We went to the aquarium again last weekend and, as is the way with 4 year olds, Little Ted insisted he did not need to go potty before we left for home. So we pulled over at a rest stop on the highway in response to his pitiful bleatings regarding his desperation to relieve himself and Ted took him to the drainage ditch to perform. Whilst attempting to encourage him to do the needful I heard him say "Daddy there are ants on your foot" and sure enough, when I looked down, I saw my first encounter with the nasty, non native,
fire ants. About this time I began to feel the stings and mounted a counter attack with the sole of my shoe and a paper tissue. These are nasty little beasties!
As Little Ted had now decided that he did not need a rest stop after all we retired to the vehicle with a sore foot and a sullen son!
Just by the way I have now seen my first snake since moving to South Texas; it was on the road between home and the church and had been recently flattened by a passing Suburban. I still count it as my first sighting and do not particularly look forward to a totally live encounter.
Anyway here is a picture, taken by Eddy, of Ted slicing a loaf of bread he had just baked.
p.s.
Tartanted.com has now successfully transferred to the US and I'm experimenting with new content. Some March pictures are up there whilst I experiment.
This picture was taken last week so I have no idea why it appears to show Santa Claus on the TV.
Since my bike finally arrived in South Texas, having been temporarily lost by the shippers in darkest Scotland, I have tried to get out on it as much as possible. This is not always easy as I can only take one child with me at a time and so I need to wait until child number 2 is otherwise occupied. I did manage to slip out the other day during school hours and shot up Pearl Street at 20mph; coming back was harder work against a strong head wind!
After my encounter with fire ants last week I have learned how to recognize their presence which is indicated by a fluffy mound with no apparent entrance.
They attack relentlessly and sting multiple times thus making them more than just an annoyance and more of a potential danger. Some people are very sensitive to even one sting from these evil beasties; luckily I am not and only suffered short term pain.
