Ants + "Red Headed Woman"

Oh, brother......we had a major league Ant Problem in Pearl's kitchen today. Don't you hate it when that happens? Aw, man : I can't stand ants, cause there's no such thing as one or two of 'em, or even a dozen of 'em. If you're lucky, you only get a hundred of 'em, and if you aren't lucky?

Well, then you are in a situation like we had today. I was doing the dishes when I saw one crawling along the countertop. Then I saw two more. Okay fine, it's that time of year. Ants come inside looking for water. But then I noticed motion out of the corner of my eye, and I saw a bunch of them coming out of the nearby electrical outlet, which is on the wall just above the counter. It would be the one where you plug your coffeemaker in. The ants were coming out of the sockets. I don't know how they do that without getting electrocuted. Maybe it energizes them, I dunno. Little bastards.

Well anyway, I had to work fast because we have a ton of stuff stored in the cabinets below the kitchen counter, including opened cereal boxes, a bag of sugar, cooking oils, chips and a ton of other stuff. Had to transfer all those dry goods to a central counter that the ants can't get to without an extra day to figure out the deception. With the cupboards cleared, I went about wiping everything down with a bleach and water solution. I hate using a caustic substance in the kitchen, but it does kill ants and stop them from coming in.........except that this time it didn't. This time they were like "bleach? - ho hum". They just kept on coming.

I tried cayenne pepper. Didn't work. I tried the old reliable Vinegar & Water. Didn't work. I put Vaseline all around the electrical outlet, because petroleum jelly supposedly makes a barrier that ants can't cross, except that somehow they did.

I hate using caustic substances in the kitchen, for obvious reasons. But I even more hate spraying Raid or any type of poison anywhere inside the house, because that stuff is extra toxic.

But this time I had no choice. I used a liquid version that does not turn to mist, so that I wouldn't have to breathe it in, and I only sprayed just the immediate area around the outlet. In years past I have had to use this stuff in The Tiny Apartment, and it has worked. Hopefully it will work here, too.

Since the heatwave hit last week, it is Ant City out on the front porch too. I have to keep moving the cat food bowls around, because the ants find them and then they are swarming. When that happens, I stick the bowl right out in the direct 100 degree sunshine. That does the trick. The ants scatter, but only til nightfall.

No food prep anywhere near the kitchen counter until it is determined that the Ant Invasion has been stopped, and until the residue of the ant spray has been washed down about ten or fifteen times or maybe twenty five more times after that. Until the coast is clear, it will be In-N-Out or Mickey D's or Taco Bell or pizza or El Indio or The Habit or Five Guys or........a packaged salad from Trader Joes so that I don't get fat. I have almost lost that ten pounds I gained earlier in the year and I don't wanna gain it back.

Aww, hell. Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of The Passing Of The Pinsch (i.e. The Doberman, The Kobedog, The Koberdober, The Pinscherian Candidate, et al). If he were here, it would be In-N-Out all the way. He didn't care if he gained a pound or two because he wasn't a wimp. I need to be more like him.

Doggone ants.

Long Live Kobi. :)   /////

I did watch a movie tonight, the last one from my pre-Code "Forbidden Hollywood" collection. It was called "Red Headed Woman" (1932) starring the great Jean Harlow. If you remember my review of "Baby Face" - another movie from this set that I wrote about a couple weeks ago - then you can apply that review to "Red Headed" as well. They are very similar stories, about driven young women from underprivileged backgrounds who use their looks and hypersexuality to sleep their way to the top, in order to gain wealth, and power over men. "Baby Face" was played by Barbara Stanwyck. Her portrayal was coy and sophisticated. She was smarter in a lot of ways than the banking executives she used to climb the ladder. "Red Head", on the other hand, was purely aggressive. Harlow played her as tricky and pushy, demanding to have her way with the man she had first cornered by pretending to be a lost girl just looking for love. Jean Harlow played her as unbalanced, and then psychotic, and finally a stalker. Early screen star Chester Morris did a great job as the married man she captivated and then tried to destroy as she moved higher into the world of wealth.

"Red Headed Woman" was as shocking (for 1932, and for today also) as "Baby Face". All of these pre-Code films use innuendo and confrontational dialogue that was very frank for it's time, and in a way they are even more "up front" about the situations of the main characters than are the movies of today. If you are a fan of early Hollywood I can't recommend them highly enough. They aren't just racy or prurient, but tell tales about the human condition as we all experience it, in the avenues of love and lust and the moral consequences involved in such gambles.

Two Big Thumbs Up for "Red Headed Woman". See it especially for Jean Harlow's performance.

That's all I know for tonight. Hoping for an Ant Free tomorrow.

Cross your fingers for me. See you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)