Ants in Your Pants

Have you read the short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants"?  I had a flashback to my reading of that story way back in grade nine this week.

We went blueberry picking twice this past week.  First the kids and I went while LK was having a nap.  We had a lovely time.  I picked 6 cups of blueberries, Fi practiced using her compass, Jo picked a few and ate a lot.  The dog romped through the bush to her heart's content.  We came home tired and excited to take Papa with us again soon.

Saturday we all loaded up into the car and headed back to the quarry where there are more blueberries than I could pick in a week.  There were a few other people there, so the dog stayed on her leash until she adjusted to the new people smells.  The kids romped and made a fort while LK and I picked.

All in all it was great, and we have enough blueberries in the fridge to last weeks.  However, in my eagerness to pick lots I didn't always pay attention to where I was putting my feet.

Picking happily a patch that was particularly lush I didn't notice them at first.  Then suddenly I felt a bite on my arm.  Ants!  I had been standing right on top of an anthill (which would explain the particularly nice blueberry bush there growing on a rotting tree stump).  While I was focussed on getting all the berries, the ants had been exploring the new invasion to their world.

The dance that ensued was thankfully not caught on camera.

I am not a squeamish kind of woman.  But having ants crawling up my pants is not a nice sensation.  It took a few minutes of dancing, shaking, and swiping critters off to settle me down.  And then I promised myself to pay more attention to where I was putting my feet.

That only lasted until another particularly lovely patch.  Guess what?  More ants in my pants.  After that ant removal dance I wasn't even tempted to pick any more blueberries.  I just wanted to walk on solid rocks.

The whole drive home I was struggling with shivers of creepy crawlies on my skin.

I cannot imagine how scary it would be for Leinigen.  And that story takes on a whole new level of horror.