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Charlie's Ants
Thursday, February 21, 2008 - Filed
in: At the House
At last, Charlie received his ants in
the mail today for his Uncle Milton's Ant Farm which was given to
him for Christmas by his cousin and her husband. He's been waiting
patiently, but very eagerly. It's taken so long (and the good folks
at Uncle Milton's sent us a postcard a few weeks ago explaining the
delay) because of the cold weather and Uncle Milton wanting to make
sure the ants arrived safely. What a great company! They've been
supplying ants and ant farms to grateful children for many years
and really have it down to a science. So here's to new adventures
and a colony for Charlie to watch over. (Will he be a benevolent
ruler? Of course.)
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Update: Charlie's Ants have landed
So while I was out reporting a depo, Charlie and Husband, with the able assistance of Charlie's friend George, attempted to get the ants out of the tube from whence they came into the very small opening at the top of the ant farm. Now, the directions say to put ants in fridge for 15 minutes to make them sleepy and more compliant. Done. They then attempted to get large ants into small opening. The first two go in just fine, then all of a sudden, a whole glop of them came out at once (they were all clinging to this log-like food stick). Ants everywhere. The two that they magaged to get in the farm are now crawling out. Chaos ensues. Ants are gathered into a jar and put back into fridge for another 15 minutes. Now, these are very large Harvester ants and apparently very bitey, so they must proceed with caution. Once again they attempt to herd the ants. George has the idea to put the whole ant house in the fridge to chill them out (literally). This is done. Third time's a charm and the rest go in. All 39 are present and accounted for.
I hear all about it when I get home and am glad I was working. Next morning, Charlie is eating breakfast in front of his new ant T.V. He worries that one lone ant is doing all of the tunneling work while the rest are slacking off. A metaphor for life maybe? Here's to the worker ants who make life a little easier for us slackers!
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Update: Charlie's Ants have landed
So while I was out reporting a depo, Charlie and Husband, with the able assistance of Charlie's friend George, attempted to get the ants out of the tube from whence they came into the very small opening at the top of the ant farm. Now, the directions say to put ants in fridge for 15 minutes to make them sleepy and more compliant. Done. They then attempted to get large ants into small opening. The first two go in just fine, then all of a sudden, a whole glop of them came out at once (they were all clinging to this log-like food stick). Ants everywhere. The two that they magaged to get in the farm are now crawling out. Chaos ensues. Ants are gathered into a jar and put back into fridge for another 15 minutes. Now, these are very large Harvester ants and apparently very bitey, so they must proceed with caution. Once again they attempt to herd the ants. George has the idea to put the whole ant house in the fridge to chill them out (literally). This is done. Third time's a charm and the rest go in. All 39 are present and accounted for.
I hear all about it when I get home and am glad I was working. Next morning, Charlie is eating breakfast in front of his new ant T.V. He worries that one lone ant is doing all of the tunneling work while the rest are slacking off. A metaphor for life maybe? Here's to the worker ants who make life a little easier for us slackers!
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