The Ant Wars: New Weapon Development

Could salvation from ants be just around the corner?

Our crack researchers have identified a potential new weapon against the most dangerous of the ant warriors, the fire ant. Through funding provided in part from our own resources, researchers at Texas A&M have identified a natural predator of the fire ant. There is a tiny phorid fly that lays eggs on the fire ants, and the eggs hatch into maggots inside the ant and eat away their brains.

Here is the story from the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6420449.html

This new weapon, once fully operational, could provide the tipping point we've been waiting for to control the invading armies.

8,000 Pounds: Reallocation of Resources

In recognition of the upcoming summer heat, the Supreme Household Commander issued an edict. Resources currently being employed in our battle with the ants were to be redirected to the Backyard Reclamation Project (BRP). As I posted a few weeks ago, we have an Ugly Garden.

The irrational exuberance of Bermuda grass easily overpowered our weeding prowess primarily consisting of visualization exercises. (We were using our imaginations to see the patio garden without the Bermuda grass encroachment, but reality overcame our fantasy on this issue in the past few months.)

So the stage of the BRP described in the Ugly Garden post was the finishing touches on the demolition part of the project. The next stage was bed preparation.

Bed Preparation.

With the help of a significant downpour, the leveling of the bed became incredibly easy, as the supersaturated mud turned to soup, leveling became very easy. We also took this opportunity to dig a french drain.

We admired the future patio and decided we could accomplish the project for about $500.

Once the bed was leveled, I worked my way to the local dirt store and purchased a truckload of sand. The whole family got involved in spreading the sand (About 1,200 pounds). Sand was everywhere. The dogs were rolling around in it, the kids were playing in it, Sue and I were trying to level it. I had sand in places I shouldn't mention. Three days later and I am still finding sand in the bottom of the shower.

Once the sand was spread, I built a retaining wall around an area that included a shrub that did not get removed during demolition with about 30 large bricks made of natural stone. Voila, a flower bed! (Another 600 pounds)

That was Friday.

That evening I dreamt of patio design.

Before the sun rose, I did. I had an idea. In my mind the patio was to be framed by two additional flower beds. A small one to the right and a larger one at the edge of the patio in the center. So at 6:45 am I was off to Walmart to buy some more retaining wall stones. 60 more stone bricks and 1,200 pounds later, I had two more beds completed.

Next, I was off to get the flagstone for the patio. These stones were quite large. I bought 1,000 pounds of them. The boys carried them to me one by one as I laid them in place. The stones were natural and came in a variety of shapes and sizes, so I had to piece them together to fit in the space I had. This is what I came up with:

As I inspected my work, an awful realization came over me: the patio stones were too low. I needed 2 more inches of sand! The sand store was closed by now, so I quit for the day and went and played paintball with the boys.

That was Saturday.

Again, I was up with the sun.

Starting my morning by carefully removing the stones I had so carefully laid the day before, and placing them on the existing patio in approximately the same position I had laid them in the sand (1,000 more pounds of lifting). The sand store openned at 7:30 am, and I was there when they openned the gate. Another truckload of sand (1,200 pounds) to spread in the patio bed. Once the sand was spread again, I placed the flagstone...again! (1,000 pounds). With just enough time to get to the sand store again before they closed, I bought 1,200 pounds of decomposed granite to fill the cracks.

Maybe I overbought, since I still have about 800 pounds remaining. But I figure we can extend the patio out with the excess if needed.

Total expenditure: $575.

So here is what the finished product looks like:

I am estimating I'll need another 1.5 yards of soil for the raised beds (another 3,800 pounds and $100), and I'm told plastic surgery will help with the garden nymph ($5,000 to $7,000). So I guess this home improvement project will experience some cost overruns, too.

The Ant Wars: Revisiting the Rules of Engagement

Now that we've discovered the home base of our enemy, a proposal has been proffered that violates the original rules of engagement. This suggestion comes from a member of the war council. As in any organization, there are two competing schools of thought. In our war with the ants the two schools can be loosely defined as follows:

1. War tactics define us as a people. While the ends are vitally important, the means by which we achieve those ends is a very prominent consideration in our approach to battle.
2. Securing the objective of the battle trumps any and all consideration of whether the means are humane, sustainable or even moral.

In our efforts to identify tactics that would significantly reduce the enemies ability to attack our home, one of the tactics proposed was a chemical bombdropped inside the container of the mailbox. The competing tactic is to surround the mailbox with baits, including the boric acid-honey baits, boric acid-D.E. baits, Spinosad, and, at the suggestion of a friend, instant grits.

After a contentous meeting with tears, screaming, begging and pleading (from me), the bait strategy was agreed upon for now. But tactics aside, the moisture we've had, both falling from the sky and the saturated soil are preventing our use of baits.

And there is another problem: we are now being attacked from our Northwestern corridor, and I cannot find the source of the attack or where the enemy is gaining access to our home.

Rock Shopping

As part of our back yard renovation project, Sue and I decided to go to the local Rocks'r'Us. We decided to meet up there during my lunch break yesterday. She arrived with my oldest son in tow. (There's a whole other story about that, let's just leave it as a lesson in anger management.)

The place we went had different rock everywhere. Red rocks, brown rocks, beige rocks, grey rocks, black rocks, even some pink rocks. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, flat pieces, rectangles, boulders large and small, gravel, etc.

After walking around the acres of rock displays, it became apparent that this is going to be a difficult job. As Sue had an OCD moment, I went into the sales office to get pricing and delivery information. It turns out they do design and construction, too.

The guy is suppossed to call me today to set up a time to come take a look at what we've got to deal with. Maybe he can help out with the ants, too.

This video has nothing to do with our patio project except that it has the word rock in it and for some reason I made the association.

An Ugly Garden

We have an ugly back yard. You can debate me about that all you want, but, since ugly is in the eye of the beholder, my opinion is all that matters.

The back yard just off our patio started off as an attempt at xeriscaping. For the first year the yard looked great. A new pergola, a freshly installed lanscape, and nice fresh mulch made for a pleasing place to sit and enjoy the view. At times hummingbirds would come by and visit while we enjoyed our morning coffee on the patio.

But, as with all things in nature, clean and crisp gives way to overgrown and wild. Don't get me wrong, there is a certain beauty in how flora finds a balance for coexistence, but the disorder of nature's ways would not do for our home.

A few weeks ago I began digging up this garden. The heavy rains we had over this past weekend made this area nice and muddy, and so what I am left with is this:



I'm really hoping this garden renovation works. I hope it pretties up the garden nymph in the background, too.