You would never know by the picture that my home office in under attack by carpenter ants.  We had our trusty exterminator come out to the house today to assess the situation.  Our neighbors have had a couple of trees cut down very close to our property so it could have disturbed the colony(ies), but more likely it is a result of a fairly mild winter that we have had this season on the east coast (mid-atlantic).  We have already spotted ticks and mosquitos which is really early for both of those creatures around here.

Regardless of why they have chosen to take residence up in my office (luckily there are none in the bedroom on the other side of the house), it is always a terrible thing to have ones home invaded by unwanted multi-legged pests.  It is a nuisance but it is also a bit scary.  I spent a lot of my day on Saturday on the internet doing research first to determine what kind of ants they are and second to find a way to make them leave.  I don't have a problem with paying our exterminator to do his work, but do have concerns about using poisonous chemicals around the house.  We don't have children or pets, but the environment and mini eco-system in our backyard is always a concern to me.  Unfortunately, carpenter ants are really hard to get rid of and we had friends over on Friday who confirmed that for us since they have had them in vast numbers at their house.  So I called the E-man this morning.  You gotta do what you gotta do.

Between the ants and my aging laptop, blogging has been difficult.  Tonight my home office will temporarily move to our kitchen so I should be on a more regular schedule since I won't have to worry about creatures around me.  I just have to sort out my computer woes.  I think that will be more expensive than the ants.  Sorry for the lack of posts.  I have another really cool renovation project to show you!  Really.  I promise.