Backyard Battle

As a mother, you never know when you will have to do battle for your children, even if it is against very small creatures.  Fire ants in Texas are just a part of the landscape.  You can never totally get rid of them, just manage their existence within your living space.  They live at almost every playground and almost every backyard.  They make their homes in flowerbeds and lawns and can attack without warning if you step in the wrong place. Their bites sting, itch, and don't go away for weeks.  They can get infected and scar.  Fire ants can bite multiple times.

When we first moved into our house, I was very vigilant about the fire ant mounds.  I would treat them when they would first appear so my children would be protected.  Now that I have lived in this house for a while and killed thousands of ants, I am less vigilant.  This winter has been so cold, the boys haven't played in the backyard much.  Thursday was a warm day and Layne is always standing at the door asking me if he can play outside, so I was more than happy to let him and Devin out in the backyard.  The fire ant mound by the water facet didn't even cross my mind until Devin came into the house screaming that the ants were eating Layne.

I ran out to find a screaming Layne smack in the middle of the ant mound  pulling up his pant legs and trying to brush off the ants that were all over him.  I snatched him out of the mound and shoes, socks, pants, and shirt started flying.  Thankfully, he was dressed in socks, shoes and long pants, so getting the clothes off removed most of the hundreds of ants on him.  There were ants even in his hair and on his diaper.  

Thankfully, the attack wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Devin's quick response saved the day.  Unfortunately, Layne has something like fifty to a hundred bites mostly on his legs and hands.  These pictures were taken on Friday.  Today the white heads are gone, but each bite is dark red and some have purple scabs.  They aren't infected, and Layne doesn't pick at them, but every time I see his legs, I feel bad.  I have only had three or four bites at a time and they are miserable.  Poor Layne!