Of Cleaning Up the Classroom and Peeking

I went to school today to clean out drawers, cabinets, and shelves. I had to get rid of some old materials I haven't used in a few years to make room for the new books and materials. If you are a teacher, you know what I mean. Teachers generally like to keep books and materials from year to year in an as organized fashion as possible, but after a few years, we just don't have enough shelves or cabinets to store it all. Our husbands are sweet. They build us new shelves, or we go out and buy new shelves, or we make a request of our principal to provide us with new shelves, but in the end, at some critical point, we face the reality: we have too much stuff. All the games, and books, magazines, activity folders, flash cards, workbooks, and more books from home: books to read for fun, books about science concepts, and social studies books. There's science materials and math materials: rulers, calculators, protractors, solid figures, colored chips for all kinds of activities, shapes for geometric problem solving, dice for probability activities, and measuring cups. All these hands-on materials have to be kept in storage containers, and the storage containers have to sit on... well, shelves, or in cabinets or drawers. And did I say books? Text books, books of different reading levels in many areas of interest, thin books, chapter books, books of poetry, and books of history. These are the things we use from year to year, but sometimes we have a tendency to keep things that aren't used from year to year because we might need them, and, truth is, we hate to throw things away, particular when they still look useable. And we know what will happen if we give them away or discard them... that's when we'll find a need for them, and we'll be thinking, "I just gave those away last month...  I wish I had kept them now!"

To keep, or not to keep, that is the question. Still, orderliness and organization usually wins out, and we try to give as much away as possible knowing that in the giving, the possibility that if we needed the missing book or game or workbook, it would only be a phone call away. Which leads me to what I did today: I cleaned and organized and moved things out that I felt... that I thought... that I pretty much knew I would not be needing this year. And if I do find out a month from now that what I got rid of today could have been used in the classroom, I'll just have to let it go. Or, as someone I know has a way of saying it, I'll have to "suck it up" and move on.

The reason I'm even mentioning all this now is because I brought the ant habitat to school today. I decided to leave them at school, in my classroom. It's a way for them to transition to the new environment. In about two weeks, the kids will arrive, and I wanted the ants to be comfortable with their surroundings before the students begin picking up the habitat to see the littlest tunnel architects. After I had reached a good stopping place (I'm not finished, but with two workshops to attend over the next two days, it means I won't be back in the classroom until Thursday), I turned off the light, took one last look at the ants, and shut the door behind me.

Several hours have passed and I'm about to go to bed. I caught myself getting up to look at the ants to see what they are doing... it's something I've been doing ever since they came to live in my home. It's not that I miss them, but that something is missing. The last time I looked in on them, they were not tunneling. This means that for three days now, the ants have not tunneled, and I am worried about them. Somewhat. I don't know if this is "normal" ant behavior, to not tunnel. I was under the impression that this particular species of ants, the Harvester Ants, have a reputation for tunneling. So I wait to see what happens next.

I may be going through Ant Withdrawal. I'm accustomed to having as many peeks a day as I want, you know, to see what they're doing so I'll have something to write about in this blog. When I first got the ants, I was peeking all the time, all day, a few times during the night, and first thing in the morning before I even brushed my teeth. I had it bad. There were times I'd have a peek, and wouldn't tell anyone. I would especially have lengthier peeks when my husband wasn't home. He thought I spent too much time with the ants. Now I see that he may have been right about that.

So, during these few days before I officially return to school, I thought I should try to reduce how many peeks I allow myself per day. Yesterday, I only had three peeks, one in the morning, one after lunch, and one after dinner. Today, I decided to give up the peeks cold turkey, and that is why I left ants at school. I haven't had a peek since I shut the door at 5:15 p.m. Now, it's about 11:15 p.m. and I'm trying to fight off a head-ache. If only I had the ants to look at, I'm sure it would go away. Fortunately, I am tired, so the desire to peek at the ants is practically non-existent. However, if they were here, I would peek. And I am not ashamed to say it, either.

It'll be two days and three nights before I can peek at them again. I don't know if that will ruin it for me, if I'll want to bring them home so I can peek on them at night, but right now, the plan is to leave them in my classroom until school starts. No more peeks for me. I can handle it. I know I can. If other ant enthusiasts can do it, so can I.

