The Ant Time of the Year... or month or day

We've had ant problems in this house for longer than I can remember. It got much worse when we had the sewer put in. This morning Bob was noticing more ants on the right side of the sink than usual. He moved the coffee-maker and discovered a repeat of Alyssa's computer hub infestation (pictured at right).

Hundreds of the buggers were outside, under and inside the coffee pot. The fact that it is black made their presence more difficult to discover. By the time I got involved there was a definite dead-ant odor at the sink. I took over shaking them out and finally took it to the utility sink in the back porch. There was a little puddle where I had set it down. When I went back to look at it a bit later there was at least 50 ants floating in the puddle. I've drained it a few times and each time there are a lot more.

Those little dots in the picture from the utility sink are a few of the ants. Tiny, prolific, irritating ants. Our auxiliary nest just might need to be replaced since there aren't any screws that will allow us to open it up to clean it out.

Addendum... The pot is gone. There was no way to open it up so we could destroy the ants. There was a screw that held the whole thing together but we didn't have a screwdriver that would fit. As I began trying to pry open the bottom to see what we could see it smelled 'anty' - not the way breakfast is supposed to smell. Bacon, now that wouldn't be bad but odorous ant - ugh.

I finally got the bottom off by taking the small hammer Bob has had since he was a kid and whacked at the plastic around the screw. I could then pull off the bottom. Outside some more ants, it was surprisingly empty. I expected to see some sort of debris like I've seen in ant-hills outside. There were still some ants in there but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a cavity I couldn't get to where they were more entrenched. I thought I saw one ant with an egg but, unless there was some place where there was the normal nest, I not so sure now.

I ended up turning the hot water on and filled the pot and the sink with hot water. Hopefully we have eliminated one cozy ant home.

It looks like we will need something else to use to make coffee in. We had been a bit frustrated with this one. Bob had made comments just this past week about how he didn't like it. I couldn't easily see the filled mark and overfilled it a couple of times and it didn't have the capacity to pull the pot out and pour a cup while it was dripping. It did make good coffee, though, had an insulated carafe and fit under our low upper cupboards.

Happy V Day

I had a fun time with grandkids today. Bob has about an hour or two before and about a two hour window after he has his radiation treatment until he starts feeling lousy again so anything that keeps him away from home longer than that just doesn't happen. I dropped Valentines off for Becca and Alexis yesterday but they were napping so I missed seeing them.

Today after our trip to get Bob glowing, I drove out to the Ernst abode. The fog/low clouds were still hanging on when I got there so I knew I didn't want to be out there with no street-lights after dark. It was fun getting hugs from Zander and Natalie. She sat on my lap for quite a while and wanted me to "tell me stories about when _____ was little" as usual. She is sweet and consistent. I sometimes think that story-telling is a dying art but I think she may single-handedly keep it alive. We had gotten the kids little boxes of sweets. After chomping through one piece, they wanted to taste each others' and then wanted to share them with me.

Alyssa gave us one of her cookie-hearts. I just realized that I forgot it in my purse when I got home so I guess we'll have to share tomorrow. After a bit and a couple of "I'm hungry"s Alyssa got out her cookie cutters and sandwich fixings. She cut hearts out of bread and spread them with raspberry-cream-cheese (MMMMMM! good), topped that with raspberry jam which was then capped off with another bread-heart with a little heart hole cut into the middle so the pink/red inside could peek through. She made enough for everyone, but the eating came after photos for her blog. What fun she has with her bloggin.

Hayden was napping until just before I had to leave. He takes a while to wake up but I did get a smile out of him before I left. I took pictures (of course) but am about ready to crawl to bed now so they will have to wait.

On the way home I stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up some things for Bob. All of those things we are supposed to avoid were in my basket: white bread, Velveeta, 'white' macaroni.... You get the picture. All of the things you are 'supposed' to eat are to be avoided: whole grain anything, fresh fruit and vegetables, any thing in the cabbage/broccoli family, nuts, most milk products except for yogurt and buttermilk and Velveeta since they don't have lactose. He never has liked white bread.

When I finally got home he had already fixed some leftovers for himself. I made myself an open-faced toasted Velveeta sandwich in the toaster-oven... memories of childhood. We didn't have a toaster until I was in high-school or later. Mother made toast in the oven by toasting it under the broiler and Velveeta was the only yellow cheese I remember. The other cheese was Gjetost which is made from goat's milk whey. It probably would have tasted better with whole-grain bread like I had growing up but I went with what I used to consider to be the ultimate treat - store-bought sliced white bread. You toast the bread with the Velveeta slices on it and finish it by broiling it until the cheese bubbles up and browns a bit. It sticks to your teeth and probably doesn't appeal to many but I made myself a second one before I was done.

It wasn't the "Valentine's Day" one would necessarily dream of but it was a good day.

Time to Wake Up

I just got back from a visit with Oregon Sleep Associates. I've had a difficulty with having no energy, not being rested, being tired, snoring and jerky legs for way too many years. Sounds pleasant, no? I went to the doc a couple of weeks ago and he started the ball rolling by contacting Oregon Sleep Associates which is connected with the Oregon State Medical School. Today Dr. Fromherz asked me about 100 questions - and that was after filling out 7 pages of questions at home.

After all that and checking my vitals he thinks it is quite possible that I have Sleep Apnea , and Restless Leg Syndrome. The leg thing can be because of an iron deficiency; the other from an airway collapse while sleeping. There are several things that can be done but first they sucked some blood to test for the iron deficiency. I am scheduled for a sleep-study March 1. I check in at 8 p.m. and they hook me up to lots of different things to check me as I sleep.

If there is an iron problem, I guess I will be taking more pills. If not, it might take different pills to get my legs to relax.

If I show that I do have Sleep Apnea in the first three hours, they hook me up to a machine to help keep the air-passages open - a CPAP mask. If it shows up because of the results of all the data that was pumped in to the computer that night, I will have to come back to have the mask adjusted to make sure it has the lowest airflow to get the job done.

There are other options besides the CPAP mask -a tracheotomy which was the old way of taking care of the problem and would leave a permanent hole in my neck - not top any one's list; wearing a dental appliance that could make my tongue move forward; and a couple kinds of surgery - one is simpler but not as successful, the other more drastic but with a higher percentage of success which would move my jaw forward permanently. I'm thinking the mask sounds like it is where to start.

In the mean-time, I have some pills that are supposed to wake me up during the day. What an idea. The thought of not being exhausted from morning to night sounds like fun.