10/19/05

But the kittens are not particularly neat eaters, and so they knock food out of the bowl to places where the ants can get to it. And when the ants can get to it, they let all their friends know, and they have a freakin’ ant party and bring their thousands of friends. Fred thought before bedtime last night that he had the window caulked so that all the little cracks under the windowsill where the ants were getting in were completely caulked shut, and yet at almost midnight the spud came and knocked on my door to let me know there were a ton of ants in the kitten room. I went in and sprayed ammonia on every one of the little bastards, and they died almost immediately, and then I had to wipe them up. This morning, more ants. For the love of god, it’s CAT FOOD. If I buy a bag of it and toss it in the yard for the ants, will they stay out of the house? PROBABLY NOT. Oh, and I spent an hour wiping down the baseboards with white vinegar last night after dinner, and the ants were not deterred. They can keep coming, but I will KEEP FIGHTING. I WILL BE THE VICTOR, DAMNIT! Also, there are little cinnamon footprints around the food bowl, because little Sugarbutt gets SO HAPPY when he’s eating that he has to dance around in the cinnamon and then drag it all over the room. I guess I’d rather have cinnamon footprints all over the room than poo footprints, though. I’m not complaining.

* * *
My hand, which was bitten by Ashwin on Monday, is perfectly fine and requires no medicine. It did break the skin, and it did throb for the rest of the day, but when I woke up on Tuesday it wasn’t sore or swollen, or red. No hand amputation for me!
* * *
I drove up into Tennessee yesterday morning to buy Powerball tickets. The Powerball jackpot, you might have heard, is up to $340 million. And then I had a dream that I won the lottery Monday morning, and if that’s not a sign that I need to go buy lottery tickets, I don’t know what is. Anyway, I drove up across the Tennessee state line and stopped at the first gas station I saw in Ardmore. The parking lot was packed, and I parked and went in, and there were at least fifty people in the ticket line, and I said “Oh HELL no” and turned around and walked out. I knew that there were gas stations further up the road, and for that matter I could hop on the highway and head for Nashville and surely find a gas station selling Powerball tickets with fewer people in line. Two miles up the road from the first place I stopped, there are two gas stations directly across the street from each other, and both were selling Powerball tickets. I turned into the one on the right side because it didn’t have scary bars on the windows, and when I walked inside, there were only four people waiting in line for lottery tickets. So I waited less than five minutes, got my tickets, and headed for home. When I passed the first gas station I’d stopped at, the parking lot was even fuller than it had been when I’d stopped. Dumbasses. Fred and I spent a good twenty minutes discussing what we’d do if we won the lottery, which – according to the laws of Fate and all – means that we won’t even come close to winning. It’s probably more fun dreaming about what we’d do, than it would be if we actually won, anyway. If we win the lottery – exterminators for everyone!
* * *
The kittens are doing well. The ant infestation isn’t bothering them at ALL, though my coming into the room while they were sleeping last night at almost midnight, wielding a spray bottle of ammonia, might have scarred them a little. But they’re fine, they’re having a lot of fun playing and jumping in and out of the boxes in the dining room and playing with bubble wrap and standing in the kitchen whining about how they’re starving to death when I’m making dinner. Fred has been calling Tom Cullen “Stinky”, even though Tom Cullen doesn’t stink at all. I don’t know if that’s going to end up being his nickname, only time will tell. Right now, on my desk. To the left of me: To the right: When there’s always at least one cat within reach, life can’t be all bad.
* * *
Previously 2004: More Myrtle Beach. 2003: No entry. 2002: No entry. 2001: I’ve turned into a crazy cat lady for real, haven’t I? 2000: The spud turns 12 next week, can you believe it? 1999: I’ve been out of sorts all day.]]>

26 thoughts on “10/19/05”

  2. Hey Jen. It’s RobYn!!!! Heh.
    Anatomy of a Snuggle is disgustingly cute. Kitteny goodness, that’s what keeps us coming back.

  3. A quick hint for the ants getting in the food: Put the food bowl in a plate of water — a pie plate would be excellent with a small amount of water in it– the ants won’t/can’t travel through the water to get to it.
    We had the same problem in feeding the neighborhood cats outside and that’s how we solved the problem.

