Pavers, Ants, and Newborns

I recently bought a house, the former owners of which apparently considered rectangular concrete pavers the height of gardening style. When I moved in, there were pavers lining the equally rectangular mulched area surrounding the Japanese maple. They were lining the curb strip that the owners had filled with rocks (nothing pairs with rocks like cement, I always say). And, bafflingly, the pavers were spaced evenly along the front edge of our yard, separating several feet of weed-infested grass from...several more feet of weed-infested grass.

So it all needs some work. And while I have many grandiose dreams of what I'm going to do with the yard (none of which, oddly, involve the meatball shrubs currently lining the front walk), I'm spending most of my time right now raising my newborn son, the reason we moved into this new house.

But I have found time to do the bare minimum of yard work, which has so far involved gaining an intimate knowledge of the root systems of the many types of "dandelions" (or at least the March-August varieties; who knows what other surprises the Family Asteraceae has in store for me come Fall). And getting rid of those blasted pavers.

In the process of digging up one of these ugly hunks of concrete, I discovered that the local ants had decided that the area right underneath it was an excellent place to build their egg room. At least, that is, until I removed the paver, exposing their many eggs to the sunlight. But I was quick enough with my camera to grab this video of the ants scurrying hurriedly (as only ants can) to move their eggs to the lower levels of their subterranean kingdom.



Todd Stadler, webmaster