The Fire Ant Gazette - A Midland, Texas Blog

New Blog: FireRANT
Category: Nature... Navel Gazing...
Posted Tuesday, June 13, 2006 at 01:19 PM [GMT-6]

I'm not a fire ant expert, but I play one in the blogosphere.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Anyway, the Gazette gets a lot of hits from folks searching for information about fire ants. I'm sure they're disappointed when they land here, expecting to get information about how to kill the little demons and instead get photos glorifying them. Or posts about folding fitted sheets.

I feel awful about the misrepresentation. OK, not awful. In fact, I couldn't care less. But, still, I have included at least one link in the blogroll to a legitimate fire ant resource, the Texas Imported Fire Ant Project, hosted by Texas A&M (Motto: "Cows and More"). And, as of fifteen minutes ago, I've doubled the available fire ant resources by adding FireRANT to the roll.

FireRANT appears to be a commercial blog, sponsored by GardenTech, the company that makes Over'n Out Fire Ant Killer, among other things. The blog gives generous promotion to that product, as you would expect, but it also provides a wealth of general information about fire ants, and presents it in a very readable format. I was especially impressed with the post about the apparent impact of Hurricane Katrina on the fire ant population in and around NOLA.

I have no idea whether Over'n Out works as advertised, having never tried it. At this particular moment, our personal homestead seems to be fire ant free. That's almost guaranteed to change, however, and when it does, I think I'll look for that product and give it a field test. Watch this space for a review. And if you're dealing with fire ant infestations (of the non-blog kind), you might want to check out FireRANT.

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Comments

Now, see? If you had just posted this in your sidebar long ago, we would not have had to drift off into Velvet Ant territory now, would we?

Posted by: Gwynne at June 13, 2006 02:41 PM

Well, just between you and me -- now that we're out of earshot of the others -- I kinda liked the Velvet Ant moniker. It has a suave-but-tough connotation, like wearing your brass knucks over a pair of butter-soft Gucci gloves.

Not that I have any Gucci gloves. Just sayin'...

Posted by: Eric at June 13, 2006 02:50 PM

You really are a glutton for punishment with this fitted sheet thing, aren't you?

Posted by: Jim at June 13, 2006 04:23 PM

It's my way of reminding myself that however competent I may delude myself into thinking I am...I'm not.

Posted by: Eric at June 13, 2006 04:31 PM

Not that I have any Gucci gloves...

But you do have brass knuckles?

Re: the fitted sheets, all it takes is a pair of scissors to conquer those demons. I thought we went over this already. ;-)

Posted by: Gwynne at June 13, 2006 05:33 PM

But you do have brass knuckles?

What is this, "20 Questions"? I plead the 5th...

I thought we went over this already.

Okey-doke. Tell you what. You get yourself a wife, and then come give me advice like that. ;-)

Posted by: Eric at June 13, 2006 05:39 PM

Too funny.

BTW, reading "The Hummingbird's Daughter". Been here 2 days, in class from 8-5, already on p.167. Hard to get out of the hotel room to get to class! I love it! Thanks for the rec.

Posted by: Janie at June 13, 2006 05:51 PM

Janie, I'm so pleased. I thought the book was amazing, but I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Posted by: Eric at June 13, 2006 06:14 PM

I am the recent owner of a set of sheets from Bed, Bath and Parachutes...and you can still use my fitted sheet folding method to great success, even if the elastic goes all the way around. :)

Posted by: beth at June 13, 2006 06:16 PM

Nobody likes a gloater, Beth.

Posted by: Eric at June 13, 2006 06:19 PM

Hmmm...maybe I'll post a pictoral tutorial for you sometime. :) Something like: You too can fold a fitted sheet...for just $19.95!

Posted by: beth at June 13, 2006 08:23 PM

Beth,

I seriously think you could make a killing with a product like that. You'll want to market it on Spike and in Popular Mechanics.

Posted by: Jim at June 15, 2006 04:09 PM

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