Some ant enthusiasts go to those AAA meetings. You know, Ant Analyzers Anonymous. I don't think I'll need to attend any AAA meetings, though. Someone I knew went for ten weeks, and he said it helped him to give up peeking. Although, he added, during the last two weeks, every time he gets around an ant farm, he gives in and takes a peek. When he is alone and away from ant farms, he's okay and has no desire for a peek. I remember when he went through it, and he really did have a rough time, but he's like a different person now. He can even watch another person peeking without wanting to do it himself.

It could be a disease, but I don't think it is. I think it's all in their heads. I say they can stop peeking any time they want to. All they have to do is set their mind to it, and quit. I hope I'm right about that, because right now, I sure could use a peek! Maybe I could look into those new skin patches that you can wear in an inconspicuous place. I hear they help reduce the number of peeks a person needs a day, but they're very expensive. Still, it might be worth the extra money just so I can have my ants and peek at them, too.

 

 

Of Formic Acid, How Ants Sting, and Etymology

I’ve searched closely, and I can find no new tunnels today. It seems the ants either are taking a long break, or have given up tunneling. There are a couple of unfinished tunnels, that is, tunnels that were started a few days ago, but lead to know where. They don’t join with other tunnels. They just end in the middle of the gel, unlike all their other constructions which either end at the intersection of another tunnel, at the surface, at the bottom of the habitat, or at either side of it. I had a theory that when ants start a tunnel, they don’t stop until it is finished, until it reaches some logical destination. Yet, for two days now, there has been no digging. They spend most of the day at the bottom of the habitat in their sanctuary of safety. I don’t know if they are sick, or just bored.

While I wait for them to get back to work, I do a little research of my own. I’m curious about their ability to sting, like wasps and bees. I find out that ants belong to the order Hymenoptera, from the Greek word for membrane, referring to the membranous wings found in this order of insects which include wasps and bees, and the family Formicidae, which comes from the Latin word for ant, formica. What we call poison in the sting of the Fire Ant or the red ant or any ant that bites/stings is the formic acid, a vinegar-like chemical that burns when it is sprayed or injected into our skin. I happened to watch a documentary on tv last night and a slow-motion close-up of one ant attacking a human hand clearly showed the ant biting his skin, and injecting the venom from a stinger in its abdomen into his skin. The narrator said that ants spray their enemies with the toxin from a distance of centimeters, and others inject it directly. Some bite the victim, then spray the acidic chemical into the wound. However it gets there, the result is the same: a fiery, burning sensation. Even the tiniest of ants can get our attention with their little drops of formic acid. Rule of thumb when walking in the grass: where shoes!

http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/2_4ant.htm Read about the value of formic acid in the nest of ants. Did you know that ants use the formic acid as an antiseptic to keep their nests free of bacteria and fungi?

http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Formicidae This encyclopedia page gives an easy to understand definition of Formicidae, the history of ants, how ants develop, communicate, behave, and relate to others.

http://www.takeourword.com/TOW170/page1.html I enjoyed this site very much. If you are into language and word development, this is a very entertaining site. But if you are not, skip it!

http://www.takeourword.com/links.html Even if you are not into etymology, you have got to check this site out! It is packed with links to dictionary websites, etymology sites, English language sites… I can’t even begin to describe the other sites that explain, define, expound upon the words of our language, and the languages that make up our language. I added it to my list of favorite places.

The Original Ant Farm, Of Internet Access, and Of The Greater Cause

This is Day 11. That is, eleven days ago, I began the "ant farm". But it's not really a farm. I don't know why, "they" came up with the idea of a farm, except that the original ant "farm" that was sold as a toy for kids did have a silhouette of a farm on the surface of the habitat, and I don't know who "they" are. That got me to wondering again. Who developed the first ant farm? When? And where is he/she now? What is the story about the original Ant Farm? I decide to go to the "net" to find out.

For eleven days now I have been surfing the net whenever I can tear myself away from washing clothes, vacuuming floors, and getting ready for school. Which is actually most of the time. It’s a new habit of mine, searching the net to answer my questions, but it is yet to be determined if this is a good or bad habit.

