Spring in Texas

Spring in Texas is gorgeous. Since it never really gets terribly cold here spring kind of sneaks up on you. Suddenly you look out the window at trees with new growth and leaves, flowers blooming along the roadsides, and little dirt mounds everywhere.

For those of you who are not familiar with this, fire ants are some of the worst animals alive. Compared to mosquitoes, cockroaches, or even snakes, these fire ants are everywhere. They build these mounds that look like little piles of dirt initially. I have seen them very large (up to 12 inches high and 24 inches in diameter). Those ones are pretty easy to avoid.

It's the smaller guys that you have to be aware of...

Because if you so much as brush up against one of these hills, you'll know it. They swarm, these little guys, and they bite. Hard. It itches like crazy at first and then starts to burn (hence the fire in "fire ants"). Then the bites form infected little pustules. That look like zits. If you break the heads of these things you are in for months of horrible disfiguration.

The strange thing is that they are so small. They look like sugar ants... Incredibly tiny - barely visible. But they somehow find a way to get onto those who dare to intrude their homes.

Last year, after Ike, I was standing in a neighbor's yard assessing the damage. I started to note that the unpleasant sensation of fire-ants had started to spread along my lower legs. It was dark, so I couldn't see where they were coming from. But I was also standing in about three inches of water - which I would have thought would have killed them. But no luck. I spent the next few days being terribly tormented by these tiny terrors... (nice alliteration, don't you think?)

Anyway, the point is if you ever find yourself in our neck of the woods, keep your eyes peeled for these mounds. They look innocent, but they're not!