Monday, September 11, 2006

Monday Memories: Carpenter Ants


It was our first spring in our new home. We just couldn't believe our good fortune. A gorgeous baby girl, a wonderful house in a beautiful neighborhood with old tall trees and a fresh start for my husband's career in a different city. Life was good, I thought, as I heard a light rain start. But wait. It was only raining in one room. In fact, I looked outside and it wasn't raining at all. I walked into the den and held my ear against the paneling. Sounded just like rain falling lightly--inside the walls.

The image you see on your screen is about the size of this ant and they can be more destructive than termites. The sound I heard was actually sawdust falling behind the paneling. Eventually we took the roof off the den, and found underneath a thick mat of ants, thousands, maybe millions. In those days, you could still use strong chemicals to kill ants (EPA doesn't allow it now). They really got blasted--the guys pulled the roof back and the exterminators went to work.

The next time you hear unexplained rain, put your ear on the wall.

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My visitors and visited this week are:
Reverberate58, Irish Church Lady, Friday's Child, Lazy Daisy, Amy, Chelle Y. Nea,

6 comments:

Lazy Daisy said...

Wow, I had no idea how destructive they could be. I'm glad you were able to get rid of them. I did my on the 911 theme but I did a Sunday Flashback instead. You will probably get a chuckle out of it.

Sparrow said...

Ooo, I had carpender ants in my BEDROOM wall. I got to sleep with the sound of them crawling about in the ceiling, and nawing the wall right by my ear. *shudders*

My MM is up, too.

Neoma said...

ohhhhhhh scarey stuff......I had carpenter bees in the garage once, they actually made a munching sound as they ate my garage. We eventually moved......couldn't get rid of them, they would just fly away and come back.

Michele said...

I can't imagine, didn't realize they were so bad, I hate bugs I would have gotten out of there fast!

FRIDAY'S CHILD said...

I didn't know about this. I'll try listening to the walls whenever there is unexplained rain as you call it.
Thanks for dropping by.

Three Score and Ten or more said...

Been there and done that. Ick. Found a few crawling around the top of my hot tub the other day. Killed those and did a serious inspection. I think (hope) they were just exploring.
Off topic: I'm leaving for Finland next week. How did you keep up your blog when you were there? Internet cafes?, WiFi? what?