Having internet access is truly one of the best additions to one’s home or office, especially if one likes to learn, read, study, and write. It’s like having a team of experts at your beck and call. You don’t even have to get up and find the right book to search, nor do you have to scan countless tables of contents or indexes. It’s truly an amazing thing when a person realizes they no longer need to keep every magazine for reference, they don’t need a set of encyclopedias, and they don’t need a home library filled with reference books. When you have the internet in your home, you have every available piece of information at your fingertips. All you have to do is ask the right question, enter a few key words, and click on search.

So, that is what I did a short time ago when I wondered about the history of the Ant Farm®. I typed in the key words “ant farm, history” and was shown several pages of search results. I selected a few to peruse, and soon came to know the man behind the original Ant Farm® Milton Levine, better known in the toy world as Uncle Milton. He developed the first Ant Farm® in 1956. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of Uncle Milton’s Original Ant Farm®. It was marketed as a toy back then, and sold for $2.98. Yeah, and today, it sells for as much as $28 for the giant version, and $7.00 for the mini-version. Still a good buy when you consider how much kids and parents will pay for electronic/digital games that keep the kids spell-bound for hours at a time improving their eye-hand coordination..

Keep in mind that I don’t consider what I have a "farm" of ants. They are prisoners, in a real sense. I bought them, and I put them in the habitat. They are well fed, they get all the water they need, and they have plenty of room to dig their tunnels. But they have nothing else going for them that resembles a real ant life. I wish I could let them go at this point because they seem to have served their purpose: they have dug several beautiful tunnels. It’s not that they no longer delight me, for they continue to move about through the tunnels, and occasionally I notice bursts of activity and a new tunnel takes shape. I have caused them to be removed from their original home. I am a consumer. A considerate one, but a consumer just the same.

I justify it by saying, “I’m learning something through observation of a species.” And this is very true. This ant habitat has taken me up and down many winding pathways and tunnels of facts and stories, leading me into places I hadn‘t even thought to do more than wonder about. I assure myself that I haven’t hurt them in anyway. Still, I feel a little glum about the whole thing.

School starts in a couple of weeks. This is a good thing. I know that bringing the super cool space age gel ant habitat to school will liven up the classroom as kids discover a whole new world crawling at their feet. Wait until they see the tunnels! They’ll want to read more about ants, beetles, dragonflies, bees… there’s no end to the learning that will be sparked because of this little blue world of crawling insects. And that is the reason I bought it in the first place… to spark another mind, to awaken someone’s interest, to ignite the fire of passion… to boldly go where no man…. wait, that one’s already been used… to get those kids to read more about the things living in our world,  to observe the world around them, and to go outside and discover the world in their own backyards.

BG

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/kazootoys/unclemilton.html Here, you can lookat Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm®, in three different sizes, as well as an Ant Village. Also, other toys he developed for kids, all with a science theme. Also, you can order them at this site. Note: Ant Farm® is a registered trademark.

http://www.toy-tia.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Library/Betcha_Didnt_Know1/Betcha_Didnt_Know.htm Here’s an interesting site with stories behind your favorite toys, including the original Ant Farm® developed back in 1956. Other toy histories: View Master, Lincoln Logs, Play-Doh, Candy Land, Match Box, Crayola Crayons, Silly Putty, Mr. Potato Head, Scrabble, LEGO blocks, Etch-a-Sketch, and many more. Permission to link granted.

http://www.unclemilton.com/ For those who are totally excited about Uncle Milton and his cool science “toys”, here is a web-site for you. There are some new science toys I’ve never even seen before. I like the Morph-It toy. You can place orders and get more information at this site as well. Permission to link granted.

Of Eurotunnel, trench warfare, and 1963

I have no pictures to show of the ant habitat today. There are no new structures that I can see at 7 a.m, but the slightest bud growing off the left side of the tornado-like tunnel I spoke about in yesterday’s entry. It is an exciting development, a promise of another tunnel taking shape, but I know it won’t show up very well in a photo, so I don’t try to take a picture.

When I come home this afternoon after a day-long committee meeting with school staff, I am pleased to see that the little tunnel bud had grown into a short branch, not quite meeting its destination, which is clearly to join with another tunnel less than ¼ inch to the left.

