Five days without ants in the house. They showed up again yesterday, not a whole lot, two or three dozen on the kitchen counter, and a few this morning. They seem to be coming in somewhere through the vertical row of drawers I keep utensils, baking dishes, and pots and pans in. I pulled out the top drawer with utensils but have to empty the two deep drawers before I can pull them out and see what there is to see.
The status quo re the weather has not changed though we did get a sudden little burst of a rain storm yesterday which lasted less than 15 minutes, gave us about 1/4” in the rain gauge, and the sun came out immediately and started turning that newly fallen water into steam. Oh goodie.
The only thing of note in the last few days was last night. I'm determined to use the deck out front so I've been sitting outside in the 90˚s temps around 6:30 in the evening for a half hour or forty five minutes. Cat and Minnie come out with me though Minnie generally wants back in after a while so it's me and Cat and she's usually laying down somewhere near me. But last night when I was about ready to come in she was over by the yew tree looking up in it and the next thing I knew she was in it and on the roof. Damn it Cat. She ignored me calling her and sauntered off on the other side of the peak. Fine, stay up there. I checked on her several times, she was still up there when I was ready to turn in. Fine, stay out all night. I propped the garage door open and left the light on inside and went to bed. This morning I went out on the deck and called her and she came running out from the garage, letting me know how unhappy she was that she had to spend the night outside.
Bored with my ennui and lack of motivation yesterday I finally made myself cut down the box and pack up Jade's quilt to send it off to Joanne's sister to do the quilting. And I need to go over to the shop today and gather up packing material and bring it over here and pack up the piece for the gallery's anniversary show and get them both in the mail.
I think I mentioned that the juvenile cardinals had been eating my succulents, gnawing three of the down to nothing and now they've pretty much decimated the paddle plant. Oh well, fewer things to have to bring in for the winter.
Jan at SHARE got an email last week from the food bank in Victoria, and I assume all the other smaller local food banks they service as well, that since they are having a hard time getting supplies due to a food shortage we should no longer consider them our primary source but supplemental to our other sources of food and goods. All well and good except there are no other regular sources. We get donations from individuals and when organizations have food drives but they aren't regular and we never know who, what, when, or how much comes in. Our other source is grant money and Jan will use that to buy (at retail prices) food and small appliances from the two grocery store and Walmart here. Hopefully when the current grant money runs out we will have found another source because you can't apply for the same grant every year (we have to wait three years to apply for this particular grant again). We'll still get shipments once a week from Victoria (which we pay for btw but they often send stuff we didn't order which we don't have to pay for) but we probably won't get all we order. Jan figures they will start rationing based on how many people each food bank serves. It's been slim pickings for most of this whole year really. Things we used to get every month aren't even on the list anymore. I'm already rationing some of the the canned goods we do have so people are getting less than what is on the lists for A, B, C, D, and E sized families. It's give a few a lot or give more a little less. Right now the main shortages in my area at SHARE are canned corn, canned fruit, fruit juice, tomato sauce, and mashed potato flakes.
The shortages are due to a culmination of many factors...lingering supply chain problems from covid; climate change causing extreme weather like droughts, floods, and disease/pests; war in Ukraine; labor shortages due to anti-immigration and anti-immigrant policies like in Florida causing produce and fruit to rot in the fields, delays in transporting, and packing plants to be idle; shortage of packaging materials like glass, plastic, paper, and aluminum so even when there's enough grain, fruit, and vegetables being grown and harvested, it's not getting processed, packaged, or delivered...and we have no idea how long these conditions will prevail.
So on that happy note, here's a picture of the sunset from one evening last week.
That food pantry business really is disturbing. I remember sending Laura off to work at the local, but BIG regional food pantry, to work off her community service. Her job basically was unloading, sorting and shelving boxes of can goods and lord knows what other stuff. I hope Jan can source some other sources, and that's all I know about how a food bank works.
ReplyDeleteCat is funny. Katherine is responsible only for 400 or so square feet of living area, but when something annoys her she lets me know via the distribution of kitty litter in the box.
my brother volunteers at the regional food bank where he lives and generally packages rice. but yeah, when the regional foodbank can't get food from the producers it's a problem that trickles down to hunger.
DeleteSilly Google.. Won’t let me sign in. Yes, I work at the Clark County Food Bank. Don’t actually get much rice. Seen maybe one 5-lb bag over the last year. Lots of produce, lots of bread and lots of pastries. Not much in the way of canned goods. And a fair abound of refrigerated goods (yogurt, sandwiches etc.). We are not experiencing any shortages lately - in fact the refrigerated space was full today so we had to focus on that. I was also moved to frozen where we get LOTS of meat. Maybe 1000 lbs a day. Sometimes more. And other misc. frozen stuff (pizzas, ice cream, corn dogs etc.) And eggs. I sorted out 36 dozen eggs today after boxing maybe 500-lbs of meat. Still had some 30+ dozen to go in 60-egg boxes at the end of shift. Pushed them off to tomorrow. I expect that Friday will also be busy. So pretty busy at the food bank. We get our stuff from WalMart, Safeway, Fred Meyer (Kroger) and others. John.
