Given not especially much time, I suspect I could number other “banes” that bother. Biting cat, broken ice maker, snow in latest April and too much of May, and the list does go on.

Still, my bane-of-the-month (no “club” required) is ants. Being furloughed at home day after day, I could by now have an immaculate house. Guess I could. I don’t. It’s clean. That’s habit and no big deal. Messy? You bet. Too many projects covering every surface. Still, no reason for ants to have moved in.

Of course they annoy me. Molly pretty much sleeps through the onslaught. Cat Gloria chased one, tried it and, since, has allowed them go on their way unimpeded. So that leaves only me. I’m up in a jiffy if I see one anywhere in the room, happy to step on it. (Shoes with a deep tread are more problematic.)

Obviously I don’t want them in here. I prefer my home to be bug free though I know that’s asking a great deal with summer coming . . . eventually. Will they go away then? Who knows?

There is no question that ants can communicate. Their fellows tell them where the foody treats are located, if nothing else.

Personally I hope that’s about as far as it goes. They know their job. No need to converse further on that subject and I’ll wager they don’t exchange complaints about the boredom of their position. Candidly — VERY candidly — I hope they don’t converse about me. I’ve got enough to think about without that.

If they did, I can imagine the hilarious guffaws as they sit around after dinner (once their work is done for the day) exchanging tales of my latest antics.

I had been writing (and learning so much as I went) about ants. My printed columns require three pictures to go with the text (when possible; finding pictures for the ones done on words does require stretching it a bit). So simple: photos of ants.

I did the best I could with those teeny tiny ones and found a stupendous shot of one ant (it traveled all the way to Alaska and back with my great intentions – the picture and he article, hardly the ant): That one very close, and sharp, magazine good (well, I thought).

But now . . . the teeny have their own column coming up early next year. That left me two short for the one coming up fast.

No shortage of ants, sadly, and I did take a lot of shots. (Happy as always for that handy “delete” button.) Once I started checking, I found some of the pictures good but the subject was far too small. My scanner won’t and my copy manager has enough to do without my adding an extra step.

Only solution was to get closer. My “good” cameras allow close-ups. These ants, I’ve realized really aren’t very large but getting that near required floor time. I was lucky for my first attempt must have been with one fast asleep. Even then, that led to a lot of blurry rejects. Not all ants were as cooperative and, guys, I’m really too old to crawl on my knees or scoot on my fanny or side when an ant decides to vamoose.

I am persistent if nothing else. Three good pictures accompany this article.

Which is about the time I realized I had written enough for two columns . . and that means – oh, yes, three more pictures.

Susan Crossett has lived in Arkwright for more than 20 years. A lifetime of writing led to these columns as well as two novels. Her Reason for Being was published in 2008 with Love in Three Acts following in 2014. Information on all the Musings, her books and the author may be found at Susancrossett.com.