Since my ants are doing nothing when I check in on them, except gathering in their sanctuary of safety, an area I describe in detail in yesterday’s entry, I think it is a good time to open the lid and let in some fresh air. None of the ants respond to my prying up the lid. I gently blow some air into the habitat. Twice. The air makes its way through the tunnels. I can tell when it reaches the ants when they suddenly come to life, spreading out in all directions, filling the tunnels to reach the surface. By the time they reach the top, I have the lid snugly in place. "Just kidding," I say.

I enjoy watching them scurry through the tunnels. They look vital, alive, and interesting this way. I don’t know if I like the ants more, or the tunnels they create. The tunnels do not exist without the ants, and the ants live to create the tunnels. The two seem inseparable. Take away the ants, you have no tunnels. Remove the tunnels, if you could, and the ants will just make more! This is what happens when one is looking at ants up close… one starts to think about deep topics like… well…, like tunnels.

When I was a little girl, I loved building roadways and tunnels in the sandy play area behind our home in Manchester, New Hampshire. That would be 1963. I was ten years old. I remember that time because that’s where we lived when President Kennedy was assassinated. Like everyone else my age, you remember exactly where you were when JFK was killed. We lived in a recently built neighborhood called the Projects. That’s what we heard our parents, our neighbors, and our friends call it. I didn’t know what “projects” meant back then, but as a child, it was my home, and the home of all my friends. We played freely in the open backyards of each apartment building. We walked to school from there because bussing kids to school had only just started and I did not want to ride the bus. What a strange idea that was to me at that time!

My favorite activity to do when I was alone, which was rare as I was the oldest of six children by then (number seven had not yet been born, but was on the way), and there were children living in the apartments above us and below us, was to sit in the sand and soil mix, and run my hands through it, creating paths, then roads, then tunnels, through which I could maneuver my brothers’ little cars and trucks. It wasn’t a sandbox, mind you, as there was no frame to box in the great play area. It was just sitting on top of the ground, like it had been left over from construction at the site. Of course, I didn’t know where the sand came from, and never even wondered about it. It was there, and I loved to indulge in my childish fantasy of other places and other worlds. I was the creator of these worlds. I designed neighborhoods, villages, then towns, with carefully planned roads that wound up hills and disappeared into dark holes... until another kid would show up and either join me in my endeavor, or step all over them.

The sixties were a tumultuous time for adults, but I was not quite a teen-ager when America began sending soldiers into Viet Nam. I must have had some anxiety about the world, for I remember doodling on paper when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I had imagined an underwater tunnel network. My drawings showed rooms, or chambers in which my imaginary families could live safely. I planned elaborate stories about the people, what they did in each room. These undersea tunnels could be extended to include multiple families, but my drawings focused on the needs of one family. I drew a chamber for the kids to sleep in, a living area, a cooking area, and even an area to put the trash. One chamber was designated as “my room,” and I put a lot of detail into what my tunnel chamber would look like if I could live there. In this world of underwater tunnels, I felt safe and happy. I must have read about the ways of ants, or heard about them, because they pretty much resembled ant tunnels.

Looking back, I don’t know why I became preoccupied with the tunnels and connecting chambers. Partly, I think the design of the curving, winding tunnels, and the rounded, wider chambers they opened into, were comforting to look at. In my mind, they represented safety and security. They calmed me at a time when I didn't comprehend the news I heard of civil rights violence, of young men going to war in Viet Nam, and of National Guard soldiers firing at college students. I didn't understand the real world at all. And here I am today, once again preoccupied with tunnels. What am I anxious about, I wonder? What am I trying to dig out of, or into, in my life? Tunnels symbolize searching the depths one's life. Yes, that is what I'm doing! A journal topic not to be covered here (no pun intended!).

Tunnels, underground walkways, secretive, hidden, living, thriving, growing. Keywords that come to mind when I think of tunnels. Other images crop up when I think of tunnels, for instance, the chunnel, or the tunnel in the English channel which connected England to France for the first time in 8,000 years. It was completed in 1991. It cost 13.5 billion dollars, is 7.6 meters in diameter, extends over 23 miles underwater, and was funded by 220 banks in 26 nations. Eleven boring machines costing 90 million dollars, drilled at the rate of 300 meters a week. Many construction crews of various nationalities worked on this project for four years. It was an amazing feat, a celebrated accomplishment for both the French and the British, in fact, for greater Europe. Strong, practical, friendly, connecting, and transportation. Keywords for this kind of tunnel.

