Attack of the Ants

January 20, 2006 - Ok so the title might have been a little dramatic - it wasn't like a whole swarm of ants jumped out of no where and started eating my flesh (eww) but this morning's little incident just left a bad taste in my mouth...

So last night, when I was doing dishes, I noticed a red fire ant crawling up the wall behind the sink. My instinct was to squish it of course, and I was a little surprised as well, given I have never seen them (in my apt) before. A few seconds later, two more ants came crawling out of nowhere, followed by three more. I tried to follow them to see where they came from - a couple of them were going into the cabinet above the sink through the gap between the cabinet and the wall - and tried to stop them (by killing them and also by sealing the gap between the cabinet and the wall with my cocking gun and steel wool), but still, there were more to be found! So I gave up (I was getting a little pissed off by then, since I had also killed 2 other bugs, which I swear are baby roaches) and went to bed.

This morning, while I was making my breakfast, I saw two more ants crawling up the wall. Pissed off, I grabbed a Kleenex and tried to squish them. Those hard-bodied creatures just would not die. One of them ended up on my finger and the next thing I know, my finger started to bleed! I had been bitten by a freakin ant! Anyway, I finally managed to kill both of them, and went off to work, and told tell my colleagues yet another bug-tale. FYI: these ants were coming from this gap between the sink unit and the wall, way too far for me to reach...

I talked to my landlady after work (apparently I got a new one and I didn't even know). She seemed nice enough and said she would call the pest control people on Monday. But she also said that the building gets complains about ants and other bugs on average every 3 months - that set off an alarm: if the building gets complaints about bugs every 3 months, then doesn't that mean that there is something not quite right about the building?? Like seriously, I know the building is much nicer than a lot of buildings in TO, but still...I mean, I know it's probably not the landlady's fault, but the building could be better maintained - the units for example, could be better renovated (I swear my friends' apartments are much nicer than mine). I think the tenants in my building are to blame as well. I'm not even surprised anymore when I see candy wrappers in the elevator or trash left in the garbage room. People simply just don't care - because they just don't think of the building as their home...

So I'm seriously considering moving - I can't imagine how many bugs will crawl out when the weather gets warmer. Not to mention I'm paying way too much for rent, and it would be nice to move to a smaller, cheaper place, even if it's further away. Definitely something to think about...