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This morning when I went into the bathroom, there were tiny little ants crawling all around the bathtub. I have no idea why they suddenly decided that our tub would be a great location for a colonial summit. I opted to turn on the tap and relocate them to the Ottawa River, which is probably illegal under some piece of Ministry of Natural Resources legislation. But anyway, they don't seem to have reconvened there so far today - though as Scarlett O'Hara said, tomorrow is another day.
Last summer, we got yellowjackets (wasp-like creatures) in one of composters. Most of the advice I read about that problem was less than helpful, and even downright dangerous! It tended to be along the lines of "Just let them be - they're part of the balance of nature and if you don't bother them, they won't bother you!" But if you have young grandchildren who like to play in the backyard, you don't want those creatures buzzing around. Even if you want to use the composter for its intended purpose by opening the lid and putting in some kitchen scraps, the result is some nasty attacks and stings or near-stings. My partner tried going out with the garden-hose after dark, when the insect-activity had died down, and vigorously spraying into the composter - from a safe distance, of course. But that proved to be only a temporary fix. The most promising piece of advice I discovered - and it seems to have worked - was to wrap a large tarpaulin around the entire composter and basically smother them to death. Over the winter, of course, any possible vestiges of remaining life got frozen away - and supposedly, the creatures never return to the same nesting place twice. Once again, we've probably run afoul of the Ministry of Natural Resources but at least we didn't resort to pesticides or toxic substances. And in this case, we didn't even relocate them! No doubt they died happy.
In most cases, though, we enjoy being close to nature, at least when it's OUTSIDE. We have bird-feeders in the backyard and apparently the birds have been tweeting about our 24-hour buffet. A couple of days ago when daughter and grandchildren were over, we saw some birds with gorgeous plumage - a pair of cardinals, a greenish bird, some with black and white stripes on their wings, as well as more familiar ones like pigeons, sparrows, robins, blackbirds, chickadees and hummingbirds. I don't know if we have any endangered or protected species like barn-swallows or peregrine falcons or wild turkeys. But we get plenty of squirrels, chipmunks and bunny-rabbits. And unlike the good residents of Westboro, we haven't been tempted to trap them and relocate them to Gatineau, either!
Last summer, we got yellowjackets (wasp-like creatures) in one of composters. Most of the advice I read about that problem was less than helpful, and even downright dangerous! It tended to be along the lines of "Just let them be - they're part of the balance of nature and if you don't bother them, they won't bother you!" But if you have young grandchildren who like to play in the backyard, you don't want those creatures buzzing around. Even if you want to use the composter for its intended purpose by opening the lid and putting in some kitchen scraps, the result is some nasty attacks and stings or near-stings. My partner tried going out with the garden-hose after dark, when the insect-activity had died down, and vigorously spraying into the composter - from a safe distance, of course. But that proved to be only a temporary fix. The most promising piece of advice I discovered - and it seems to have worked - was to wrap a large tarpaulin around the entire composter and basically smother them to death. Over the winter, of course, any possible vestiges of remaining life got frozen away - and supposedly, the creatures never return to the same nesting place twice. Once again, we've probably run afoul of the Ministry of Natural Resources but at least we didn't resort to pesticides or toxic substances. And in this case, we didn't even relocate them! No doubt they died happy.
In most cases, though, we enjoy being close to nature, at least when it's OUTSIDE. We have bird-feeders in the backyard and apparently the birds have been tweeting about our 24-hour buffet. A couple of days ago when daughter and grandchildren were over, we saw some birds with gorgeous plumage - a pair of cardinals, a greenish bird, some with black and white stripes on their wings, as well as more familiar ones like pigeons, sparrows, robins, blackbirds, chickadees and hummingbirds. I don't know if we have any endangered or protected species like barn-swallows or peregrine falcons or wild turkeys. But we get plenty of squirrels, chipmunks and bunny-rabbits. And unlike the good residents of Westboro, we haven't been tempted to trap them and relocate them to Gatineau, either!