When I see the word tunnels, I also think about tunnels that soldiers have to dig in times of war for their own protection. Known as trench warfare, it was a common practice during World War I, specifically in a small town in Belgium. Soldiers not only lived in these tunnels while fighting raged on the land above them, but they also used the underground pathways to attack their enemies from below. Hidden, daring, secret, safe, and attack. Keywords for this kind of tunnel.

There are many more kinds of tunnels, many famous tunnels, but why should I have all the fun doing the research…? I invite you to surf the net yourself. So many interesting facts on nearly any topic imaginable. I give you a few below. I’m sure you’ll find many more that are even better. Leave a comment in this entry regarding your favorite web-site.

Or, if you know me, email me some of your favorite websites, and don’t forget to give some details regarding why you like it. It doesn’t even have to be about ants or tunnels. Just a favorite of yours, and why. If I get enough responses, I may add a journal entry to include them this week. So, go ahead… get on the net, and read something that is so interesting, you want to find out more, and more. Learn about something new today!!

Come again. Thanks for visiting me today. BeaG

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http://www.hotchkiss.k12.co.us/hhs/English/webfolios/mattjen/chunmj.html Read here more details of the Eurotunnel in a paper by Matt Jenson. I tried to email him for permission to link, but it seems the email address is no longer valid. However, above is the link in case you want to read more about this topic.

http://library.thinkquest.org/3893/  Click here at this educational website designed by Indian Hill students for more about famous underground tunnels, caverns, and caves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series6/underground_tunnels.shtml  Here you can read about the importance of tunnels for soldiers in WWI, and the meaning of trench warfare. Linked with permission.

Sanctuary of Safety, Curious Questions, Ant Buddy

Photo#1 Front view. Enlarge it for better viewing!

Photo#2  Back view. The latest tunnel is just to the left. It seems to reach to the top, but not quite there yet. See where they congregate on the far right? I call it the sanctuary of safety.

Photo#3 View from the side. Notice build up of gel debris at the surface. Looks like snow.

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It’s getting harder to find the newest tunnel amidst the serpentine subways of the crystal-like blue gel habitat, but there is a new tunnel to show off today. The pictures show the new tunnel taking shape at the back side of the habitat. It starts at the very bottom on the back side, and reaches up like a slender tornado toward the surface. At 7:30 this morning, it was only a mere 1/8" from breaking through the surface, but when I got home today from a school committee meeting, I could see that it broke the surface nicely.

I am certain that the lower left area of the bottom tunnel is their chamber for sleeping. Although it is not singly cavernous compared to the other tunnels, the ants have done a wonderful thing here. I didn’t realize this earlier, but now that I’ve thought on it, and observed them over a few days, that is my conclusion. I will try to describe the arrangement they have created for themselves:

Try to imagine the two horizontal tunnels running parallel along the bottom length of the habitat. Each of these are completely open against the acrylic walls. Visibility is good here. Looking from the front, beginning from the left side, the two parallel tunnels are connected by a perpendicular short tunnel, or short-cut as I call it, along the short left side wall. When I hold the habitat up to view it in the light, the side tunnel is cut out up to the acrylic wall. I can see into it, no obstructions. Now, imagine, about an inch along the long parallel horizontal tunnels, there is a vertical tunnel that cuts directly to the surface at almost a 90 degree angle, and where they join is a short-cut tunnel, about ½ in length, connecting the parallel tunnels, creating a five-way intersection. Then, just a half-inch further along the parallel horizontal tunnel is another vertical tunnel reaching to the surface, and another shortcut connecting the horizontal tunnels, creating another five-way intersection. It is here, between and within these two five-way intersections, that all of the ants gather in the deepest, largest open space, where they feel the safest, I presume. This must be what one would call “home.” (It's best seen from the back view in photo#2 above.)

