Okay, so I wasn’t battling the French for my kingdom, just carpenter ants. But the battle was just as epic.

If only the real ants were this cute.

It all started when I noticed some rotted wood where the house siding meets the back deck floor. Upon further inspection I noticed the rump of a very large carpenter ant and more rotted wood. Deeper digging revealed more ants and more rotted wood. Well, isn’t this nice, I thought to myself.

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While working on the house, a new pair of geese swam by with a whole hassle of goslings.

There is no way she laid all those eggs!

The normal clutch size of a Canada Goose is six to eight. I’m convinced she’s gosling sitting for another breeding pair. Perhaps her sister and brother-in-law!

Back to the battle. Stevie and I made several trips to our local home improvement store for advice and supplies. Stevie received lots of attention from the other customers and store associates and I was given a line of credit to help pay for a new circular saw and assorted reinforcements.

The employees at The Home Depot loved Stevie. They even gave him dog bones.

Unlike Henry V, my battle was not victorious (he won the battle of Agincourt). The reality of the situation is the entire back wall needs to come off. The best I could do was spray the interior of the wall with Ortho’s Home Defense, install some new planks, fill in the holes with wood filler, and admit defeat.

Thanks to my new saw, I make short work of cutting out the old planks and fitting in the new ones!

By the time the ants eat their way into the house it’ll be Chris’ problem. Where will I be? I’m not telling, the ants might find me.

Blessed be :}