Ant Cthulu: Blogging Around with Rommy Week 17



I always joke about my black thumb, but I happen to have two orchids that I’ve kept alive and in relative good health for years. They’re actually not too bad to care for. Just let them soak in a sink full of water once a week for at least 10 minutes and make sure they get fed a little too. So when I left for my vacation I figured the orchids would be OK while I was gone.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

So when I went to give the smaller of my two orchids its weekly soak, I was completely unprepared for a swarm of ants to emerge from the recesses of the potting mix and start going everywhere looking for drier ground.

Good thing for me, I don’t squick out over bugs easily. And it wasn’t like they could go anywhere, surrounded on all sides by water. Truth be told, I felt a little bad for the suckers. They had no idea they would face an apocalyptic deluge when they got up that morning. Victoria Schwab once wrote, “The bodies in my floor all trusted someone. Now I walk on them to tea.” I’m sorry they felt my samurai orchid was a safe place to camp. But they had to go.

Although I wasn’t scared of them, I also had no desire to have them immediately race up my hands and fingers when I picked up the pot. First I made sure the front door was open. Then I grabbed one of the husband’s t-shirts in water, dunked it in another sink until it was sopping wet, and used that to airlift the pot to the outside, while I shouted “Leeeeeroy Jenkins!

I don’t know if there was a smarter way to do it, but not too many ants were willing to make the crossing onto the wet t-shirt during the space of time it took me to get the pot out. Once I put it down on a grassy spot in my yard, the survivors streamed out the side. I gave them all night to clear off. In the morning I poured off all the water, carefully wiped the outer pot with vinegar, and moved it to a sunny spot near my computer so I could keep an eye on it. So far, so good. I hope they find a better home. But it better not be in my other orchid.

Ants keep to the dark
knowing that the large don’t care.
The small step lightly
to reach safety in the loam
where some control is achievable.

This poem is linked to Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads' Tuesday Platform.


Art work by Gina Morely, hostess of Daydream Believer
She created it as part of an on-line class she took (Beautiful Bugs) through Willowing Arts.





31 comments:

  1. Say, I have one of those black thumbs too! I hope to make it a little greener when my son gets the house we will be renovating. I want to make the garden beautiful.

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    1. Usually my plant growing ability extends to things like mint. :D LOL with the exception of the orchids, I stick to things that may as well be weeds.

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  2. I hope your orchid is okay now! Love that bee art too, by the way.

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    1. So far so good. I have ant traps positioned near it and at the door (the liquid kind--they're the most effective I've found). Considering they're the only "fancy" thing I've kept alive for multiple years, I'd like them to stick around.

      Gina's art is cool! I'm also playing around with the idea of one of those art classes she took. There are a few free ones and a couple that aren't too much money.

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  3. ants are really quit amazing...there abilities and their sense of duty ...we can learn a lot from them..a greater good maybe for the group..but they are a pest..and maybe so we...bkm

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    1. I like the leaf ants with their little green umbrellas...fascinating creatures.

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    2. I kind of like them too. I'm not all that bugphobic. I do hope they found a nice place to set up camp - under a bush, near my tree, in the roots of my fading tulips. Anywhere, as long as it's outside.

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  4. Well written, interesting, and informative. I've found a new vocabulary word too

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    1. I'm always happy to help people add more words to their knowledge hoard.

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  5. I loved this story of the ants who moved into the orchid. I also have the "bad thumb"...and I also have orchids, maybe they are the only things that can really survive "me." My intention is always good, but then I forget all about them, and they die, "Just can't ake a joke."

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    1. Orchids can be remarkably sturdy as long as the basics are met.

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  6. I'm pretty sure I just heard one of those ants yell, "Leroy, you bastard!" Bwahahaha!

    I bet aunts would be a lot more selective if they knew that most of the large do care, they might even watching... and wet-t-shirt ready.

    One of these days, I will tell my plants the story of Aunt Cthulu (they enjoy horror as much as I do, I'm sure).

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    1. And, of course, my bit for this week:

      https://magalysblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/all-things-bloom-in-loved-garden.html

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    2. I picture ant elders, gathering around a firefly, telling the young ones about The Flood. And the terrible eldrich nightmare who both drowned and teleported them. A fearsome thing with only four limbs. And her cry of "Leeroy Jenkins!" was the only thing that followed them as they ran down the sides towards a more stable, flood-free, home.

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  7. I have to say you are a terrible landlord... those poor ants driven out out like that he he... but seriously the worst problem with ants is that they are so many.

    My wife has a little bit of Myrmecophobia though... so they wouldn't last for long at our house.

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    1. I was taken aback by the sheer numbers that started congregating on top of my poor orchid once the water hit it. I can only imagine the terror of someone who was entomophobic or myrmecophobic if something similar happened to them.

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  8. OMG I'd have freaked lol...I am useless with house plants, and to have managed to keep one only to have it violated by wildlife *swoons*!!! Haahaha...I'll stick to rescuing traumatised shrubbery from supermarkets (3 for £1.50 this week...and I'm sure the Rose of Sharon is actually a currant bush). So glad you enjoyed my "bug art" :D and thanks for plugging the class, the teacher is such a sweetheart XXX

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    1. I admit... you have seriously tempted me to try a free class. :D Thank you for letting me share. :)

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  9. Nice... Orchids are really difficult to keep alive, I'm impressed! And also, ants are cool but it's really a disaster when they come inside. Kudos to you for keeping your cool.

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    1. I was the only one in the house at the time - thank goodness! My husband might have handled it best after me, but I think he'd feel a tad freaked for the rest of the day.

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  10. . Nice to know, NTK, Rommy. Nice short poem. My thumbs are brown. Mrs. Jim had on she saved to bloom a second time. Then it died. To prevent cruelty to Orchids all orchid owners MUST live in the tropics, preferably in a rain forest.
    Thank you for hosting. I did devote one line to June Bugs. And left a link to a whole lot of my "Not June Bugs."

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    1. When my husband has a cold, he has the humidifier up so high that I feel like I'm in a rain forest.

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  11. Love this. Brings back memories of when I got a flower arrangement delivered, and the next day found them crawling with ants. We even had some in the dishwasher!

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    1. Eek! Yeah, one year were had a few in the dishwasher. That's when I learned the liquid traps are the absolute best.

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  12. Ughhh...those ants drive me crazy!!! this time of year you never know when you will find them. Sounds like your thumb isn't the death on a stick you make out to be with those orchids. Cool glimpse into the life with a poem after...satisfied here. Great job!!!

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    1. I think I can only take care of orchids though. I seem to have no luck with anything else other that straight up weeds. :D

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  13. You made laugh with how you got rid of the ants. Hope they don’t invade someone’s else home because they might not have such luck of having their lives spared. About the black thumb, I have one too. Holidays are a sure way to kill any surviving plants. So, IKEA mostly decorates my home. :D

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    1. Ha! Yay for Ikea and their reasonably priced knickknacks! :D

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  14. I would have probably broke the part, while running around! LOL! I don't like ants on the inside of the house!! I hope your orchid is ok! I have tried to take care of orchids, but they have all died! So you have to be good!! Big Hugs!

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  15. Replies
    1. LOL, the orchid is looking fine now! Hopefully I can get it to bloom this year.

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