Killer Ants

I'm currently reading "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. It's this really long book about a Southern Baptist missionary and his family and their trials living in the Congo in the late 50s and early 60s. At one point in the book, the village where the storytellers are living comes under attack by ants. No, this isn't one of those fantasy books about giant killer ants. The reality of the novel was that there was this intense drought and the ants had nothing to eat. Everyone in village was struggling. The gardens and trees were bare. So, one night, the ants revolted and attacked.

Two nights ago, I left one of my windows cracked as I went to sleep. I did this because I was painting and didn't want to wake up high off of the fumes. So, when I walked into my living room the next morning, I saw that I, too, was under attack from killer ants. Okay, maybe not so killer, but ants nonetheless. These ants had wings! So, I drowned them in 409 and vacuumed up the remains. I've never had this problem before, and I've left that window opened a time or two.

It's my natural mindset to draw the comparison to the book. We, here in Memphis, are experiencing a terrible drought. Where some parts of the country have been flooded, we go weeks without rain. The sky deceives us. It looks like rain, feels like rain and even smells like rain. But, the rain jumps over Midtown and heads out east. Perhaps they need the rain more.

Anyways, it's dry. And, hot. But I like both. It helps me to work on my tan.