I remove two dead ants today. It is easy this time, and I don't have to refrigerate them first. I had noticed that all the sisters were down below in the sanctuary of safety, snoozing or snacking, I couldn’t tell which without the magnifying glass. I thought “Hey, this would be a great time to remove the dead ants from the surface. I can get them out before the others realize the lid is off.” Carefully, I pry up the lid, my eyes on the slumbering insects, careful not to startle them. As I lift the lid, one light sleeper scurries up, but she takes the long road, and I deftly tweeze out the two dead ones, replacing the lid before she appears at the tunnel entrance. She sends the alarm and all her sisters scramble into various tunnels. They seem so excited, and crawl all over the surface, the walls, the ceiling, but within seconds they have calmed down again.

I have thought of some experiments I could do in the classroom, or on my own. When you look at the ants in their little artificial world (I am apologetic, but I’ve got to move forward with this project), you wonder things. Things like, I wonder what they would do if half of their habitat felt cooler than the other half? Would they scurry to the cooler side? The warmer side? Or would they be indifferent to the change in temperature?

Or, what if I had two ant habitats, one in darkness and one in light, would their tunneling efforts be different? Or, it would be really interesting to have a colony with a queen and eggs to see how the ants behave differently. I wonder if my ants sleep so much because they have nothing to do after a tunnel is completed.

Or, what about the effects of sound on ants? We could play music periodically, making sure the sound waves reach the habitat. Would this affect the ants? How?

Lots of curious questions surface as I watch them. I'm thinking children could do the same thing... look, wonder, take notes, write journals.

My husband found an ant colony in our yard yesterday, and he came to me and said, “Do you still want a queen ant?” I asked, “Did you find one?” He said, as we walked out the door, “Well, there’s a colony out here, so there must be a queen.” We walked several yards into the grass, near the woods, and there in the lawn was a busy community of little red ants, their numerous tunnels visibly gaping from the red clay particles spread all around. “Yep, that looks like a colony, but I have no way of keeping them right now. I’d have to have the ant farm ready before we dig them up.” We stood and looked at them awhile, watching them carry what may have been eggs into the holes. Looked like they were moving in to a new home. I sighed. Someday, I thought. My next science project.

I talked to my "Ant Buddy" today. That's what Linda called me when we met for school business. She grinned when she said it. I guess she is as amused as I am that we have been caught up in this quest to learn more about ants. Bitten by the bug, I suppose. I told her I want to compare our habitats, to see how different the tunnels are. They should be similar since the ants came from the same colony. That's my theory. When we get them together, I'll take pictures and post them here to satisfy your curiosity as well. I know you're just dying to find out!

I watched the Space Shuttle Discovery land yesterday morning, and like everyone else, felt very relieved that the astronauts made it home safely.

Please come back for updates! Thanks for visiting!

Day 6; of Papillon and Thelma and Louise; and websites to link to

Photo #1-3: Just look and compare to previous photos. You may notice some condensation around the surfaces of the habitat. That's because they had just been in the refrigerator so I could remove 3 dead ants. It was very warm outside. Condensation. 

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It seems the ants have become accustomed to their new environment, and every time I look in on them, they are very busy working in the tunnels, either widening them or keeping them clean.

I had a close call this morning when I went to remove three dead ants. I used to think that when you disturb ants, they all run away, into their ant hills, ant holes, under cover of leaves, every which way in a frantic panic to get away from the disturbance. However, these little critters are not shy. It seems they know when the lid is about to come off. Maybe they can feel me prying open the lid with the knife edge. Instead of running for the tunnels for protection and safety, they run to the surface to make their escape. After I lift one edge of the lid a mere centimeter, I decide it won’t work. Two ants are snug against the top edge just waiting for their opportunity. I imagine Papillon and Louis (Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman) standing on the rocky cliffs of Devil’s Island, staring out to sea as they contemplate their escape. Except my two are more like Thelma and Louise running away from home. That makes me the bad guy in this scenario because I‘d be trying to catch them if they manage to squeeze through.

I decide to chill them first. There are too many escapee hopefuls clinging to the upper edges of the habitat. They learn fast. I set the container in the refrigerator, then leave for a few minutes, which actually stretches into 15 minutes because I forget they are in there. As soon as I realize my error, I run quickly through the living room, my husband glancing oddly at me, wondering of my urgent concern in the kitchen. He might have thought I had forgotten the rhubarb pie in the oven by the way I flew past him, but that was yesterday, and I didn’t forget that. I say one word, “Ants,” and he understands.

