It’s such a glorious day today, that all the babes have been begging me to take the boat down to the river for a floating picnic. Oddly, the most excited out of the whole bunch is Lilly. Our tiny new member has a deep love for floating, which is apparently how she ended up in our barn. She’d been playing among the dandelions, climbing up and inside the white fluffiness at the top of a stem, when a stiff breeze blew through the meadow, picking her up and carrying her and her fluff off on the wind.

Even though Lilly is bigger than any ant I’ve ever encountered, she is mostly fur, which is rather odd if you consider her to be from the Ant family. Anyway, this seems to be why she was so easily carried off on the breeze. When I asked her if she wished for us to return her to her family, Lilly exclaimed that she’d no home to return to, as the spring rains had flooded her families home and washed the entire colony away.

When she managed to find her way back to the anthill of her birth, there was nothing left… they’d all simply vanished! So my tiny friend once again climbed aboard her floating flower fluff, and took flight on the winds. When the winds calmed, the fluff she was holding onto landed upon the window sill of our barn.

Our tiny new friend seemed not to be in a hurry to go searching, as she explained how the ant network handled things like the lost and found. Apparently, her family knows exactly where she is, due to the colony that live near the barn. When I asked her how they would know such information, since she’d not left the barn since her fluff landed on the window sill, Lilly gave us our first lesson about ants. We learned that the local colony visit the barn every day to collect all the crumbs left over from the constant snacking that goes on around here.

I suppose that ants are rather useful, in regards to cleaning up food messes, but I still hold that they make terrible neighbors! They never ring before they come to visit, in fact, they don’t even bother with the doorbell. Not only do they show up at really inconvenient times, but they stay until the wee hours, helping themselves to whatever is available. Nothing is sacred if they think it’s edible, and they always invite their friends and family to join them, never once asking if we mind the added guest list.

As they’ve not yet attempted to overthrow us, nor devour us, I’ve called a sort of truce between the ants and myself, out of respect for my new friend. Maybe all my bad memories of ants was nothing more than cultural misunderstandings between neighbors. Though I’ve no idea where Lilly got her enormous ears and fur, she still belongs to the ant kingdom, so I want to be sensitive and respectful towards her family and her colony!

Though I would love to tell you more about Lilly and her family, I can hear all the babes outside my office, banging on the door and carrying on like sailors. I can hear them all shouting out things they think one might say on a ship, like “lower the Boomer” and silly things like that, as they know very little about boats. I can’t help but giggle, and part of me wants to sit here longer to listen for more ridiculous nautical words they attempt to create. Alas, the day is getting away from us, as it is, so I’m off to the river with my motley crew!

If we all make it back alive, I shall regale you with the tales of conquered kingdoms and whatever bootie we gathered. Keep a weathered eye out on the horizon for our return…