I have been struggling with ants. We moved an old log bench to a different spot and it was attacked by big black ants. Ants that bite…I know this first hand as they went in one hole of my croc and bit me hard enough that I kicked off my croc. These black ants make huge mounds….and thousands live inside the mounds. I never took an Insect ID Class…but they are most certainly ants.
How about Ants as a sculpture? This is Sculpture #2 at the Park in Park Rapids.
This sculpture is called AntVenture.
I suppose if you were a child you could have an adventure.
I have no sense of humor when it comes to ants. I don’t want them any where near the house or where they can bite Chance…or me. I would use Diatomacious Earth on the mounds…but it rains heavily every few days…I have to wait for a dry spell.
besides plotting to kill ants…I washed the lawn mower….I drew the line at waxing it…but I probably should have waxed it.
I sprayed a bunch of Canada Thistle…and made the rounds to see that what I sprayed a few days ago is in the process of dying. It is…since I am the local plant sprayer…I have most of it sprayed except for an area that I cannot get to unless I am become a mountain goat.
I sprayed a bunch of Poison Ivy too…Roundup for Poison Ivy is my weapon of choice. In Minnesota every property owner is responsible for his/her Poison Ivy along property borders. If you have the Ivy you can be reported to the County Weed Officer…then it gets nasty. Some people especially those who move here from a fancy smancy town don’t like ivy when they find themselves covered in the rash…and report their neighbors. Do not laugh it has happened.
Poison Ivy is a special regulated plant;
Poison Ivy must be eradicated or controlled for public safety along rights-of-ways, trails, public accesses, business properties open to the public or on parts of lands where public access for business or commerce is granted. Must also be eradicated or controlled along property borders when requested by adjoining landowners.
After all the plotting of killing ants and spraying Noxious Weeds
I took some old solar lights and put them in the wildflower area where the Lilacs are…earlier this spring Far Guy mowed them down…but they have come back nicely. We need to mow the perimeter and I wanted to protect the Lilacs somehow.
It was a warm busy day…one project led to another all day long, finally when my hair was dripping with sweat…I gave up…cooled off…washed my hair and read. We had a thunderstorm and got an inch of rain in thirty minutes. What happened to gentle soaking rains…we have had only gullywashers lately. I will have to mow again in a few days…mow …rain…repeat.
Is there another park in Park Rapids onther than the one by the lake? I haven't seen that ant sculpture, but I haven't been there for several years now. Interesting to read what you shared about the weeds and poison ivy. Are the ants worse because of so much rain, or isn't that a factor?
ReplyDeleteThere are several parks in town, Rice, Deane, Heartland and Red Bridge. The sculptures are new this year to Red Bridge Park and will be sold next May and new ones will be put up. Red Bridge Park is near the river and the old swimming beach.
DeleteI am an avid poison ivy hunter along with parsnip. I dig parsnip in the late fall and early spring, but spray it in the summer. I patrol my property for the evil stuff. Garlic mustard is another plant I dislike.
ReplyDeleteSome people come up with the most unusual forms of art. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteWe spray with Round Up here on nasty invasive weeds, like Canada Thistle, Scotch Thistle and Musk Thistle...terrible stuff.
You have a County Weed Officer? I never heard of such, but then I guess I never asked! I will agree that poison ivy is bad stuff. You are sure staying busy with a lot of hot outdoor work. Be careful in the heat. Just cutting the grass about does me in these days but our temps have been in the upper 90s every day. Yep, I guess it is July isn't it!
ReplyDeleteWe have a problem with ants as well but ours are very small and do not bits ( at least I haven't noticed). I resorted to kettles of boiling water where they were coming out of the ground. In two days I had to do it again. Now I haven't noticed any more.
ReplyDeletehi Connie, We have had the large black ants since the heavy rains a couple of weeks ago. The exterminator came out. Thankfully, no poison ivy here. I have a good book to read if I can just stay awake...the hot weather makes me nap!
ReplyDeleteQuite interesting about the poison ivy being policed.
ReplyDeleteThat stuff is prolific here due to the wooden area behind and beside us. We generally use Round-up, also. About every other year, I try something natural - - - which would be this year. I need to buy Epsom salt. According to Pinterest, it is one gallon of white vinegar, 2 cups Epsom salt, and 1/4 cup original Dawn. I do NOT expect major success since our weeds thrive on anything liquid. LOL. However I will try this one time and let you know since I don't feel like dealing with chemicals. I like to buy it already diluted but my husband thinks it crazy to pay for their water packaged. When it comes to stuff like Round-up, I don't want to handle mixing it. Some times it is worth wasting money to me.
So I just read online that Epsom salt can be good for plants (in moderation( because of the magnesium - - - so I will try that formula with regular table salt.
DeleteYou did have a busy day! Sometimes I think ants are trying to take over, poison ivy too. I use round-up for the poison ivy. The mess grows all around the pond. I did walk the length of the dam and sprayed all the poison, but need to go the rest of the way around. That ant sculpture is pretty neat.
ReplyDeleteLots of ants here too. I just edged and was in the corner with my red currant. I don't know how they can be so fast. they got under my shirt!
ReplyDeleteI remember falling into an anthill once while hiking up here, and they were biting ants! They got into every part of my clothing. It was very painful and embarrassing, but my hiking friends helped me clear them out of my clothes. Makes looking at that ant sculpture a little painful . :-)
ReplyDeleteKnow what you mean, we had fire ants when we lived in Texas
ReplyDeletethe only thing we could do was fight to keep them out of the yard.
Then they lined up on the side of the road, they could kill small
animals.
I hope you are wearing a good mask when you are doing your spraying. No poison ivy here, some in the Okanagan that we skirt as we are walking the dogs. Ants aren't much of a problem either. Over the years we've had a few invasions by little ones, but the ant traps usually take care of them. I find the ant sculpture fascinating. A lot of hours put into that one.
ReplyDeleteHusband is violently allergic to poison ivy so we spray for it as well. Have had good luck with a mixture of corn syrup and boric acid for getting rid of indoor ants. Not sure about the big black ones outside though. They appear to be a different kettle of fish. The noxious weed here is multiflora rose, and there was a campaign in the county on that when we first moved here that sort of petered out.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that interesting, about the poison ivy bylaws! We've a ton in our forest. I spray it, as well, on the paths. I have to. I just look at it and I get boils!
ReplyDelete