I quickly carry the now cooled container outside before the ants thaw, lift the lid, then tweeze out the bodies. I manage to snap the lid back on just as one ant scurries to the top, but I am too fast for her. Steve asks me how do I know which ones are dead and which ones are just really chilled. I tell him I remember where the bodies are lying. Good thing I had looked before I put them in the refrigerator, I think. A cold ant looks very much like a dead ant. I learned that the first day I had them.

So all is well in this queenless colony. Still, I wonder, why do they keep tunneling when they seem to have plenty of tunnels already? There are enough tunnels for each ant to occupy one by herself. Which remnds me, where are the rooms? I thought there would be little ant rooms, places to store things. Then I remember, what do they have to store anymore? No eggs, no ant larvae, no queen. No wonder. So they continue their endless tunneling. I wonder, also, when will they stop tunneling? Since they are not expected to live very long, they will probably die before they run out of gel to tunnel through.

As we wait for Discovery to return from its ISS mission, my thoughts again return to the 2002-2003 ants-in-space experiment. I have found some additional websites that might be of interest to some of you.

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/white/0,6258,418863,00.html  A Time for Kids article that answers kids questions regarding the Columbia Shuttle tragedy. Good questions about the mission, the investigation, the crew, the experiments, and pictures of Columbia and the late astronauts. It was written during the week of the accident in February, 2003

http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20030205.html  Ask Yahoo answers the question What was the mission of the astronauts aboard Columbia?

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/sciencegained2003-03-21.pdf  Just what I had been looking for these past few days! I wondered how much of the data results from their Ants In Space experiment the Fowler teens were able to retrieve before Columbia’s accident destroyed all evidence. This chart shows in great detail all that was gained from all the experiments, and it clearly shows that the students were able to obtain 95% of their data from down linked video and photos prior to the accident. The only part of the experiment they could not complete was to analyze post flight tunnel behaviors.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/030129crewconf/  Article published just a few days before Columbia’s accident. The astronauts talk about their 16- day mission, the students’ experiments, and their hope for the future of the space station.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0204_030204_antsinspace2_2.htmlRead this National Geographic article about the students who created the ants in space experiment, and of their resolve to continue the experiment despite the loss of Columbia in 2003.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/space/sts107/1761189  Houston Chronicle article about the 80 experiments that took place on Columbia during its final mission.

http://www.floridatoday.com/columbia/columbiastory2A42967A.html  Another article (Feb. 6. 2003) relating the impact of the Columbia tragedy upon the people who had spent years designing experiments for the space mission program.

http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_teacher/apr03/news_trends.html  One of the students at Fowler High School who participated in the Space Ants experiment comments on the effect of the tragedy, and her advice to other students to get involved in Science.

Again, thank you for visiting. I don't know how much longer I can keep journaling about the ants. Once school starts back up, I will be focused on other matters that take me way beyond ant farms. However, I am seeking a way to use this as a project in the classroom.  BG

Observations, reflections, Argentine ants and Carpenter Bees

PHOTO #1: Notice the new tunnel going up the right corner. Enlarge for a better view.

PHOTO #2: Back view: notice how most of the ant population are gathered at the bottom corner. An early morning shot. Maybe they were sleeping there during the night.

Observations: All the ants are busy rushing around the tunnels, and now I understand a little better why they may not have moved around so much before, during their first two days of tunneling. The tunnels today seem to be wider than they were two days ago. It’s far easier for the ants to transport the gel pieces because they seldom run into another ant now. There seems to be little opportunity for traffic jams now that there are many branches and intersections.

Reminds me of our roads and highways. We all have our favorite shortcuts to drive from one place to another, whether we choose the highway or the back roads. Seems the ants have developed a few main “roads” and have created little shortcuts to connect parallel tunnels. I don’t watch them often enough to notice if they use some tunnel-ways more than others.

There is now one continuous tunnel running from one end of the front floor of the habitat to the other, and in the back side, there is another running parallel to that one, though not yet all the way across. The ants have about two inches to chew through before they meet with the far left floor tunnel. When they do reach the far side of the habitat’s floor on the back side, there will already be six short perpendicular connector shortcuts. They’ve already "planned" ahead for that somehow! Amazing. How do they do that?? I don’t know how well the pictures will show you this marvelous architecture, or even if some readers come here have access to the pictures.

