The Ants go marching two by two, hurrah

More like marching by the dozen. Sigh. We have ants. I thought it was a summer problem, but I'm learning. Another issue with old houses, I guess.

Usually we'll see one or two scouts, and squash them before they can report back to the mothership, and that'll be the end of it. But sometimes we'll find a bunch of them trying to eat a dead bug we hadn't noticed, or a kibble that Mojo flung across the floor. I'm doing my very best to keep the floor swept and washed, and the counters clean, but sometimes it's not enough.

The exterminator guy who came out to help us with the bees, mice, stinkbugs, and spiders (we live in a forest, apparently) told us to use this Terro liquid ant bait, because they will eat it and bring it back to the nest, and kill off the colony faster. You put a couple of drops on a little square of cardboard and put it in their path so they'll smell it, and then they go for it like sugar. It works really well, but the first thing that happens is it attracts more ants, so what started out as a dozen is suddenly a hundred, and it freaks me out. Look at this!

I'm not afraid of them, but seeing so many of them makes my skin crawl, makes me think maybe one got in my hair or my sock or is crawling in my ear! My instinct is to spray Raid all over and make them instantly dead, but the exterminator said it's a quick fix and won't really take care of them. Plus I don't like spraying Raid around the cats, where they'll get it on their paws and lick it off.

The bait stuff does work - within a day or so we're down to seeing only a few dozen ants, and within a couple of days they're gone. I wonder if we'll ever be completely rid of them or if this is just something we need to get used to.