Not the only animal in the kitchen

It could be worse. I mean, Otto and his sister are still the only furry animals in the kitchen (as far as I can tell, anyway, and I do make regular checks)...



But with the (ever so slightly) warmer weather and all the rain, the ants seem to have found their way to the kitchen. Ughhh...I'm trying not to complain. This is part of living out in the countryside, afterall.

I just wipe them away and pretend that it's no different than the little vacation rental (which we love) in Italy, where there were also ants. Way more than we seem to have here for that matter. Try to remember what the owner of that little Italian holiday flat told me about the ants (I mentioned it to him that first summer we stayed there) - he just smiled and said that ants are incredibly clean and intelligent critters and that I shouldn't worry (both he and the place are incredibly charming, so this response worked pretty well - we went back and recommend it regularly)...I try to remember this (clean and intelligent, could be much worse)...and also try to find some humor in it all...to think about this building back in Basel with really big ants running up the side of it...

When none of these tactics work, I remind myself that I've got every natural deterrent we have on hand in action here - white vinegar, used coffee grounds, dish soap...pepper. Lots of cracked pepper. The pepper and the coffee kind of look like the ants, only real still. The buggers are hard to see, because the counter and stove top are both black. Mixing in some cinnamon now, too. It seems to work (and smell) the best.

Really, it's not that bad. It's already gotten so much better. Last night, I only saw a scant 1/2 dozen, between unpacking the groceries, cooking, cleaning up...and this morning, just 1 lone soldier so far.  Guess the word is out on the hill that ants aren't welcome here. Hope so, at least...