May 14: Tiny black ants
May. 14th, 2010 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neverspentToday was a day of tiny black ants.
One of the main tasks on my work list was to shift and refurbish a swing I made and hung the summer I graduated from college. It's in a huge old oak tree in the front yard, and although it's all turned a bit green with algae and lichens, it has lasted quite well for 13 years -- I'm glad I paid the extra money for the silky nylon rope and the stain and sealant for the wooden seat. My nieces love the swing now. But the branch I hung it from has grown fatter and the rope looped around it hasn't, meaning the rope might choke off the branch eventually.
So I went up a ladder to loosen and move the rope. I have each of the loops secured with what I think was supposed to be a plumbing fixture: a large U-bolt and head and two nuts. They're all coated with zinc and the nuts came off quite easily, but when I removed the bolt and head from the tightly squeezed rope, inside the whole assembly... ants. Several dozen live, huddled black ants. I have no idea how they squeezed in there, or why, but they sure looked cozy.
Then I removed the seat from the bottom of the swing and took it away to give it a good sanding and resealing. One corner was cracked, and when I was preparing it to be glued, I found not just ants, but an ant nest. They had their little clear eggs or pupae in there... inside a cracked piece of hardwood that was hanging from a tree. Weird and amazing.
Today, I also planted wildflower seeds on a dry, sunny slope; put a lilac bush in the ground; and filled a rut in the dirt road with the generous load of rocks I dug up while making a hole for the lilac -- all during the promise of rain. The storms held off until late evening, when the thunder rolled in and the cool breeze came up. Spring and summer storms are spectacular and moving.
One of the main tasks on my work list was to shift and refurbish a swing I made and hung the summer I graduated from college. It's in a huge old oak tree in the front yard, and although it's all turned a bit green with algae and lichens, it has lasted quite well for 13 years -- I'm glad I paid the extra money for the silky nylon rope and the stain and sealant for the wooden seat. My nieces love the swing now. But the branch I hung it from has grown fatter and the rope looped around it hasn't, meaning the rope might choke off the branch eventually.
So I went up a ladder to loosen and move the rope. I have each of the loops secured with what I think was supposed to be a plumbing fixture: a large U-bolt and head and two nuts. They're all coated with zinc and the nuts came off quite easily, but when I removed the bolt and head from the tightly squeezed rope, inside the whole assembly... ants. Several dozen live, huddled black ants. I have no idea how they squeezed in there, or why, but they sure looked cozy.
Then I removed the seat from the bottom of the swing and took it away to give it a good sanding and resealing. One corner was cracked, and when I was preparing it to be glued, I found not just ants, but an ant nest. They had their little clear eggs or pupae in there... inside a cracked piece of hardwood that was hanging from a tree. Weird and amazing.
Today, I also planted wildflower seeds on a dry, sunny slope; put a lilac bush in the ground; and filled a rut in the dirt road with the generous load of rocks I dug up while making a hole for the lilac -- all during the promise of rain. The storms held off until late evening, when the thunder rolled in and the cool breeze came up. Spring and summer storms are spectacular and moving.