Attack of the lawn mower

Ok this is truly the sort of story i would expect a non-countrified person to report. Oh... i forgot, that's me!!!

I'm lazily doing chores on Sunday morning., well, afternoon ish and i decided to mow the lawn. I get on, turn the tractor on, back up and start mowing... and start oh and ah and oh NOOOOOOOOO!

Ant in the tractor. thousands of them. I mean thousands of them. I jump off in mid cutting and luckily my mower has that auto shut off. and as i'm jumping around running to the hose, i realize what an idiot.

I go back to the mower and see them. They have taken up housekeeping above the blade houseing and below the floor where you put your feet. Ha. But here is the problem. The hose won't reach the mower. I can't touch the mower to move it closer to the hose.

See the problem???

I finally tossed some water on the offending critters. Jumped on board. looking like i would if i was visiting my gyno and off we went. Now how do i jump off? I got stung a few more times.

Finally, after hosing the whole darn thing i could finally mow but not without a few stragglers still trying to kill me. They were everywhere. In the battery. in the engine. the starter. Coming up the emergency brake lever... LOL> I was amazed at their tenacity.

and you know what? i hosed for 30 minutes. and more kept coming. and more. And if i didn't hose in the right direction they would try and get me then too! when i finally moved the mower off that area, they had already started to create their next home.

As i'm writing this i'm getting itchy. Luckily i'm not allergic or i'd be dead right about now. The white bumps are starting. and they are all over my legs and arms and in between my fingers.

What is funny is that when i moved the mower? if i had only looked forward to where it had been i would have seen that they literally had made mounds of earth to reach the mower. Amazing little buggers. painful. but amazing. But no... i didn't look forward, so i missed the obvious. OY!

So there it goes. the story of the lawn mower that attacked me. All probably because i bad mouthed Sears. deservedly so. The carbeurators fixed, but now the oil is leaking something fierce.

I wonder if the ants were attracted to it..