September 26, 2010
September 23, 2010
Pestilence
A not so humorous consequence occurred while we were in the US on holiday this past spring. The house has been over run by pests, namely ants. There have always been some ants in the house, but not the volume of ants that we are currently experiencing. And, there are at least 5-10 species of ants - microscopic to fairly large, and a couple of sizes in between. Prior to going on vacation, I had identified several ant nests outside the house, and I had erradicated them. However, they're back!
When we first came to India, I used to make regular patrols around the house, inside and out, insecticide at the ready, stalking the beastly six leggers, and all was acceptably under control. I mean, you never really get rid of ants in a house, do you? Even in Minnesota, we had a few seasonal fellows show up, and we dealt with them, and they returned to wherever it was they cam from leaving to enjoy our lives.
But here, [expletive deleted]! Drop one piece of anything close to edible, and they move in. First on the scene dispatches others to report back to the colony, and then every able ant come to party on whatever the food is. We have witnessed ants cutting up and carrying off a full sized preying mantis. So, you don't mess with these guys as they may choose to haul you off, too! And, they fight with each other for the right to the food source. Those little ones are rather rasty towards the bigger ants, often winning the battle and carting off the loser along with the human food.
Allison even found an ant inside the display of the laptop we brought to India for her to use. Not long after noticing the intruder, the display stopped working. I have taken the laptop to the local HP repair shop, but it is not fixable in India, which is a rather sore spot. So, not only are the pests, pests, they are having an economic impact, too!
Since that time, the big change here in India was the change in the house predators. Once the boys came to town, I was forced to curb the voracity of annihilation due to the possibility of also affecting a cat. And, prior to the arrival of the cats, we used to geckos in the house, but the boys have erradicated the geckos from the premisis, which presents us with our current dilemma - too many ants, and mosquitoes, and a couple of other unknown species, and no natural predators to curb the population.
I suppose it's pure Darwinism. When you remove one natural predator, those being predated flourish, which is the consequence we have observed to date. And, as was reported in Ants Happen, there is the futility of attempting to fight back. Also, keep in mind that daily the house is swept and mopped; so it not like we leave food laying all over the place. We keep the house clean.
So, our routine is that if it moves, stomp on it, wash it down the drain, slap it, bang it - whatever it takes. I try to focus on the recon patrols and the lone messengers. If the message of food never gets back to the colony, maybe they'll go to the neighbors for food. Maybe, I should seed the neighbors property with some ant friendly edibles.
Of course, maybe the cats should go on holiday and give the geckos a chance to re-balance the ecology inside the house!
When we first came to India, I used to make regular patrols around the house, inside and out, insecticide at the ready, stalking the beastly six leggers, and all was acceptably under control. I mean, you never really get rid of ants in a house, do you? Even in Minnesota, we had a few seasonal fellows show up, and we dealt with them, and they returned to wherever it was they cam from leaving to enjoy our lives.
But here, [expletive deleted]! Drop one piece of anything close to edible, and they move in. First on the scene dispatches others to report back to the colony, and then every able ant come to party on whatever the food is. We have witnessed ants cutting up and carrying off a full sized preying mantis. So, you don't mess with these guys as they may choose to haul you off, too! And, they fight with each other for the right to the food source. Those little ones are rather rasty towards the bigger ants, often winning the battle and carting off the loser along with the human food.
Allison even found an ant inside the display of the laptop we brought to India for her to use. Not long after noticing the intruder, the display stopped working. I have taken the laptop to the local HP repair shop, but it is not fixable in India, which is a rather sore spot. So, not only are the pests, pests, they are having an economic impact, too!
Since that time, the big change here in India was the change in the house predators. Once the boys came to town, I was forced to curb the voracity of annihilation due to the possibility of also affecting a cat. And, prior to the arrival of the cats, we used to geckos in the house, but the boys have erradicated the geckos from the premisis, which presents us with our current dilemma - too many ants, and mosquitoes, and a couple of other unknown species, and no natural predators to curb the population.
I suppose it's pure Darwinism. When you remove one natural predator, those being predated flourish, which is the consequence we have observed to date. And, as was reported in Ants Happen, there is the futility of attempting to fight back. Also, keep in mind that daily the house is swept and mopped; so it not like we leave food laying all over the place. We keep the house clean.
So, our routine is that if it moves, stomp on it, wash it down the drain, slap it, bang it - whatever it takes. I try to focus on the recon patrols and the lone messengers. If the message of food never gets back to the colony, maybe they'll go to the neighbors for food. Maybe, I should seed the neighbors property with some ant friendly edibles.
Of course, maybe the cats should go on holiday and give the geckos a chance to re-balance the ecology inside the house!
September 5, 2010
Versatile Bamboo: Scaffolding, ladders & now staircases!
Bamboo seems to be the ultimate multiuse plant. We’ve seen whole buildings surrounded by bamboo scaffolding, bamboo ladders abound, and now this: an external staircase created completely out of bamboo and rope.
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