Yardwork and Fire Ants
November 6, 2008 on 5:42 pm | In My Imagination | 4 CommentsIt was a beautiful day here in north Texas and I decided to take advantage and get my prescribed dose of vitamin D by doing some work outside. So, armed with small and large trimmers as well as yard shears, I headed out into the back yard. We have several yucca plants out near our patio that had bloomed and needed the dead stalks cut off. This is not easy task because yucca plants are very stiff and the points of the leaves can break through your skin and cause bleeding, so, I have to be very careful as to where my hands and arms are in proximity to those pointy leaves.
I then used yard shears and trimmed the ivy like plant that grows abundantly at the base of the yucca, again, making sure not to get myself poked. I was just about finished when I stuck the pointed end of my shears into a mound of dirt and a gazillion little fire ants came pouring out. The mounds was completely covered with plant matter and I would have never seen it. I came very close to sticking my hand in that mound and that would’ve been disastrous.
I felt helpless and thought about arming myself with Galco holsters to hold guns loaded with fire ant killer. Unfortunately, I have to be careful what I use in the backyard because our little dog might get into it. Of course, right now I have to watch that she doesn’t get into the ants. But, except for the area right around the ant mound, I was able to get quite a bit of clean up done outside.
I hope this good weather holds on for another week or two at least, it’s really quite enjoyable!
Tags: Galco, holsters4 Comments
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I was attacked by fire ants in South Carolina while on vacation once. It really hurts! And I still have a couple of scars.
valmg’s last blog post..Lango winner
Comment by valmg — November 6, 2008 #
valmg – Fire ants are not a pleasant experience. I just had quite a few mounds blasted by our exterminator, but this mound was hiding under the ground cover plants. Looks like I’ll have to head over to Home Depot and get something to get rid of it.
For such little things, they sure can cause a lot of hurt!
Comment by Lynne — November 7, 2008 #
sign… november the 6 and you’re out in you garden in the hot sun… over here in London we lost what little nice weather we had in September.
Still, at least we don’t have fire ants to content with
Comment by Simon — November 8, 2008 #
Great blog! I was happy to hear you were not stung by fire ants. Autumn is the best time for fire ant prevention especially when neighborhoods synchronize together with broadcast treatments such as Over ‘n Out® Fire Ant Killer. Make sure to keep your dog away from the area during treatment.
I would love to talk more about fall prevention for fire ants. Feel free to email me at dhuey@central.com and check out our blog at blog.thefireant.com.
Comment by Daphne Huey — November 10, 2008 #