  4. Jen: Hey Robin, it’s HURON!
    Dez: Hey Jen. It’s RobYn!!!!
    Now that’s funny right there, I don’t care who you are.

  7. I have a soft spot for cats named Stinky – my first cat was a Stinky. I bottle-raised her, and boy, did she stink right off the bat!

  8. We use Victor(brand) “Poison Free Ant and Roach Killer” and it results in total and complete blockage of all ants from the building. It’s a combo of mint oil, soap and mineral oil and can be used around pets. It smells very strongly of mint. VERY strongly. But it does definitely redirect ants. We spray it outside and inside around door frames, baseboards and the cracks where the fireplace meets the walls and floor and it NEVER FAILS. You do have to reapply after a rainstorm, though.

  9. Isn’t it funny that the one non-“S” named cat you have ends up with an “S” nickname?

  10. I always say I am going to name our next cat “Trouble”, so when it walks into a room I can say “Here comes trouble”….apparently dorks don’t only live in Alabama 🙂

  11. Hey, I call my dog Stinky too, and she doesn’t even stink. What is wrong with us? 🙂
    I love all yer little critters, they are sooo sweet.

  12. Instead of surrounding the kitten food with cinnamon, how about putting it in a dish of water. When we had ant problems in the past, we filled a pyrex cooking dish with water and then put the bowl of catfood in the middle of that. The ants just can’t get to it at all that way. Just make sure the bowl has a tall enough edge so that the water doesn’t get into the cat food, but you only really need the smallest layer of water at the bottom of the dish anyway. It’s worked like a charm for us in the past. 😀

  13. Thanks for the water suggestion, guys. I hadn’t thought of that, but it’d certainly cut down on the cinnamon footprints. On the other hand, I kind of like the way Sugarbutt smells like cinnamon. This afternoon I told him he was a cinnamonkey.
    (Shaddup)

  14. Awww…Sugarbutt is such a cutie pie.
    And he already has an “S” name.
    Not that I would suggest that you keep him just so I keep getting updates on him. Nope, not me. 😉

  15. Nor would I suggest keeping Sugarbutt, no-sireee! The Anatomy of a Snuggle is so damn cute. Like you said, how bad can it be when you have such lovely kitties around!

  16. I bought my Powerball tickets today and I plan on winning – but I also planned on marrying Peter Brady too when I was about 7 too.

  17. Natalie: Hands off Peter Brady! He’s mine! Oh, who am I kidding? My ass can never compete with Adrianne Curry’s.
    SheilaJane & ChristineQ: Fred says if we win the lottery, we can keep Sugarbutt. 😀

  18. I HATE ants.. I’m sorry you’re having troubles with them!! I use those little ant baits all around my house, along with a spray around the house and I always have a nice big can of raid handy.
    I bought my powerball tickets today too. *crosses fingers* who knows maybe we got the same numbers 🙂

  19. Why don’t you put the food in a bowl then put the bowl in a frisbee filled with water so that the ants can’t get to the food? that’s what i do.

  20. Ant Solution #458:
    Get ant traps called Grants Kills Ants. Have you tried them? They have always worked no matter where I’ve lived. Apparently there’s a trace of arsenic in the goo inside the trap. The ants think it’s food, they take it to their nest, they poison themselves and their young. But because they have to carry it back and all that, it takes a few days to work. But it has always worked. And hide it from the kitties. It’s not sposed to hurt animals, but who wants to take the risk? Not me.

  21. Oh, yeah, about the Raid. The poison in them that knocks ants flat is also bad for the livers of cats and humans. In that order, since cats have smaller livers and the toxins build up faster. So STOP SPRAYING THAT STUFF IF YOU HAVE PETS OR SMALL CHILDREN. I had a friend who was a biologist at Rice U and he won’t let that stuff near his home for fear of inflicting a slow, painful, and long term injury on his cats.

  24. OH MY GOD! I totally spelled Robyn’s name wrong! Shoot me now, I’m never going to post again! Sorry Robyn! mea culpa mea culpa. That’s what happens when I’m not paying attention to my typing.

Comments are closed.