I may chat about my books, what I'm writing or reading, or just general thoughts. You may read posts about my cats or just my crazy life in general. Comments are welcome, if anyone wants to interact with me. Maybe we can share war stories, whether it's writing related or just about life in general.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

N is for Nests



There are many kinds of nests on a farm.  Chickens nest, usually in the chicken coop in boxes filled with hay.  Birds build nests up in the trees in the spring, filling the air with sweet birdsong.

Courtesy Wikipedia



But there are also rattlesnakes, which we’d see occasionally on the farm, but never did see a nest of them.  Usually Papaw would come with a hoe and chop the head off, if Daddy wasn’t around to take care of it.




One thing we had plenty of on the farm was army ant nests.  These are mounds of fine soil with a hole on the top about the size of a nickel.  They were everywhere.  You never knew when you’d run across one.  I think the ants constantly weaving in and out of there broke the dirt down into the sandy texture.  The dirt on the farm was usually black and hard unless it rained.  Once the land got dry again, big cracks formed on the surface layer.

If one of these ants bit you, it really hurt and left a small red welt.  If you accidently stepped onto a mound, they were on your legs by the hundreds.  Daddy would pour gasoline or kerosene down the hole in the top and set the hills on fire to get rid of the ants.  This was an on-going battle and part of farm life.

6 comments:

  1. Painful ants. Ouch! I try to stay away from bugs...and definitely far, far away from snakes!

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    1. Stephanie,

      We had ant hills everywhere on the farm. Not too many rattlesnakes, but some.

      Sunni

      Delete
  2. I came across another Nests posts but this one had more variety YIKES rattle snakes #AtoZchallenge ☮Peace ☮ ღ ONE ℒℴνℯ ღ ☼ Light ☼ visiting from http://4covert2overt.blogspot.com/

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    Replies
    1. MCV,

      Thanks for stopping by. I'll take a look at your blog. There are so many, it's hard to get to everybody.

      Sunni

      Delete
  3. Funny I read this right after telling you the other story about our own fire ants on your letter O! LOL We had all these sorts, and handled them the same way. The only difference is that we called the fire ants. :)

    Random Musings from the KristenHead — N is for Nature (and Nimble)

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    Replies
    1. Kristen,

      It looks like we had a lot in common growing up.

      Sunni

      Delete

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Sunni