Some Late Night Honey!

This is a completely random bonus post... lol.  I had to share this very helpful bit of information when you get a midnight sweet craving only to have it intruded upon by 6 legged 3 part torso having guests.  

Not being able to sleep and having a sweet tooth I thought some chamomile  tea with some honey would be just what the herbalist ordered.  I set the kettle on to boil, pull out the tea, and pick up the honey I leave out on the counter.  Ants.  Yup, tons of the little tickly black teeny tiny guys.  Sugar ants.  At least that's what grandma called them.  Well, I was not going to forfeit half f a jar of local raw honey to these invading pests.  I grabbed my tongs out of the drawer and picked the jar up (did not feel like doing to creepy crawly heeby jeeby dance at midnight!) and turned on the sink.  I rinsed the jar until nary a bugger remained.  Then I undid the ring (mason jar) and rinsed some more.  Then I pried off the top.  YAY!  None of them got inside.  *phew*  But now what?  I can't just put it back down on the counter or even in the cupboard with out risk of another close encounter of the 6 legged kind.

Then I remembered my grandma doing this.  It's a really vague memory.  Honestly it could have been any elderly relative or family friend at this point, the memory is that vague.  But for some reason I really think it was Grandma.  *sigh* I miss her.  Anyway, if she was going to have something sweet out for a while she would put the jars of honey, jelly, syrup, bowls of sugar in a separate bowl or saucer of water.  The water is a natural barrier to ants and they won't cross it.  That simple.  So once my honey was rinsed and used.  I put the jar smack in the middle of a bowl of warm H2O.  In the south you learn to live with pests.  You deal with their intrusions into your home.  The cleanest of the clean and the richest of the rich alike buy mouse traps and ant bait.  You yards and lawns are over run each year by insects.  Insect annoyances are the norm.  Usually I live and let live so long as you don't bite, aren't poisonous, and get too big for your britches.  But I am not sharing that liquid gold with them.  Let them feed on the compost pile!

It also works for dry dog and cat food.  My dogs are BARF doggies, but my kitties eat dry food.  They don't ever leave any food long enough for me to worry about, but I know dry food and ants are almost synonymous this time of year.  Just put your fur baby's feed bowl into a shallow dish with water.  It has to be far enough from the edge that the ants can't climb or bridge it (they really do that crap too) but not so far from the edges that fido and fluffy have to stand in water every time they're hungry. 

Well, my tea has gotten me quite settled in and I have a long fun morning with the youngest alone.  My oldest daughter went to a sleep over tonight and the baby bug and I have had a time acting a fool together and are supposed to be baking a pie tomorrow.  Lord knows she'll want to do it at 6 am.  So there's your random post.  That was an aggravating end to my day and I though how much other people might appreciate to not have that same aggravation.  So, there you are.  :)

And now, I'm off to bed....

Tonight, I wish you sweet dreams!  Good Night!