I know I owe a quarterly update, but so much of my plans and scheduling got derailed by my health that I don’t have much to say on it. I really want to get back to my novel, but I’ve only been able to give it short bursts of attention. It’s often on my mind and I make notes on problem areas, but it’s tough dealing with an autoimmune disease, let alone two, plus the renovation. I’ve honestly felt like I’m living in hell some days.
Still, I often feel exactly what Kafka expressed here:
Writers don’t write just because. We write because it is integral to who we are and how we operate in this world. It’s a large piece of the fabric and foundation of our reality.
On to this week’s update. I finally got an appointment set for the ultrasound on my shoulders. I had to physically drive there to book an appointment because the online booking system didn’t result in anything and they wouldn’t pick up their phone. All that to find out I didn’t need to be there for opening for an x-ray because they would be doing them both at the same time. In June.
My performance review was also on Monday. I wasn’t looking forward to it. They’re often more performative than useful at way too many organizations. I survived it and got ready to go to see some friends curl since the final bonspiel of the season was happening.
Mid week, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Ottawa Charge beat the Boston Fleet in overtime. That put the Charge one point away from securing the final playoff spot. Had they won in regulation, they would have gotten in. We all had to wait until Saturday to find out if they would be going to playoffs this year. And they either needed to win in regulation or go to overtime. If Toronto won in regulation, they would be tied in points, but because Toronto has won more regulation games, they would be advancing if that happened.
With every team playing on Saturday, anything could have happened. Thankfully, the Ottawa Charge shut the Toronto Sceptres out of the playoffs and clinched the final playoff spot. The first playoff game is on Thursday, April 30th. We know the Boston Fleet will be playing, but Montreal Victoire have to choose their own opponent before anyone will know who Boston will be playing. They choose between the Minnesota Frost, who has won the Walter Cup for the passed two seasons, and the Ottawa Charge, who knocked Montreal out of the playoffs last season and went on to the finals.
The Ant Saga
I had been seeing ants periodically this week on my screens and was perplexed about it. Normally, they are attracted by sugar. It took me a bit to figure out it may have been Honey Nut Chex that was drawing them in. I wasn’t enjoying the cereal and was switching to the plain one anyway, so I hoped I had eliminated the cause. I figured the plain with some fruit is a much healthier option that will be better for reducing inflammation, which is something I need to be extra mindful of these days.
But that didn’t do away with the ants. On Saturday, I fed one Terro Liquid Ant Killer then quietly watched and followed it as it stumbled as if drunk to my balcony door where I saw others were marching. I put down a ton of the liquid bait in their trail and basically had a river. They gorged themselves on the poison. But some were still active and walked all over the balcony window trim and down the crack of the door. I placed more bait right near the bottom of the door. In the morning, other than one dried out ant that was stuck to a piece of paper, it was as if they had never been here at all.
I went back to the store and got items to seal my door. I knew I would need to do this before my air conditioning install as I recalled feeling a draft during the winter. I thought I had more time though and I couldn’t get near it while the ants were so active. I learned that ants hardly sleep. They have microsleeps all day that amount to about 5 hours in total. No wonder they can become a problem so fast. I also learned they sometimes take up residence in electronics. Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to have been happening in my case, but what a scary thought!
But I couldn’t fully fix things because I couldn’t locate my only battery pack for my power tools. Perhaps it is time to get a second battery pack, which will speed up every project in the future including the completion of the kitchen renovation. Once I locate the original one anyway. Having likely put it in a “safe” place, it may be lost for all eternity.
I used Wilson Ant Be Gon Max on the edge of the trim and watched a remaining confused ant searching for the pheromone trail to follow. It made it to the corner nearest and fell to the ground far below. Since they had been disappearing into the uppermost part of my window trim, I figured they were likely living there and decided that I would be sealing them in with caulk as soon as I had the spoons for it. Several days of battling the little army of pests had me quite tired.
But I couldn’t find my caulking gun either. With the ants temporarily calmed by Sunday morning, I decided I would begin the following week with a trip to the store for a battery pack and a caulking gun. Luckily, I found my caulking gun later on Sunday. I thought it was a different colour than it was. I ate some high calorie foods and got to work caulking around the trim where it makes contact with the wall. I was always planning to do this, but I was hoping to do it after the kitchen was done.
This is not my first or second time dealing with ants. When I was a teen, I woke up quite often with ants crawling on me. Dad eventually figured out they had made a satellite nest in the window of my bedroom. Thankfully, I was not there when they changed the window out and dealt with them.
A few years later, in my first house, the satellite nest happened again in our spare bedroom. There was a large ant nest in the backyard and I had missed cleaning up some spilled sugary stuff from making a lemon meringue pie because I hadn’t seen where it had all went during that baking mishap. The yard had to be dealt with anyway, so we dug it out and killed the nest with whatever we could.
These ants picked the wrong woman to try their crap on. They likely came from the high school next door. It has a large, all dirt, track. I’ve seen an abundance of ants there whenever I have gone, so I tend to avoid it. There’s another high school in the area with a much nicer track.
I will be checking the caulk in Week 18 because the gap was quite large in some areas and I want to be sure this saga is at its end. I have another tube of the transparent caulk in case. If it’s good. I’ll use that on another window. I will be cleaning the inner trim and doing more caulking because it was never done. Caulking with small hands isn’t fun. I have to use both hands to squeeze the handle.
Just a note, I think the Terro Liquid Ant Killer is more humane than the spray. They happily feast on it then disappear to their nest and share it with others. But I couldn’t put it on my window trim. The ants that come into contact with the Ant Be Gon spray eventually writhe about in probable agony from what I’ve observed. I prefer feeding them into a drunken looking stupor and then cleaning up the sticky mess later. The spray also smells pretty toxic, so I can’t imagine it is great for human health either.
Adventures in Drawing with Aphantasia
I’m pretty terrible at drawing without an example to mimic. Maybe I should get back into Natural History Drawing sometime. Truth be told, I don’t want to start that in earnest with ants as I abhor them so much given everything I’ve been through with them. Something fluffy and cute instead would be my preference. I think they have six legs, not four, but rainbow doodle board is the best they are getting from me.
I wish my week and weekend had had more fun in it, alas, it was not to be. Hopefully, next week will be better.
Catch you on the flip side,
Rae
The Write Buttons 