Hiroo, hiroo,
The ants go marching two by two, hiroo, hiroo,
The ants go marching two by two,
The little one stops to tie his shoe,
And they all go marching down
in the earth
to get out
of the rain,
Boom, boom, boom...

The ants go marching three by three ad infinitum

The song has it backwards. The ants go marching, all right, but they never stop, and they come up out of the earth, looking for food and water in the hot season, which, in case you hadn't noticed, is now.

It's really the most incredible journey. I tracked them back to the fence where they entered my yard, kitty corner across to the cat's food dish, maybe 10 yards away. If each ant is 1/16th of an inch and makes the trip to and from, that's an astonishing feat. I wonder what the equivalent would be for a human (you do the math; I'm a philosophy major).

Astounding feat or not, I can't have them invading Max's food. Poor cat was at the back door, meowing piteously that his food bowl was swarming with ants. I sprayed the entire trail back from bowl to fence with Windex, cleaned the bowl thoroughly (nasty, biting ants) and refilled it, setting it in a pan of water.

I also put a small clump of cat food right by the fence where they come in from the next yard. Diversionary tactics, the Zen of Ant Management. In the process, I put my hand down on the brick wall, and was covered almost instantaneously with tiny, biting ants. Ouch.

I don't like to use pesticides, so let's hope the two-pronged approach will keep them at bay.