an 'army of ants' pay the shed a visit...

i have no idea where the past few days have gone...after showing you 'Gladys and our big day' the electrician turned up (hurrah) and it was full steam ahead...every room now has holes in the ceilings giving us a glimpse of the darkness above. i have been very carefully monitoring each hole to see if (dare she say the word out loud) 'moths' find their way out...some how the knowledge of 'rodent activity' does not bother me, but the thought of moths, like all crafters out there makes my little heart beat faster and a chill run down my spine.

as well as my handy electrician coming to call, the door fitters turned up five days early to fit the back doors...funny how that happens, the weather turns from beautiful spring days to 'bloody freezing' and 'raining cats and dogs' and they then fit the doors.

as they pulled out the old metal brown slider, a 'too large for comfort' population of ants pored out of my wall.

now for all you lovely brits out there who perhaps like me thought little ants are just little ants because one lives in a brick built house ("sounds like a bit of old huff and puff Tif "...ha ha, what a wit). well let's just say, when one lives in a house built of wood one must immediately acknowledge 'an ant' if he comes to visit...if he brings a friend or two then you must start to count and keep tabs on them. if he decides to bring his big brother who is larger than you care for, that is your clue for starting to investigate where they are living.

with this being said, my door fitters removed the metal frame and out poured medium sized brown ants...they continued to pour as i raced to Ace Hardware as fast as little old Vern could go (plus i was slightly impeded by the speed limits in our neighborhood)...they were still coming out of the wall on my return with some rather nasty 'squirty stuff' in my hand.

i think we got most of them (in fact i am keeping my fingers crossed we did), according to one of the many men that pass through mossy shed these days (doesn't that sound risque) they are moister loving ants if they are medium and brown...rather than large and black which are the carpenter type. either way it's not good...no sirree one does not want any ants of any type living in the walls of a mossy shed...but on a positive note, the doors are looking rather lovely and when given a coat of paint and flung open on a summer's day with Gladys waiting in the distance, a few ants will not get get me down..

the electrician worked over the weekend and is here again today along with the 'roofers'...yes it is time to take down the 28 year old cedar shakes (a small miracle that they have lasted so long), remove all the moss, rip off the old gutters along with a ton of old branches and nests and have a new roof...after my window issues i am most concerned about changing the roof...let's hope it doesn't also glow green at dusk. i am also quite worried for used dog and the kitties, it is a noisy job having the roof replaced...i only hope they will forgive me (the nice thing about furry friends is they always forgive and forget).

i managed a wee bit of planting outside the front door in between the rain and brief visits from the sun (where oh where has the sun gone...Gladys has sprung a few leaks...she doesn't fair so well in bad weather, the poor dear). i choose a pretty ground cover with little flowers that appear sometime...i have thrown the label away and now the name has escaped me. i proudly showed my bit of gardening to my man "why have you paid money for moss when we have a ton of it already?"

"this is not moss" says i "it is a beautiful ground cover with pretty flowers, whose name has left me for the time being"...but dear readers looking closely i fear he is quite correct...it looks just like all the moss that grows around, under and on top of the shed...

she's thinking somebody doesn't appreciate her door decorating ~ Tif