Monday, May 30, 2011

Use Caution

We have ants. What I have always called pissants, like my grandmother. 
piss·ant also piss-ant  (pibreve.gifsprime.gifabreve.gifntlprime.gif) Slang
n.
1. One that is insignificant.
2. Obsolete An ant.
adj.
Not important; insignificant: "Some pissant Texas court wants to make [the company] pay . . . more than $10 billion in reparations" (New Republic).
Anyhoo, they have invaded. I broke down and bought some ant bait things, because the grocery store didn't carry boric acid. Boric acid mixed with sugar and a few drops of water are sure ant killers.

The ant bait things didn't totally work, so what I did was wash down the counters with a few drops of orange essential oil, which destroyed their chemical trail, and then I placed drops of lavender oil along their baseboard paths. 

Results? Very few ants to be seen in the house. This is such an earth friendly way to get rid of ants, and it smells good, too. I don't feel bad about doing this as often as necessary. 

As an aside, I have to be very careful around chemicals, due to my allergies. I generally do not use insecticides, pesticides, or herbicides. When I find a large thistle in the yard, I cut off the top with a knife and stab several times into the root, then I pour a little bleach onto it. Works every time. Salt might also work. (Bleach is just sodium chloride, after all.)