The Ants Go Marching One by One

Until last Thursday,  I was able to boast in the fact that I had never seen an ant in our house. I'd seen a centipede or two, but NO ANTS! Sigh, this era of innocence is over.

The Invasion:

They began creeping in under our kitchen door which happens to be very near the spot where Elena sits to eat.  It's eery how quickly they learned to camp out under her chair. They also rapidly learned to come running when they heard me shake the Fruity Pepples cereal box. 

The Defense:

I think I have underestimated how resilient ants are.  I first tried to eradicate them with my trusty "409 - All Purpose Cleaner". 

409 is to me as Windex is to this man. :-)

"Put some Windex on it."

Anyways, I sprayed 409 on each little ant I saw in my kitchen and then sprayed a big puddle by the door that they couldn't miss as they attempted to come in. I naively thought I had taken care of the situation... It held them off for about 8 hours. 

Next, Ben tried to calk the little hole by which they were entering. It worked over night, but in the morning they were determined to not miss breakfast and they somehow found another spot.

Now, we're pitifully vacuuming them up as we talk about who's going to go to the store to get actual ant killer. 

This battle is not for the faint of heart.