Ants In The Pantry

We were invaded this weekend. Bunches and bunches of those nasty little creatures got into our pantry. Thankfully we had not gone to the store yet so only 2 items were ruined. A box of some sort of health cereal, and sadly, 3/4 of a container of NesQuik (Nestle's powder to make chocolate milk).

I cleaned these bandits out and even sprayed along the bottom of the pantry with Raid. It was hard work taking everything out. You know, what comes out has to go back in. I cleaned the shelves because who knows where their feet had been. I can handle spiders and snakes a whole lot better than ants. I go by the principal of where this is just even one ant, a million of it's road dogs are near by.

Well I was happy now. I told the wife my discovery and how I had vanquished the host from hell. I assured her I sprayed and cleaned up all excess spray so the pets would not get harmed. It was time to rest and tell "Little Rolling Thunder" to next time put the lid back on right and tight on the NesQuik. I love that stuff.

A little while later (you know where this is going), a hunger pain hits. Time to see what's happening in the pantry.

I open the door and what do I see!!!!!! Those little demons from hell are back!!! And they brought at least a legion with them!!!! Now they are on all the shelves!!!!!

This time though there was nothing they could get into. What a relief. Still, 3 shelves of stuff had to come out, little demons mopped up, shelves cleaned, stuff put back. This time I waited and noticed they were coming out of the wall through a crack in the door trim.

It was time to die for the spawns of hades. I sprayed the Raid all around the pantry edges (of course wiping up the over spray) and everywhere else those little beasts could come from in the kitchen. I even went outside and found a fire ant hill to spray - for good measure.

The ants have not been back. The new groceries appear to be safe. Thank goodness this dark crawling army did not get into my new box of Lucky Charms. That would have been worse than losing the NesQuik.

More Dog Stories....From Friends

Story #1: Several years ago when my (Raquey's) youngest son, Brad, was visiting us, we caught a wild mouse that was loose in our house and probably, against our better judgment, we kept him. We named him Ralph. He got loose one day and we were unable to chase him down. Later, we were sitting at the table eating dinner and our big, black German Shepherd, Bo (this was before Baby) saw Ralph scampering across the kitchen floor. Like a bolt of lightning Bo went after Ralph, caught him and was standing there, Ralph dangling from his mouth by his tail. We hollered, Bo dropped the mouse and Ralph went back into hiding. We found Ralph later and, lo and behold, Ralph had a crimp in his tail from where Bo had caught him.

Story #2: Where we are staying is an old dog named Rodeo. Last year when we were here we met Rodeo. He's a mild-mannered, well-mannered dog that follows his owners around and stops for petting from the folks staying at our RV campground. This year when we returned, he seemed a little older, a little slower and we were told that he had gone deaf. Well, the other evening we saw our local fox take off across the property and you wouldn't have known that Rodeo was old, slow or deaf. He took off after that fox like a bullet. Probably had to sleep for hours after that to recover, but he had the adrenaline when he needed it.

BY Dick and Raquey

Story # 3: I will give you another story to convey when people can't understand the instincts of dogs and devise a list of things they would do to fix the natural result of dog vs. mouse.

I was a teenager in a house my father built just outside of Chicago. It was spring and I was helping to remove two bales of straw that Dad placed against the sewer drain pipe last fall. The purpose of the straw was to protect the above ground pipe from freezing through the winter. Our backyard was open lawn except for a wheelbarrow five or six feet from the drainpipe, and my mom and dad who were standing 30 feet from the site of the upcoming event.

Shadow was one of three Chinese Pug dogs that my parents owned and I grew up with. I don't know what the Pug is famous for but I don't think it is a mouser with a cute flat nose. Shadow was getting old and showed his age. He was meandering around my parents as he often did with nothing on his mind, I'm sure. I lifted the top straw bale into the wheelbarrow and then reached for the second, laying on the grass. A nest of mice, at least ten, were startled when their tenement rose straight up into the air. They took off in every direction, like spokes on half a wheel. In an instant Shadow was on the move. He had the instincts of a cow pony herding doggies at a rodeo competition. One by one he stopped the mice. He shook the first, dropped him and moved like a flash to the next, repeating the routine. I do not remember one mouse escaping. It was all over in maybe 15 seconds. When Shadow decided it was over, he moved back over the field, he stopped at every casualty, inspected it and confidently moved on. His memory was marvelous because he traced his earlier battle precisely in the same order.

The Pug was domesticated over 3500 years ago. During that time, the breed has become known as a strong companion to human families and a brave protector. Shadow's instincts came to life instantaneously. This makes me confident that human instinct is in all of us and we should not work too hard to suppress it. We need instead to recognize when those instincts are needed.

Mom, Dad and I were all proud of the little black legionnaire. Dad broke the silence with, "I've always wanted a hunting dog. How do you think he'd do during pheasant season?"

BY Phil K.

A Dog A Mouse

My wife and I have started walking our dog at night after "Little Rolling Thunder" gets home from gym. She is showering and eating dinner anyway so it's a good time to get a little exercise. What does this have to do with a mouse you ask???

Well, last night we were on our 1 mile walk. Wife, I, and the dog. We were near the end of the walk and on a sidewalk bordering the main street. All of a sudden the dog stopped and her head shot straight down to the grass. I looked down just in time to see what I believe was either a very small mouse or a baby mouse.

