Eek! I have ants in my pants!!!

Well actually, they are on my counter. Enclosed in glass. HUGE, REDDISH BLACK, menacing-looking Harvester Ants.

So Grandma and Grandpa Jensen sent this ant farm to us a few weeks ago, and then a few days ago the ants arrived in the mail in a little vial, kind of like a test tube. Yikes! Of course Scott was the only one home so he immediately dumped them into the farm without reading the instructions first... so he and I spent an hour after the kids were in bed fishing out the ones that didn't survive the trip, so that they wouldn't infect the others, without allowing any of their friends to make their escape! TRAUMA!!! Apparently when they die from here on out the other ants are supposed to bring them to the surface, but we haven't seen these valiant humanitarian efforts so far. By the next day one of them became entombed in one of the starter tunnels, and there he sits, as if to remind the others of what not to do, I guess.

So now we have these little darlings gracing our home for their lifespan, which is a few months, the booklet says. As soon as Kate laid eyes on them she yelled, "BEES!!" as plain as day, which is saying a lot for a child who only says about three words. Everytime we try to tell her no, they're ants, she screams in defiance," BEEEEEE!" Here's a shot without the freaky blue up-lights.

So, the "bees" are enjoying their new home, and making themselves more and comfortable. I'm not sure I'm so comfortable, however! I'm envisioning Kate climbing up on the counter (which she was caught doing today for the first time) and knocking the "bees" down and right out of their "hive"!!!! And into my house! Oh, and just to ease our minds, the packing label on the ant shipment reads "against state law to release ants into the wild". Huh? "Must be kept in captivity"?????? A little bizarre... but, the kids are already starting to get attached to them. They talk to them, sing songs to them, think up reasons why they might have dug a tunnel that goes in an arch, taking them right back where they started from, cheer them on when they've almost made it all the way through from the bottom to the top... they're officially part of the family!
So if you're in the neighborhood, stop in to see our space -aged ant farm... oh yes, I mean habitat... or, even better, HOME...(OOOH, I don't like the sound of that!)