Consider The Ant.

Two things are on my mind today -ants and cupboard door anti-child access devices!

There's a correlation between both of these thing too -whether you believe me or not.

First, there's the cupboards -those along the bottom part of the cabinetry. We have two old cupboards that used to sit in the dining room, one on top of the other, but which Mandy had removed from that room and placed them, back to back, in the middle of the kitchen where it serves as an "island" of sorts as well as giving more storage space too for regular pantry-type items -pastas, rice, canned goods, cereals and the like. On the one side of these cupboards though, she also placed these little plastic thingys that have a strap that goes through them and effectively then locks those cupboard doors in place so nosy little children can't get in there and get into whatever catches their eye at the time and make a huge mess.

It's a device that serves its purpose well too because it does keep the kids out of mischief there.

Trouble is, it serves its purpose too well where I am concerned because every doggone time I go to cook something -when Mandy is away, on an errand, at work, etc., -I can never get the darned things to cooperate with me and release!

You have to simultaneously push a button in the middle of this little square thing while pushing in a yellow square button on each side of the device and then, pull -as hard as you can -to release the plastic strip that holds the door closed on you. And be darned if I can do three things like that, together, and get it to work.

This never seems to happen though when Mandy is home -just when she is not available to give me some assistance.

I guess I'm just not strong enough in my arms and hands -or fingers either for that matter -to get enough oomph behind my pulling to get the strap thing to release. I think I need some good vitamins to build myself up there, ya know.

And remember at the beginning of this post I said there is a correlation between these devices and ants?

Well, think about this will you.

Ants -those itty-bitty little creatures that always seem to find openings with which they can enter a house -mine, especially -and have a kazillion relatives or friends who follow them along with probably twice that number of baby ants too -and they are, before you know it, all over the darned place.

Hey! This house is not your private picnic ground, fellows! Ant traps have been and still are being placed in every possible nook and cranny around here in an effort to cause their demise. All seemingly to no avail too.

But then again, think about this too. What kind of special dietary substance or vitamins -in this comparison -must those little ornery creatures eat that gives them the strength they have? Sheesh -they could probably carry off every single dust bunny around if they liked the looks of 'em and wanted to use them in some way to insulate or maybe decorate their own abodes I think.

And also, what the heck is it about ants that you can't kill them either? Holy rip! It takes several stompings of the foot on one or a number of thrashings and smashings with a spare shoe, a fly swatter, the brush end of a broom -anything handy, really -to knock the wind out of em and then, to finally see them curl up in an ant-fetal position and die!

Between those darned cupboard closure things and ants, I need more strength, more power, to deal with either or both of them!

This then is my annoyance of the day, of the week, of the month too for that matter and I am on a mission to try to wipe their population off the face of the earth -starting with my house!