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Letters to the Herald

Flying ants: A sure sign of spring

Posted

Every March, our house is infested with flying ants, the price we pay for living in a copse. The ants sneak through a crack where a slab meets a cinder block foundation. If we don’t see them in time, they grow wings and fly around like ash in the sky near a campfire. They don’t seem to eat anything, are vaguely attracted by lamps, and have a short lifespan, probably no more than a day. However, when the bloom comes, and if you are not quick to vacuum them up, they can be quite the nuisance.

Because we have pets, a pesticide is not apropos, so we suffer through it, vacuum at the ready. They like to swarm at dinnertime and can make serving guests quite the challenge.

After years of this I was wondering if this cycle was creating a genetic code for the bugs. Do they think that the vacuum nozzle is their destiny, why they hatched in the first place? They crawl right up to the nozzle instead and let the suction lift them up and squeeze them down the hose into the bag where they suffocate with all their friends together. Perhaps as eggs, a fly preacher promotes the joy of floating air currents into the belly of heaven as an ultimate nirvana roller coaster ride. The nozzle becoming the gateway to the glory therein lies.

Will Kirk,  Doylestown


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