Ants and other bugs

We have an ant problem. Well we had an ant problem. Thank goodness they are gone. The ants never seemed to bother him - he said he always had ants at his house growing up in Michigan and even got Ryan, another Michigander to corroborate the fact.

Me? I obsessed about the ants. This is why.

• They were most active on Saturday mornings before Aaron was awake - like they knew I was up and would obsesses about them - and then they would me mostly gone by the time Aaron got up.
• They came from everywhere but the big gap under the back door. The first two sighting originated from the bathroom, then the window, then the front door(!), and then somewhere in the bedroom upstairs, and Aaron had recurring visits at his computer desk upstairs.
• It just bothers me to have the ants there - makes me feel like the kitchen is not clean. I would carefully follow the little trail of travelers trying to figure out where they were coming from, where they were going, and why they were in my house!
• What were they eating? They did not go after the garbage. We don't leave food out and we are a lot more careful now about crumbs. They like Aaron's empty soda bottles he leaves at his desk.

Anyway. We bought some ant traps - the kind with the clear goo bait that they take back to their nests and then hopefully it calls them all. Got rid of the bigger ants. It took longer on the smaller ants that came in somewhere near the window and liked to walk on the counters, up the cabinets, in the cabinets, and down the front of the dishwasher (told you I obsessed). Eventually, they succumbed too after I put a trap along several points of their travel route.

Then I found ants in the bedroom. Eek! We don't even eat or drink in there! They were walking from the wall across the room to the bedside stand and getting water from Aaron's glass. Two nights of a glass with drowned ants confirmed this. Aaron switched to a bottle and I put in an ant trap. Then they stopped traversing across the room and instead crawled up the dresser. Swarmed it. Why? Because they were crawling into the water reservoir of the penguin humidifier to get water. I emptied it out into the bathtub and was amazed at the number of living and drowned ants inside.

Since then, very few ants. I always see one in the downstairs bathroom struggling through the jungles of fiber of the rug in there. I laugh at its struggles, quickly check to see if there is more than one, and then go about my business. Maybe I am little more tolerant. Maybe. There are tons of ants outside and I leave the alone.

So what now? I discovered this one night next to the door. About two inches long and creepy looking. Aaron said it was called a house centipede. I argued with him that there was no way it was a centipede because it didn't have enough legs, but watched it intently while making him go get something to kill it.

I also had to watch it because Aaron said they were really fast moving and I wanted to be sure to watch where it went. Aaron knows a lot about a little, but I still wasn't sure I believed him.

So what is it? It is in fact a house centipede and condsidered mildly beneficial because it likes to eat other insects in the home like ants, roaches, silverfish, and spiders. You don't want an infestation, but if you have these guys, then you may have bigger problems. Oops.

So in light of the fact that I do not want ants or any other bugs it likes to eat, the next time I saw one (a week later in the basement), I watched it, poked at it to confirm that it was a fast runner and exceedingly creepy, and then left it alone.

Aaron's saga with the guineas

When we moved in, Meaghan told me they had some guineas and to watch out for them - sometimes they leave their yard and come into ours. Familiar with guineas I told her not to worry, but felt the need to warn Aaron that they were there and are the stupidest birds on the planet.

Love at first sight

Aaron had two run-ins with the guineas in January and I told him he should write about it because it was so funny. He never did, but I wrote a draft of this blog that I am now going to share because it is still hilarious.

One afternoon when Aaron was pulling into the driveway he saw the guineas (there are 2) so he slowed down and crept forward. Then he couldn't see them. Meep-Meep-Meep! Aaron was sure he ran one over. He backed up. Meep-Meep-Meep! He pulled forward. Meep-Meep-Meep! It must be between the wheels and he was running it over and over. Meep-Meep-Meep!

Sidenote: Aaron did indeed make the Meep-Meep-Meep! sound as he told me this story.

Guinea Fowl sounds - although this does not truly approximate the "I am pissed at you" squawk.

Encounter Two: Aaron saw them and decided to scare them out of the driveway. Meep-Meep-Meep! He pretended he was facing a mountain lion (one of Aaron's irrational fears like a bison breathing on him) and raised his arms and made himself big and made a lot of noise. This was not successful, but Meaghan coming out of the house and calling them "Here guinea guinea," probably to feed them, was.

Since the first draft of this post was written in January, Aaron has many run-ins with the guineas. Apparently they just really love him or his blue mustang or both. The newest development is discovering why they keep coming in our yard and driveway. They are pecking the bugs splattered across the front of the cars. Yum.

Here's a funny story of a guinea that likes to cause traffic issues in Michigan.

Matched Socks

Aaron told me once upon a time that it was a good day. When asked why, he said because he had on matching socks.

Let's pause a moment here to consider a few things.

1. When I was in middle school I thought it was cool to wear mismatched socks and purposefully wore them that way for more than a year. 
2. There is a company making millions selling mismatched socks.
3. All of Aaron's socks are white. Mmm. Aaron has a drawer with white socks and a drawer with black socks which he only wears when he is really trying to impress someone.
4. Aaron's white sock drawer is full to capacity - meaning I have to shove them down to shut the drawer. 
5. None of Aaron's socks are matched in the drawer. I know that there are a few people who subscribe to this rule of thought, but if you want to guarantee matched socks - match them before they go in the drawer! Plus I do most of the laundry! Just ask me to do it!

So it's officially summer vacation. I have some things to do, but lots of free time to do small projects. Enter the sock project. Just what is in Aaron's white sock drawer that makes it so difficult to have a good day with matching socks? I feel like I ought to know as I shove clean socks in there every week, yet I am mystified.

Step 1: Dump all white socks on the floor.

 Step 2: Sort socks by characteristics. Surprisingly difficult. I believe that besides one pair of gold toes, all of Aaron's socks are Hanes brand, yet there is still diversity. Most of these socks say Hanes across the toes, but in different color thread and sometimes in different font.

For example, take a look at this photo. The top row is a lone pink thread Hanes sock that he must have inadvertently stolen from an ex-girlfriend. Next are the black thread Hanes, the red thread HANES (in capslock), and then a few cropped Hanes socks. The bottom row are the gray heels and toes that don't say Hanes, followed by the gray thread Hanes, two versions of the red thread Hanes written with upper and lowercase letters, one pair of gold toes and a smattering of plain white non-Hanes socks that incidentally have no matches. Who knew that one guy could have so much white sock diversity?

Step 3: Cull out really worn out ones and ones with no matches.What to do with these socks? Is there a use or do I just toss them?

Step 4: Put the most numerous varieties (Hanes in medium sized upper and lowercase red letters and no-name gray toes and heels) back in the drawer.

Step 5: Finish doing laundry and sort clean white socks into appropriate piles and locations.

Step 6: Await Aaron to see what he thinks about the other piles.

I culled some of my own socks as well - easier because mine are all matched already and I knew which ones are long overdue for tossing. Does everyone have an insane cornucopia of socks? Aaron didn't even try for it - he just prepared for forgoing months without doing laundry by always buying the same brand and still fell victim.

If Aaron did not have so many socks and if it didn't seem like such a waste, then I would be tempted to toss them all and start over. Or at least toss out the Hanes varieties that have less than twenty socks. It seems wasteful to do that though. I am sure Aaron  will think I am crazy for sorting his socks in the first place (and he will not be the only one), however if I can contribute to a good day as Aaron finishes his last week of school - then I can take half an hour from my summer vacation to sort his socks.