Ants belong on flowers. Not crawling up and down my hands and arms and over my computer and inside the box of cookies I just made and all over the dishes drying in the sink……..These particular ants are really, really small. Upon entering the kitchen and in a matter of seconds, I will usually have an ant crawling on my skin. It feels like a piece of hair that’s fallen on my back or arm, and I can’t find it. Creepy.

I don’t want to smash the little buggers, I just would like them out of my kitchen and back out with the plants and nature where they belong. However, I am quite aware that the goodies in my kitchen: honey, butter, left over cereal milk, bread bits, and anything - even fingerprints - attract them. I cannot remove them from my skin without killing them. I feel bad every time, but it’s a matter of self-defense.

Once and awhile I miss products I could get in the U.S. One of them is Terro and Borax. Vinegar and/or lime only works sporadically. I am sure there are billions of cousins and aunts and uncles nesting behind the walls. I know a little of that Terro goop on a piece of cardboard would do the trick. And I’d love a box of Borax. It’s also great on cucarachas - cockroaches. My mom brought down a box of Borax once in her suitcase and one day (back in my old life when I had a maid and we were out of laundry soap), I told the maid to use a cup. I guess I didn’t make it to the store for a few days because she proceeded to use the entire box. After 9/11 I don’t know if I’d even bother. In fact I’m sweating bullets wondering if I can bring Addison’s gel-like food on the plane when we head up for a visit.

Living in the tropical climate means coming to terms with bugs. Big bugs. Little bugs. Ugly bugs. Frightening bugs. Annoying bugs and helpful bugs. (Ever see a swarm of ants carry away a cockroach corpse?) I don’t want to live without these bugs. I’m quite aware that in this circle of life we’d be worm food - heck we’d be ant food if we didn’t have ants.

How’s that for logic?