Ant Farm Update

For all the many people on edge, waiting to know the fate of our ants, have I got a treat for you.

Remember, they had a small funeral:
After which something strange began to radiate from the grave:Well, it took over the farm.
Note the little tunnel about half way down. They dug that in apparent attempt to head off the fungus, which eventually jumped the tunnel. Now some ants are yellow, and others spend all their time on the clean side of the farm.

It was a great chance to teach the kids about quarantine procedures. :-)

Simple Lives

No heavy politics today. Nope, on my mind is Alan's ant farm. Remember? They moved in two months ago. They were all named Ben. Anyway, I've become fascinated with them.

They stayed in Alan's room for about a month, until he came to me and told me he wanted me to have them. It was clear why; he told me why; they're "lazy" little buggers. A whole month and they did nothing but stand around, feel each other with their antennae, pointlessly paw at the walls, and eat sugar.

However, as soon as they got into my office they started digging. They dug this and only this after a week of off and on work:
That was it. They'll walk through one end and out the other. Presumably, to the little ant brain, they enter into a whole new world each time and so why bother with another escape hole, right?

Then it looked like they were about to build another tunnel at the base of their garbage pile. But they put a dead colleague in the shallow grave and buried him back up, after a short but tasteful service:
Now though, check out the grave site a week later:
What are they making? Some sort of fungus? Biological weapon?

Anyway, I'm just enjoying my kid's ant farm more than an adult should. Thanks goodness having children gives people a passable excuse to have ant farms, play with Legos, and watch stuff like Wall-E, right?

Menagerie

Our little family has a couple new members:

That’s Sarah on the grass, and Zelda in the home with Alan in his cool new glasses.

Yes, we're insane.

We now have two bunnies, two parakeets, three frogs, and a dog, poor thing—he so much wants to eat those bunnies, but must settle for licking them until they’re damp.

And a parental warning:

Frogs, right? Sounds like a short term pet, huh? Our boys won our water frogs at the Helper Arts Festival last year, while our backs were turned and the grandparents were in charge. I thought: frogs in a Ziploc bag… I just hope they live past the boy’s interest in them. The other day I was in the car and npr had a bit on such frogs, and it turns out they’ll live to be about 12, eons past a child’s interest in them. I’m now the only one in the home who notices those dull, pitiful creatures, and may be taking care of them the day our boys head off to college. Be forewarned.