A fatality in the garden

I’ve heard how it can happen, I’ve been told many a story but nothing could have prepared me for this, I couldn’t believe it....I didn’t believe it. One day my hibiscus looked like this;

And like this;

And one morning it looked like this;

See the 2 sticks in front of the little banana trees.....sticks, no leaves at all, not even one.

Not a leaf left on it, cucumbers were chewed to the ground, as was some tomatoes and the mint had been attacked as well, and no creature in sight to blame......except this guy;

Spotted him the day before up on the power line, I even took his mug shot just in case I ever needed to identify him late (as if I have hind sight like that) So naturally he got the blame, and if he would have been around that fatal morning I would have killed him without even hesitating ( I think), but he was not around (that I could see).

My Tio came over and inspected the crime scene very carefully and said it was ants, I said it can’t be, it was the iguana, he said it’s ants, defiantly ants. I of course didn’t want to argue with the man so I kept my thoughts to myself.....but I was sure it was not ants. He searched the yard looking for their trail, couldn’t find it (because it wasn’t ants) he said he would come back at night and look again.

Friends of mine came over and we did our own little investigation and concluded it with “it’s the iguana and defiantly not ants”. Because we are so much smarter than the locals you see.

Tio came back in a few hours and search the yard again, and found nothing (because it wasn’t ants) he said he would come again a bit latter yet, he is one determined hunter.

When he comes back later just at sunset, which is dusk around here he finds the trail...oh yes, 100s of ants are creeping up a trail in the back of my fence coming from 2 doors down, and then we see the path that was there all along. From 2 doors down there is a path that where the ants had worn away the grass and left a path in the dirt coming right to my garden. I would never have found it but once he pointed it out to me it was so obvious. It was ants! They had marched all night, munched away and then marched back and were now on their way back for a second night of thieving, pillaging and raping my garden. Tio had some kind of gadget that looked like a bicycle tire pump with a hose on it, he stuck the hose in the ground beside their house and pump some kind of poison into the ground.....don’t care what it is, as long as it kills the ants. I want to make sure this works so I sprinkle my killer ant dust on their path as well, we’ll double kill them, I want them dead.

I couldn’t believe the that ants were that smart that they would come in the night and eat all night and be smart enough to know when to retreat to not get caught...unbelievable.  

I love my Tio, he is so smart and I know nothing, except that I will believe him next time, and to think I would have killed an innocent iquana, I best leave all my killing to my Tio. I am told my plants will grow back stronger and better. A few days later my one hibiscus bloomed, it had no leaves on it at all, just one beautiful blossom. Crazy.                                                                                                                                                                         

a brown stick with a huge flower on it....amazing

On a whole different note....what to do when someone brings you flowers and you don't own a vase.