  September 18, 2004 Today started out really nice - the sun was out, but it was cool, and a nice breeze kept my mom and I from getting too hot on our walk up to Carlene's for coffee and a muffin. It has been weeks, maybe a month or so, since we last walked, and we were both feeling it! Carlene's was wonderful, as usual, and we were able to get the comfy sofa in the back room all to ourselves. The coffee was perfectly brewed, and the muffin was moist and yummy! As we sat and sipped, we discussed our plans for the day. Our first order of business was to fill in the stupid triangular-shaped planting area in front of the house. It once held a very large Agapanthus, and a smaller yellow-flowered plant that I believe is some sort of lily. Both were annoying. The purple plant was simply huge, and blocked the front door. Trying to water these plants is a pain - since we're on an incline to begin with, plus we have simply crappy soil, any water we threw on them just ran off, taking with it some of the soil, and would run down the driveway into the street. It's an understatement to say it was frustrating. Mom and I have both hated this ridiculous "design element" since first moving into the house, and have been planning on removing the plants and filling The Triangle of Doom with concrete. Mom ended up taking the plant out yesterday when she mowed the front lawn (She'd planned on replanting it in the large pots once occupied by the tomato plants, however, the massive monstrosity turned out to be horribly root-bound, and impossible to remove without killing it. Sad, yes, but not tragic: we have two more of these annoying but hardy plants in the backyard.), so all we had to do today was buy some paving stones and decorative rock to fill it in. Eventually we will fill it in with concrete, and reset the paving stone and rocks, but for now, we just want to fill the ugly bare spot. We decided to make a template of The Triangle to take to Home Depot with us, so we can make sure the stones fit properly. See? We're learning! When we returned home from Carlene's, we noticed the Central Coast Casualty Restoration (conveniently located in the industrial park across the street) truck at our neighbour's house, and a pile of carpet padding outside on the lawn: something had gone terribly wrong. When we had the chance to speak to our neighbour, he told us his hot water heater broke, and flooded part of the house during the night. This is his second hot water heater already. Everyone else on our street has already replaced their original hot water heater, but we're still using our original one. We wished him well, and continued with our errands, but I was filled with dread: When it will be our turn to replace the hot water heater, and how catastrophically will it die? I wondered. If it just stops heating the water (like what happened with my grandparent's hot water heater just last year), that's not so bad. Inconvenient, yes, but not a disaster. If, however, it decides to die a dramatic death like our neighbour's did, it could be a real mess. Then again (looking on the bright side), it would give us the opportunity to get nice, new carpeting!
Anyway, we headed off to Home Depot with a template of the space we needed to fill in, and played with several different stepping stones and pavers before deciding on two round pavers with gravel imbedded in the top, and a bag of decorative garden gravel. We returned home, and fixed it all up. It was quick and easy, and looks so much better now! Removing those plants really opened the space up, and having something in The Triangle of Doom other than dirt is great! We're wishing we'd picked up one of the gorgeous colour bowls they had at Home Depot to put on the top paver, just to add some colour, as well as to deter people from trying to walk on that space to get to the front door (it's not entirely even or sturdy, it's just decorative after all!).  When we'd finished, our neighbour across the street came over and asked if we'd like some concrete to set the stuff in. How did he . . . is he reading our minds or what? We told him we plan to get some concrete for it eventually, but just didn't want to mess with it today. He said he would be doing some paving over at his place in a few weeks, and would happily give us some concrete, and help us set the stones in it. Holy cow! How freakin' nice! We have such great neighbours, seriously! He's got The Triangle of Doom in front of his house, too (we're the only ones in the whole development who have this "decorative element"), and he hates it as well. He's got an enormous lavender plant in his! He's planning on removing it, and filling his Triangle of Doom as well. After all that (and after getting our groceries and running other errands), we were feeling pretty good about things. We'd accomplished a lot, and it was only 2 p.m.! I took my deli sandwich and handful of baked Doritos into my room to have lunch, then a mid-afternoon nap. I could put some stuff on Ebay later in the evening, and have all day tomorrow to just lay around and watch football! Yay! At 6 p.m. I got up and reached down to pick up my lunch tray from the floor only to find it completely covered with nasty little scurrying black ants!!! Pardon my language, but shit! I grabbed the tray, and rushed into the kitchen, dropping it in the sink and running water over it. I had ants running up my arms, and although I tried not to shriek in horror, I just couldn't help it. Ants! Gah! I hate ants! Mom grabbed the poison-free ant spray, and we headed into my room to find the little bastards and KILL THEM!! We found they were coming in from my closet, quickly evacuated most of my clothes from it, and sprayed the crap out of them. I then had to remove everything and scrub my closet, because, ants? In my clothes? Ew! I was taking my garbage out when I saw them in the garage: a whole line of the little bastards marching from the garage door, up along side my car, around the mat in front of the washing machine, and around the base of the hot water heater where they apparently found a way into the house. Gah! This time it was the totally full of poison ant killer I grabbed, and made quick work of the ants. I couldn't find exactly where they were coming into the garage, or exactly where they were getting into the house, but I just sprayed the hell out of the entire area, and called it good. I've gone out to check it a few times, and have seen no more living ants. Ditto for my closet. We may have won this battle. How? How is it that they can do this: how do they find the stuff so quickly? I had just a few crumbs left on that tray - crumbs! And, it was only sitting there unattended for a couple of hours! How do they do this? *Sigh* And, now, as I sit here typing this, I see them coming; they're up on my desk. Gah! Pardon me while I screech in anger, and spray the little bastards with the minty freshness that is Martha Stewart poison-free ant killer.
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