Theresa · Mather

I have carpenter ants in my yard, some of them 3/4 inch long. The nest is way in the back of the yard, but I find them on the walkway near the studio. They were among the things I expected to leave behind as I set out on this year's road trip. But here in my motel room in Dillon, Colorado, I am currently being watched by several large carpenter ants as they stand guard on the window ledge, about a foot and a half from my head. The motel is sold out so there's no room to move to, and besides, if the ants are in the walls they're probably in the other rooms as well. I'm wearing heavy socks to prevent bites if I step on any in the middle of the night.

I was busy matting and framing artwork until about a half hour before we left this morning. Usually I'm farther ahead, but my cold and bruised ribs from an inglorious fall that I'd rather not describe in its humiliating detail slowed me down. We bid kitty and those staying behind adieu and hit the road. There wasn't much time for stopping since we got a late start, but I think I did manage to see half the Utah prairie dogs (UPDs) in existence. They are supposedly threatened, so there are strict rules governing their removal- only 300 of them can be moved per year in the entire county. Needless to say, the Cedar City golf course and large sections of our town are now UPD habitat. There are colonies all up the I-15 if you know where to look, and in one town I saw probably 30 dogs standing alert on top of mounds as we drove by today. One environmentalist claimed in an editorial that UPDs are "as rare as whooping cranes", but I can show anyone who really wants to see them several hundred in about 15 minutes, so unless all of them now live in Cedar City and along the I-15, there are more of them than people think.

Other highlights of the day include a stop in Green River, driving through the beaten up town and past its classic vintage signs and (unfortunately) right past the local watermelons the area is known for piled high at roadside stands. We did manage to get some local cherries and peaches farther up the road in Colorado. We didn't snap pictures today, and the scenery along the I-70 from its start in Cove Fort, Utah to the start of the Rockies in Colorado really needs to be seen in 3 dimensions to be appreciated. With a few sparse clouds, the play of light and shadow gives depth to the vast empty sweeps of landscape. Past Glenwood Springs and Vail and other towns, we really had little time to stop. The fun part this trip comes farther up the road, far away from the unwelcome observation of carpenter ants.

So they removed a huge killer bee colony from a home a block and a half away. There were 150 pounds of honeycombs in the eves of the house and the hive apparently had been there for at least four years. So all the bees in my yard for the last four years have been killer bees. They didn't act any more aggressive than regular bees, they just buzzed around and did usual bee things. I guess we should have been tipped off by the fact that honeybees can't survive the winters here... now we know. But a small twisted part of me is also kind of disappointed that after all the hype of the 70's and panic in the media and movies, I lived near killer bees for 4 years and they seemed just like regular bees, happily pollinating my apple tree and rolling in yellow pollen in the wildflowers. Somehow, in my mind, they should have looked more sinister...with some kind of special stripes, larger size or little villain's capes or something.
Even so, I'm very glad no one got hurt.

EDIT: Link to news coverage including video and pictures. I should note though that contrary to the caption, Cedar City is not in Utah county. :P
Click here

Stop reading now if you don't like bugs.

Calamitous Drama is going on in my yard. For some reason, I have lots of ant activity this spring. But it isn't ordinary black kitchen ant type activity.
The drama started this week with a huge (3/4 inch) ant with big jaws sitting wounded on the walk to my studio. I stopped to look at him because he was so unusually extra-large. One of his antennae was clipped and several of his legs were missing segments. He stayed put until he died and I assume a bird ate him. Later in the day, I found two similarly wounded big ants. I went about my business and came back only to find that they were missing more parts. Apparently they were trimming eachother's legs and antennae, and they kept fighting al la the Black Knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail. "It's only a flesh wound!". They both blew away or got eaten by a bird because they certainly could no longer walk away on their own.
Toward evening that same day, I noticed a dark spot on the ground about the size of a salad plate next to the bread crumb pile I leave out for the birds when I have old bread. Curious as to what had been dumped there, I examined the dark shape and found that it was a bivouac of tiny ants.... many thousands of them. They had set up camp while other ants were busy dismantling bread. I didn't know army type ants ate plant material or bread. A robin came and ate too, though I think he was eating ants rather than bread.
Today I found another wounded warrior ant on the walkway, waiting boldly for his fate. I went into the back part of the yard and there past the area that passing deer like to use as an outhouse was the beginnings of a colony of half inch ants. They were busy excavating on top of a mound. The huge ants may be warriors of this type of ant, but I can't be sure. I had left a hard boiled egg that had been forgotten in the fridge out there for the foxes or raccoons but instead, through a crack in the shell yet another kind of ant had removed about a quarter of the egg in a little over a day. These ants were being ignored by the half inch ants that were building the new tunnels.
I've been looking online to figure out what all these ants are, but there are just too many types to narrow it down. I do know that one of the regional businesses locally was once collecting ants for Ant Farms. Mail in your Ant Farm ant certificate and some Utahn went out and trapped them to fill your order.

I seriously hope none of these ants decide to move into the house.