Univited, unwanted guests

 They come out at night. I see them when Oli finishes his final bathroom break for the day and we are heading back inside. A scribble line that extends from below the water spigot to just after my front door. The line moves like a conveyor belt, probably because it is made of tiny ants. Why are they here? How did they get here? I have no idea but I have been battling them for weeks. 

I had called a cautionary truce since they hadn't been inside my house; until late last night. Suddenly, the floor of my front entry way was alive with wiggling black specks. I attacked with my vacuum cleaner and then filled a stew pot full of water and waited for the water to boil. It was almost midnight but I pulled on my oven mitts,  hauled the steaming pot down the stairs, shucked on my shoes and started hurling boiling water at my house. It sort of worked so I repeated the entire process again. It occurred to me that maybe all of this could wait till the morning. I looked around my neighborhood - every single home was dark. Save for mine. I felt ridiculous; I was the village fool who just couldn't exercise any sense or fall in line. 

I could still see a clump of frantic ants in the moonlight. I left my front door open and flipped my vacuum cleaner on again to suck up the remaining survivors. It is a really odd way to spend a Saturday night/early Sunday morning, vacuuming your front stoop. Have all the little beasts been eliminated? No sign of them all today but the sun is now going down - let's see if I get any more nighttime visitors. 

...and they are still here. Harumph.