The ant invasion is over! I don’t claim to understand ant minds, but they must have decided that it was pointless to constantly replenish the supplies their troops carried in daily only to have me sweep them out twice a day. At any rate, the troops have stopped marching in. I still see an occasional scouting ant, but that is normal.
Another challenge came up yesterday. We lost electric power at about 4:30 PM. That is not unusual here, and when it happens, large university generators kick on automatically so we can continue basic functions. Stoves in the faculty houses do not qualify as essential basic functions. Although I had lights, my stove had no power when I began to fix supper. I have eaten cold cereal for supper on other occasions, but I’m out of cold cereal. All I had in stock was a quarter of a cabbage that I got at the university farm last week, plus some fresh greens and corn and half a loaf of bread.
I decided to shave and take a bath while I thought about my next step. Fortunately, I still had hot water in the hot water tank, and this bought me a little time. The power sometimes comes back on late in the evening, and I have enjoyed a belated hot supper on other evenings. There was still no power at 8 PM, but as I checked the stove, my eye fell on the electric teapot. It plugs into a wall socket that must be essential. It works even when the stove has no power.
