Many ants in one place are called a colony, army, swarm or nest. I would like to relate a story about a “whoosh” of ants. This is a short story and it happened when I was throwing something away in our large, lidded, outdoor trash receptacle.

In our town our weekly garbage is collected by an automated trash truck which grips each trash bin with a lobster-like claw, pinching it firmly around its middle, then by a series of moving gears and chains it lifts the trash bin and tips it over to empty its contents into the waiting maw of the trash truck. Afterwards the trash container is lowered back down to the curbside, the claw releases it and the truck continues down the street to the next container of trash.

These containers are made of heavy plastic and have a hinged lid on top. To deposit garbage, you lift the lid, throw in the trash and then close the lid back down.

During this late summer season we have had an incredible number of ants all around our property, both inside and out. The garbage bin is a real attraction to them, and most mornings the lip of the trash bin just around the lid is swarming with ants…swarming! This is not a big problem unless you inadvertantly lean up against the container while lifting the lid or depositing the trash. Even the lightest brush of a piece of clothing or forearm results in an effective transfer of many ants from container to person. Then there follows a few frantic moments of brushing off, shaking off, flicking off and picking off ants.

On the day I experienced a “whoosh” of ants, I knew enough to stand a good 6-12 inches away from the sides of the trash bin – which I did. I carefully lifted the lid with a finger and thumb, tossed my trash in the bin and still a safe distance away from the bin I released the lid with a “bang”. “Ha!” I thought as I walked away, “not even one ant was able to crawl onto me!”

As I walked back up the driveway to the house, my daughter, PX, pointed to the front of my shirt with wide eyes and exclaimed, “Mom!” I looked down; my bright orange T-shirt was covered with ants – hundreds of them! I couldn’t believe it; the whole front of me was crawling with ants! “What?!” “How?”…Then I remembered the “whoosh”. When I dropped the lid with a bang, the whoosh of air had neatly blown hundreds of ants from the lip of the trash container to the front of my shirt. So once again there was a few frantic moments of brushing, shaking, flicking and picking: all to rid myself of a “whoosh” of ants.