For as long as I’ve been here, there have always been ants in the area where we hang clothes on the line. Some season’s the ants just go about their own business and don’t pay any attention to us humans. Other years, they bite. Apparently this is one of those years for them to bite. They pinch, really, and for such a tiny little thing, those little pinches hurt like the dickens. I did laundry today – when it’s Autumn or Winter, you have to make sure to get the clothes washed on the sunshiney days as otherwise you’re stuck with clean wet clothes hanging on racks either on the patio or inside. While in the process of putting clothes on the line I ended up dancing a bit of a jig as the ants attacked not only my feet and ankles (through slippers and socks no less) but also managed to be on my arms and elsewhere. Ouch. I got back at them though. The next time I went out I took the spray can with me. Only a few dared nibble on me after that.

I’m pretty sure I haven’t mentioned it here or on Twitter, but as of May 3rd, plastic shopping bags have been banned. Reusable canvas bags have been around for a few years now so most people already have these, and I even have a couple of bags that fold up and zip into a small little parcel that I keep in my purse. These are great for when we forget the larger reusable bags or when I’m out walking and stop to pick something up. So far, the ban seems to be going OK. We have two wire frames that we have always used for trash – the wire frame holds the plastic supermarket bags, which is perfect. I actually found some plastic bags for sale that are the same size so for a little while at least we’ll be OK. I’m sure the size bag I bought in a roll (they’re bio-degradable) will be in demand though.

Tomorrow I have a follow up appointment with Rheumatology at the Repat. This time I’ll be seeing the main doctor, and this will be to go over the results of the zillions of vials of blood that they took as well as the x-rays of my hands. Will report back anything of interest.

This was a warm up to writing up a couple pages of homework so I think I better get to that. Will be so glad to be done with the current topic. The word ‘dull’ is too nice a word to describe the current subject. But if I get it done, I can move on to far more interesting things.

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