DeleteWe get eggs from the egg farm down the road and donations from Walmart (mostly desserts, some bread, meat) and the two Dollar Stores (all their sell by milk and yogurt and lunch meat, that kind of stuff) but lately there have been weeks when Walmart didn't show and the stuff from the dollar stores is variable in quantity and kind. we used to get donations from the HEB but they started a massive remodel and even before then it had trickled down to almost nothing and wasn't worth the time waiting around early.
DeleteWe’re dealing with ant invasions. They’re in places we’ve never seen them before. The numbers are staggering. A bag of goldfish crackers held so man it was frightening. The little bastards bite before you know it and they move at the speed of light now.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea birds eat succulents. They must be desperate for moisture/water.
it's not like they don't have three bird baths on the ½ acre that I maintain. I've never had them eat my succulents before. a bite now and then, yes but not this total destruction of a living plant.
Deletethe ants are horrible. they aren't making mounds but they are there especially where you water frequently, in the grass, invisible, climbing all over your feet and then by the time they start biting, well fucking little bastards. I can't wait til they show themselves this spring. I had to completely seal the inside of my pantry. they love crackers though.
Gosh! Didn't realise there was all that administrative fuss about running a food bank. I dunno about grants; there's a large box at the exit to our Tesco supermarket and one tosses in stuff bought at the check-out specifically for that box. But how does one meet the needs of people who are living much closer to starvation? No perishables, given that they may not have a fridge. Tins of baked beans seem to predominate; that's a dull sort of diet but then dullness may not be a problem for kids with empty bellies. I worry about fancy food, often with fancy names, often French. Might that be a cultural slap in the face? But aren't starving people also allowed what may be considered as luxuries? Money's so much easier.
ReplyDeleteoh yes. our little local food bank to be certified has to keep all kinds of records and has rules about what we can give out (no torn packages exposing the food, no half empty containers or anything that's been opened, no out of date goods though day old is OK if we give it out that day). You'd be surprised how old some of the stuff we get is when people clear out a loved ones pantry. it all just goes in the trash.
DeleteWithout a doubt, you have the ingredients for a first class novel entitled, “War of the Ants” or something similar, and it will be a gripping account of the ongoing battles with an implacable invader! And you are the one to write it, Ellen. Just imagine them as Republicans and you will have no trouble at all. Who knew that a food bank could be so administratively difficult? As for birds and succulents, I have seen desert species tap into cacti in the Sonoran Desert in order to drink, but they drilled a hole and didn’t rip apart the plant.
ReplyDeletepersonally I can't wait til the little bastards start making mounds outside so I can exact my revenge on them. as for the food bank, yes, all kinds of rules. when the regional foodbank can't get food from suppliers or manufacturers they have to distribute what they can get fairly. I don't know how many local food banks our regional one serves, at least six that I know of and I'm sure more. we serve anywhere from 20 to over 30 families a week and not the same families as we only provide food to any particular family once every two or three months.
DeleteWe spent almost an entire year battling ants. Horrifying! They drive me mad.
ReplyDeleteit's not just me, all my neighbors have been have trouble too. it's the extreme heat and drought. they're looking for water.
DeleteThe ant situation sounds torturous. I've got bites all over my feet but they came from outside. That's not the type that come in the house.
ReplyDeleteI don't even have the heart to comment on the food pantry shortages. Is there really any basis to calling ours the richest country in the world anymore?
I guess Cat got a wild hair. Hopefully, she's figured out that she'd rather be in the house than out at night.
I've actually gotten sort of blase about the ants now. I just kill what I can see, clean up the mess and carry on.
DeleteAfter she came in Tuesday morning she showed zero inclination towards going outside all day and only went out with me this morning while I watered the little backyard.
Yesterday I donated a bunch of cereal, pastas, ketchups, soups, and whatever else was on hand to our local food/clothing/counseling center for those in need. I do this monthly, and asked the director what they needed of the kinds of things I could get. He said more cereals. No problem. Most of these are for families or housed people, and if they were homeless, there would be different stuffs more appropriate to eat all at once and without a can opener!. And a bit off the topic, someone said again yesterday, why don't cereal companies use zip lock bags yet?
