is free of anything buzzing or crawling.
Although, the Spanish adage -- su casa, mi casa – generally doesn’t apply to insects, I will allow an industrious spider or two to take up residence in some corners. They really don’t bother anything, so I’m happy to share a space with them. Plus, they can be a great security system for houseplant infestations and other more annoying insects.
I know people will say they have a spider bite because they saw a spider and later had a red spot on their skin. It is very rare for spiders to bite, and even rarer for a person to actually see a spider bite them. Spiders normally don’t bite unless they are threatened. However, there are a few spider species that have long enough fangs to penetrate skin, and poisonous venom, so you don’t want to mess with them.
One year a huge spider had formed a large web on a hanging plant on our balcony. Every day I would see it in the middle of this gorgeous, intricate work of art to start my day. Later in the summer, I saw the cocoon of spiderlings this female had created. I learned that the female will stay with the cocoon until she succumbs to cold in winter, but the cocoon protects the little ones until they hatch in May. I didn’t bring the plant in, but let the mama spider and her brood fulfill their mission, sacrificing my spider plant to the cold in the process.
I guess we have to remember that we share the planet with all sorts of God’s creatures, not all of them warm and fluffy. We’ve just got to learn how to live together, as peacefully as possible.