Ants, Ants, Ants!

Whenever we get a lot of rain, or melting snow, we tend to get ants.  I have no problem with squashing a spider, because I know that will take care of him.  Ants, on the other hand, travel by the thousands.  At least at times it seems that way.  They usually travel with their friends and family members, for sure.

The other night I was getting ready to go to bed, and noticed a lot of "dirt" all over a plant pot.  I couldn't figure out why, as long as the plant has been in that spot in the house, all of a sudden it's covered with dirt.  However, closer observation confirmed something else.  It was, in fact, ANTS swarming all over the pot and the area underneath it!

I was absolutely horrified!  My first reaction was to clean it up.  So I did, in fact, start to do just that.  Then I remembered the homemade ant poison recipe from Pinterest.  I have used it before, and it works miracles!  But in order for it to work, you have to be patient and leave them alone.  The poison will do the work FOR you.  They carry it back to the nest, and in several hours (or you can do it overnight), VOILA!  Ants be gone!!

The recipe is simply boric acid, sugar and water.  You can go to their website for the exact recipe:  http://www.food.com/recipe/get-rid-of-ants-ants-ants-203233/


Please note:  I thought I was going by the recipe, when I realized I was using borax instead of boric acid.  It is this mixture that has worked wonders for me!  This is not to say the boric acid doesn't work, I just haven't tried that yet. 

You can try both recipes, and see for yourself which one works best for you. Don't forget to come back and tell us which one you prefer.

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Dog Bed Makeover

Our oldest daughter and son-in-law moved to Florida, so he could start up a brand new Jimmy Johns of his very own.  She was almost due with our first grandchild when they left.  :-(  It was really hard at first.  He was born around two months later.

This was our first grandCHILD, but we had four grandDOGS at their house. They took two of the dogs with them, and left the other two here with us.  They also left a kennel for the two dogs to share.  The dog bed that was in the kennel was getting kind of worn, so naturally the dogs would scratch on it, further tearing up the stuffing in it.

I thought for a long time about how to recover it, and not have to replace it.  We had a bathroom rug that was also starting to look pretty worn.  I put two and two together, and thought, why don't I use the rug to cover the dog bed??  After all, they were about the same color. This is what the dog bed looked like before:

I started out by having the rug right side down, then set the bed on top, right side up.  I pinned all the sides to the inside of  the bed using corsage pins (they're extra long and sturdy) until I got to the corners.  Then, take the corners and pull them together like this:

Sew up the corners on each side, unpin the sides, turn right side out, and voila!  An old/new(ish) dog bed cover!

Recently, our daughter, son-in-law, grandson and granddogs were here for a few days, and took another one of their dogs to Florida with them.  Isis, (the Bishon-Frise-Poodle mix) is the only one left here, with our dog, Roland.  I think they approve of the new, improved bed! 

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