ReplyDeleteYour ants are persistent! So much for them taking a poison back to the nest and killing them all! WE have ants outside that are bigger than the ones usually invading the inside. We have had a lot of rain, but if you dig just a little, it is dry, so I still have to water every 3rd day or so. The waste of food is appallng. While in the hospital, the food service people advise you to take home sealed food items, like fruit cups, because they will be put into the garbage. If the food (sealed or not) leaves the kitchen, it gets thrown out and cannot be re-issued to another floot or patient. I understand the policy as far as spreading disease, such as Covid, but not every patient in the hospital has an infectious disease. Why not employ volunteers to sort the "trash" and take all of the sealed items to the food bank? My hatred of waste motivates my thoughts!!
ReplyDeletethis particular ant bait isn't the kind they take back to the nest. it's a sweet liquid laced with borax so when they ingest it it kills them but not before heading back to the nest and leaving a pheromone trail to the food which all the other ants follow. come and get it. it works pretty well. the two baits that had droves of ants all one day have not been visited since so I guess it pretty much cleared out those two nests. they're only coming in the house because it's so hot and dry. everybody is having problems with them.
DeleteI'm with you on how much food is wasted. it is appalling.
I feel like you may have (at least temporarily) shown Cat who is boss. Maybe. Don't want to assume too much.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope the food shortage is resolved, but I'm not holding my breath. The world is FUBAR. Sigh.
she has shown no desire to go outside since she came in Tuesday morning after spending the night outside. the world is on the verge of a major transition. lots of people are going to die which is horrible on the face of it but might be the only way humanity survives. I fear it's too lte to reverse global warming. I think we've passed the point of no return.
DeleteObviously it wouldn't solve the supply chain issues, but I wonder if SHARE could approach some other organizations (churches?) or large local employers to do a series of canned goods drives. You'd probably be able to collect enough donations to help you get through the lean period.
ReplyDeleteThat cat will think twice before staying outside again!
Weird about the cardinals eating your plants. Maybe they like the moisture in them?
well, most the volunteers are church people and they do put requests in their newsletters but we give away an enormous amount of food. and this is a small town, around 9,000 people. can't be asking the same people every week for donations. I mean we can but the response starts to diminish. and we don't know how long this is going to last. they're saying a year or more.
DeleteWonderful evening sky!
ReplyDeleteThere are local authorities here who have outlawed supermarkets and restaurants to throw out food past the due date and/or whatever stuff they no longer want etc. and most of that goes to the food banks, in fact must go there.
But while food banks are busy here and entirely staffed by volunteers, they don't have a good standing in the German "welfare state" which entails that the state must ensure a social balance between strong and weak social groups and secure the livelihood of its citizens. Housing, health care and food supply are constitutional rights here, so food banks and charity are sometimes seen as undermining these and especially, absolving the state from its responsibility. All theory really if you are hungry.
Last summer during drought conditions we have seen ants swimming/drinking in the drippings from the bird bath. Also, devouring the grapes and peaches for juice.
the rules for our particular food bank set by the board is food requests can be fulfilled once every three months (during covid it was two months) to prevent people from taking advantage when they may have the money to buy food. the people we serve also get financial help and food stamps from the government. that's for the large and varied amount of food that we give out but the US Gov't says as a food bank we cannot turn anyone away who asks for food. so those who come in in between the big disbursements get what is on the official USDA (US Dept. of Agriculture) list which has about 8 different items on it with quantities tied to how many people in the family. We're only open once a week but we give away enormous amounts of food some days.
DeleteI love the cat story. Leaving the garage door open and the light on was such a good idea. Kitty definitely got the message... or did she? Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI'm noticing supply chain problems here in northern California. A lot of our favorite things are no longer on the shelves. Mmm? There are sticker notes about waiting for deliveries. I wish things would just settle down and go back to something resembling normal.
Supply chain issues are showing up here, in Spokane, in the grocery stores. Eggs are becoming an issue again. Perhaps I will go buy another case of canned corn at Costco. The fucking Russians just blew up the wheat shipping deal again, so wheat will be in short supply, which in turn will raise the price of just about everything. It's a depressing time.
ReplyDeleteIf Google doesn't accept me again, it's me, Shoreacres/Linda. I was with friends last night who have been battling ants, too, and one of them mentioned the trick that you highlighted a couple of posts back: cinnamon. She said that when she put a line of the stuff all the way across the threshold the ants were crossing to get into the house, they'd come up to it, and then do a 180 and head off in another direction. I've noticed huge mounds developing all around our building, although they haven't made it in yet. Well, except in the bedroom, for heaven's sake. There are a couple of places where the joints between the floor planking aren't tight, and they're coming up through those tiny spaces. I seem to have taken care of that by spraying a paper towel with poison, and then wiping it across just that area. So far, so good.
ReplyDelete