All Is Quiet ..... OUCH!!!

Retribution reigns King in the animal world.  There are consequences!  DIRE consequences for killing off those fire ants in my bathroom.  I was feeling pretty smug they were no longer carousing in my sink or swimming in the shower.

While checking out the sprinklers in the back yard, I noticed one was completely covered with grass.  A quick fix is to grab a steak knife and cut all around, pulling out the roots along with a good chunk of dirt and tossing it over the fence.  Now the sprinkler can actually work as intended.  

That's when it hit me!!   Ouch ... OUCH!!!  What the heck??  I was instantly covered in a million fire ants.  They were stinging me right and left.  You've never seen anyone, especially me, move that fast!!  After several bites, I was able to get them off and smashed!!  I take no prisoners!

In the meantime, the concrete was a little hot on my bare feet, so I made the mistake of stepping back onto the grass, but at least 12 feet away.  In a flash, I felt it again ... bite after bite.  I did my best impression of RiverDance, as I made my way back to the house.  My feet and arms are now covered with red splotches that itch like crazy.  As I said, retribution!!

That made it a little difficult to sew, since every few minutes I was scratching off another layer of skin.  By noon I did at least finish this one.

There was no way I was going back outside, so after checking my stock in the grocery market, I scrounged up another quilt-in-a-bag that has been laying around for ages.  One of these days I might even get them all finished!  If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you!!

This is one block, although made up of four.  This one involved a lot of cutting little squares and ironing half squares before cutting again.  I was at least happy I wasn't getting stung by those ants any more, scratch scratch.  

Finally in desperation, I grabbed a scrubby and just gave it ..... well you know, I scrubbed until my skin came off.  If it works for chiggers, it should work for this.  The idea is to scrub deep enough to remove the venom they put in.  Well ... that worked fine until I realized I actually took off the entire top layer of skin, kind of like a burn.  Big sigh!!  However ... it's not itching any more!!!!!

So here's my big tip of the day.  Don't mess with fire ants and DON'T DO THIS!  As I hit the fridge for something to ease the pain, I spotted this guy out my back window.  He's actually quite far away, but my camera caught him doing something really stupid.  This is a TWO STORY house!!  I'm sure your solar panels needed cleaning, but this is NOT the way to do it.  

These are tile roofs and very steep, since every room has vaulted ceilings.  He's up maybe 35 feet right here.

Seriously???  I kept my camera on him and my phone at hand so I could call 911, or maybe the coroner, when he fell.  His problem now is that he can't get back to the ladder which is out of sight on the left hand side.  You can tell how long he was up there by the change in the light of day on the roof.  This guy is no spring chicken either.  I'm guessing he's in his 60's and should know better!!

I'm happy to say he made it, although he almost fell when he finally reached the ladder.  I have to say I now feel really good about going up on my little fifth wheel roof to wash it off.  Eleven feet versus almost 40!!!

I'm off to the Elks Lodge today for pictures.  Not mine, but my photographer friend who is taking them for the wall of fame in the upstairs hallway.  It helps newcomers know who to complain to, and we have 67 new members being initiated this week.  Yup that means a tuxedo in a 90 degree room.  Woohoo!!