Lo and behold, the dog scooped the mouse up in her mouth!!!! Holy crap I thought. Before I could do anything else, she turned and looked at my wife. All my poor wife saw was a mouse tail hanging out of the dog's mouth! Before my wife could even yell, the tail disappeared. That stupid dog had swallowed the mouse whole in one gulp!!!!! She did not even chew it.

Needless to say we both were grossed out to the max. I asked my wife if the dog really did in fact swallow that poor mouse in one gulp and she stated yes. We could not believe it!!!!

When we got home, the dog was put in her crate for the night. I was adamant that if she was going to blow out her barrel, she was not going to do it on our carpet. The dog made it through the night without a problem.

You may be asking why we did not attempt to stop the dog. Let me tell you, I was amazed at how fast the entire incident occurred. The dog is like a vacuum cleaner. We are still wondering if the dumb animal even knew what she ate. We are thankful the dog is current on all her shots.

Just something to think about when you are walking your dog in the evening. You never know if there is small snack just waiting to be had for the dog.

The Way It Is

This is one of those times that the photo says it all. I have no comment.

HOMEWORK – OH MY GOSH !!!!!!

I have a daughter in 6th grade. So do many people. My daughter gets lots of math homework. It’s not the same math I learned. I have attempted to help her numerous times over the school year but her mother usually has to take over before I break something or have a heart attack from frustration.

I have a college degree. I have published poetry, articles, and letters. I may not be the sharpest tool in the woodshed but I am not the dullest. But when it comes to this crazy 6th grade math, goodness!!!!! Beat my buttocks with a cane and make me write bad checks!

Talk about an intellectual beating. My daughter, “Little Rolling Thunder”, despises math as much as I do. She likes her parents to do the work for her. That makes for a fun evening. I work all day, want to rest at night, and then have to learn 6th grade math!!! To make matters worse, the math book does not cover everything on the homework. She took poor notes in class to boot.

Probability. That’s what the last assignment was on that I helped her with. Most of the questions made no sense. “Little Rolling Thunder” was in a bad mood. What should have taken 30 minutes lasted a couple of hours. Her Mom was not up to helping her that evening. This assignment was a study packet for a unit test. She had gotten a 50 on it. We now had to find the CORRECT ANSWERS TO 24 QUESTIONS! ( If my daughter was a guy, we would have had a fist fight out in the yard ) When it came down to it, I had to tell her to guess on some of them.

The little fart took her test the next morning and got an 87. And you say there are no miracles in the world???? I don’t know how she did it but she did.

She only has a couple of weeks of school left. The homework is finally slowing down. However, over the Memorial Day Weekend we have to get her to study for one last unit test. She only has 12 out of 100 questions answered and who knows if they are correct.

We will get through it. I am sure it will be painful. We love “Little Rolling Thunder” and like her, we are ready for summer break. When I left college I thought homework was a thing of the past. I liked most homework in college but have now discovered that I am very selective in what, where, and when I want to learn new things. And, I don’t like learning math the “new way”, whatever that means.

I will take this opportunity in advance to answer all you theoretical, analytical, mathematical geniuses out there – BITE ME.

Parents

As we are now between Mother's Day and Father's Day, and me being older, I pause to reflect on my parents.

I have a lot to be thankful for in the 2 people that decided to have me. While like all people they are not perfect, they also were not a lot of other things as well. They were, and still are, good parents. They provided me, my brother, and sister, a loving home. While we were not rich, we do not wallow in poverty. While we had arguments, we were not abused emotionally or physically. While my parents were strict, they were also lenient in other things. None of us kids has done jail time by the way. While they controlled a lot of things, when the time came they let go.

My Dad is a real character. The first time I heard him really yell loud was at one of the grand kids for letting a cat out of the house. I almost had heart failure and just about peed my pants due to surprise. And, at this point, I had been married for a few years. He has a very even temper, something I don't have. He also can be a man of few words but when he has something important to say one should listen.

My Mother is the more emotional one and I am like her. We both share a fondness of liking to chat with others. We both have many words. Mom is a great animal lover unless it's birds. Something happened in her youth and anything that flies is her eternal enemy. She is an expert on cats after having so many over the years. When I need unofficial Vet advice, I usually give her a call.

The best thing about my parents today is that they are more than just parents to me. Our relationship is one of genuine friendship and equality. I can only hope to master the parenting skills they have mastered over the years, especially since I have a daughter I affectionately call "Little Rolling Thunder". If you know her you will understand.

For those of you that did not come from a good solid home, my heart goes out to you. But, with God on your side, you can have the home you did not have as a child. Never let the past overcome the future.

A New Blog / A New Start

This is my third attempt at blogging. I think the other two are a failure for a few reasons. Not creative enough, not enough of me, boring, whatever. So, when I blog on this one, I am just going to let it hang out.

I should have followed a wise old Texas Saying. I am not a Texas native but have been here almost 20 years. I think this saying captures it all.

You can't run with the Big Dogs if

you pee like a Puppy.

So that being said, "Running With The Dogs" is launched. I will add links and other crap as time permits and the feeling strikes me.