Monday, March 17

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

11 comments:

roseroomnz.com said...

Oh dear, oh dear, invasion of the ants. Hope you are taking lots of before and after photos of Mossy Shed to share later on . . . Rachael

gayle said...

Gosh you just sound so busy. There seems to be something happening all the time.

Lucykate Crafts... said...

urgh, i hate ants, we had a huge ant problem last summer, in our kitchen, in our living room, yuk!, am hoping they will not be back this year. lovely doors by the way!

Anonymous said...

I like the ground covering you chose. {I'm trying to figure out if you're kidding, and it's Forget-me-nots...} ;) It'll look nice as it starts to grow around the rocks.

And I'm quite envious that you have what appears to be fairly green grass! It's been snowing all day today. And the mud we were recently walking through is now almost entirely covered. I don't mind, I live so far North it's to be expected. But I sure can't wait for spring!

I hope the roofing goes smoothly!

A&AC project said...

I actually find ants fascinating (I love reading books about them)but I wouldn't want them as house guests!
Gladys is beautiful and must be a lovely sight first thing in the morning :)

Maggi said...

Tif, I am in such envy of your renovating zeal. I really wish I could muster up the enthusiasm and decisiveness necessary to 'change' things. Well, perhaps one day soon (cough) I'll ask for recommendations on window and door guys :)

Francesca said...

ooh i feel all itchy now with all that talk of ants. and you've just reminded me - it's getting on for april and every april we get ants (who knows what they are doing the rest of the year) invading our kitchen, just for a few days until i have cleaned out all the cupboards and sprayed them with the deadly stuff. something to look forward to eh...

Gigibird said...

Can these brown 'wet' ants do any damage?
Now moths put the fear of God in me....I had a lot flying about here last year....I just kill them, apart from Hoovering all your nooks and cranny's strong smelling things aren't really an option for me.
French doors are looking lovely...

Anonymous said...

I hope your remodel goes better than mine. Wanted new French Doors onto the patio. The other doors being some 35 years old, felt it was time. We had sliding doors on each side of the big fireplace. The Pella installer messed up the doors so bad they may have to order new doors. Day light shows under when tightly closed.The frames are crooked.My doors are ruined. My beautiful expensive doors. Do not trust Pella.
Nancy A.

dottie angel said...

oooh Nancy, so sorry to hear your horror story...so dishearting when you spend time and money investing in your 'nest' and such things go wrong. i hope that things work out for you...i am still 'fighting' my window fight but after a while one becomes very tired and disheartened with it all...

all the best...Tif

Musah said...

Lol "the Electrician turned up today" that's why we take pride in giving excellent service.