Ah, well, the peace lasted 20 days

Yep, so much for the relative peace and quiet next door.

The boy was at it again yesterday, much of the afternoon and evening. I first heard commotion during the mid-afternoon, when I was trying to settle down and nap. I had my bedroom door mostly closed and the air purifier on, but could hear shouting from downstairs. Tried to get the sound via my camera, but it didn't come out well from the upper level.

Later, he was on about something again. I did get some whining, typical mouthy kid stuff, really, while I was outside taking pics of the flowers, but in the early evening it was a bonanza. The boy and mom were in the basement, having a screaming match (the father was home), and I stood at the top of my basement steps with the camera on "video," getting the sound. You have to crank the volume up to the max to hear them, because of the static my camera makes and all the pounding (up and down the basement steps, slamming doors, etc.), but you can hear them, quite well enough to get a taste of what I've had to listen to for the past several months. I won't be putting that "video" anywhere public, but will keep it--and future ones as well--just in case there's ever a problem and I need proof.

So the peace and quiet lasted almost three weeks, which is about what happened at the end of March, after I left that nice note for her and we spoke the first time. Well, maybe the peace didn't last quite as long then. LOL.

 Hi Oscar! I've met Oscar before, he's very friendly, wonderful soft fur.

Pics snapped on Friday.

On another, slightly more positive note, I've not seen any ants since Thursday night. I hope the caulking did the trick and that the ones I saw Thursday afternoon/evening were just trying to make their way back through the wall, but were unable to do so.

I didn't see any on Friday at all, spent two hours cleaning my kitchen when I got home after work (had to vacuum up all that salt--lol). I also made up that herbal ant repellent Jeanne from Random Felines had directed me to. Thanks, Jeanne! I wish I could smell, it probably smells great. Has rosemary, cloves, cedar and wintergreen, all essential oils. It cost me a fortune to buy those oils at a local organic/health store. But after I cleaned the kitchen I sprayed around with that stuff, just in case. (If nothing else, it cuts grease like nobody's business.) And I sprayed outside too, all along my foundation. I also found some diatomaceous earth and sprinkled that along the foundation yesterday, will check today and perhaps sprinkle more, as we had a bit of rain overnight. BTW, I called all over for that stuff--only one person, at a local feed supply store, knew it by that name. You have to say you're looking for ant killer.

Oh, and Friday, while at work, I spent more time reading about carpenter ants than I did working. It was all very depressing. They don't eat wood, they burrow through it. They are attracted to sugar and grease, as other types of ants are. But because 90% of the workers never leave the nest, using those ant "traps" or ant bait doesn't work on them--not enough gets back to the other ants to eradicate them. Also, carpenter ants can travel up to 100 yards or meters in search of food. Acck! And they can have satellite nests, when the main nest gets too overcrowded. The workers generally live for up to 7 years, but the queen can live for as long as 25 (!) years. Yikes! I know more about carpenter ants now than I ever wanted to. I really, really hope the ones in my house were just out foraging for food, not nesting in that wall. The general thought is that if you see a few, don't worry, they're just foraging. However, if you see 20 - 25, you've got a problem. Which makes me think I have a problem, since I killed at least that many over the few days. Anyway, the property manager will have someone take a look at the exterior of my foundation for any obvious places of entry, for all the good that will do. Apparently he's had other people contacting him about ants this year, so it's just a "bad" year for ants.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I'll get up to today, other than finishing the housework I didn't complete yesterday. I expect the neighbours will be home all day again today, as they were yesterday, so I might want to vacate the premises for a few hours. LOL.

Happy Sunday to all.

Flowers snapped Friday on the way to work, with the little Elph.

Universal Blessings, Light and Mercy to All Beings.