The trouble with Spring

Each spring as the grass turns green and the air fills with the heady scents of lilac and vibernum I grow excited about the season. Warm weather, rainy days, and blooming flowers combine to encourage us outdoors. I willingly go outside and take a deep breath, sucking in the newness to revive my soul. But when I come back in the house is when I remember what it is that irks me so much about spring. One little four-letter word sums up the bane of my spring: ants. Little tiny ants invade my kitchen each and every spring without fail. They are small, yet they come en mass crawling up and down the cabinets, across the counter tops and into the pantry. Sometimes they feast on the cat food, other times they find a open sweet on the microwave. But mostly I just see them running back and forth, not carrying any food to the nest, not really doing anything useful as far as I can tell. 

So, I put out my tried and true ant poison Terro. Sounds scary and intimidating. Should strike terror in the hearts of my little uninvited guests.  Typically the ants feast on the sugary syrup, return to the nest to poison the rest and I never see them again. But this year I think they've built up an immunity. They've been eating the poison for at least a month now and still they are in my house every day. 

I try to ignore them but that is so difficult as each time I open the pantry I see ants scurrying. When I use the sinks, ants run from the water. When I wipe down the counters, I swipe the little bugs into the cloth and rinse them down the drain. And they are not just in the kitchen. Oh, no. They've found a way in through the den where the cable comes into the house. They march across the carpet as I'm watching TV, searching for a crumb or a bit of dropped popcorn. 

It's amazing to me how many ants there are. How, no matter how many I squish, more keep coming in the house. When I vacuum the floor, sucking up ants as I go,  I feel as though I'm defeating them until I see them crawl back out of the vac later on. 

I have some options I know. Since the ants seem to be from an advanced colony immune to my poison, I could call in the big guns: Orkin or Paramount. But the thought of more chemicals in my house really bothers me. I could ignore them, hoping they will get bored with my food and go off in search of some high fructose corn syrup in some other house. 

Or I could just decide to peacefully coexist with them. That's probably what Buddah would do. I could see them for the amazing creatures they really are. So industrious and strong. So determined to find food and water. So f-ing annoying!!!

OK. The peaceful coexistence is not going to work. Anybody know a good exterminator?