Interesting FYI: Here’s something interesting about one ant species, the Argentine Ants. If you live in North Carolina, you may have seen them. They are very tiny, 1/16th of an inch long, and dark brown. Their antennae have 12 segments, if you happen to catch an ant and want to count antennae segments to make sure! You might even have stepped on one of these non-native ants. They came to our country about a hundred years ago from Argentina aboard a coffee shipment to New Orleans.

The bad news is that in southern California, the Argentine Ant is responsible for the decrease in the horned lizard population. The Argentine Ant is very aggressive to other ant species, and has wiped out the native ant populations in that part of our country, resulting in a reduced food source for the horned lizard, which eats only ants native to southern California. The horned lizards are starving to death. The balance of life is often very delicate in our world.

The good news, at least from a homeowner’s perspective, however, is that the aggressive Argentine Ant will kill termites, paper wasps, and carpenter bees. We have carpenter bees around our home, which is made mostly from cedar siding, a lovely thought when we first built it. We didn’t know about carpenter bees back in the 80’s. We just wanted a rustic looking home in the woods. Apparently, that’s exactly what carpenter bees want, too, and we now share our home with them, albeit, unwillingly. My husband has done everything he can do to thwart the bees from tunneling into our outer walls short of painting the house, but what’s the point of having cedar if it’s painted? A few of our neighbors suffering the same problem opted to paint, or side their homes with vinyl.

So you can imagine my delight when I read that Argentine Ants kill carpenter bees. I’m thinking, get me some of those ants, pronto! But when I read about the near demise of the horned lizard in southern California, I thought again, and wondered what animal population could become extinct in my part of the world if I were to help save the Argentine Ants? Well, the carpenter bees, for one! Just kidding. I’m not into importing invasive and aggressive insects and plants to harm our natural habitats. It was just a thought. Steve will just have to develop another plan against the carpenter bees. I’m arming him with the information. (http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/ants/argentine/index.html for more information about the Argentine ant. Friendly text.)

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Reflection: do they know where they are going, these little ants who scurry about in their blue gel home? If they were still living in the earth, as God would have them, would they know then where they were going? They do their work dutifully, without question, without complaint. They don’t seem to complain when others are sluggish, and they don’t fight amongst themselves.

Frankly, I don't know where I am going, in the big picture of life. I just try to go in the right direction. I don't know where what I am doing will take me, but I am willing to go where I am called to go. I just need to listen very carefully. For the directions. One day at a time.

Consider Proverbs 6:6-8.

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Then, metaphorically speaking, what I am doing now is storing provisions in the summer. Provisions meaning the things I need inside, in my heart, my mind, my soul, to prepare for the fall harvest, the start of school. Teachers must do more than prepare their lesson plans and classrooms. They need to prepare their hearts and minds as well, and so the need for some time off, alone and with their families and friends. They need time to regroup, reflect, and reorganize. I went by my school this week and found teachers in their classrooms already, putting up the bulletin boards, making plans for the year, and reorganizing their planning files. There is much to do in the weeks to come, but for now, for just one more day, I want to watch my ants, play with my dogs, watch a good movie, stroll through the woods, and of course, I admit, shop for clothes and school supplies. I am storing up provisions of rest, reflection, and restoration so that in the fall, and the winter, and the early spring, I won't lose my focus.

I've got to remember to keep my eyes on the One Creator so the fires of famine will not consume me. Like the little ant, we just keep moving forward, and do what we have to dol We step out of the way of those moving faster, and take care of the very young, the sick, and the dying. Some of us will look for a way out, while others keep digging.

Sometimes we don't know where we are going on this earth, but we know that there's always one more tunnel to dig. 

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                  My Recommended Websites to Visit

http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/thomas/classPet/1998/antfarm/ant_teacher.htm  Here is a classroom lesson designed for 3rd and 4th grades, but easily modified and extended for other grades. There is a link to the corresponding student page as well. Great lessons that connects science with math, reading, and language arts. Daily student observations and recording of data are essential as they watch how ants respond to a change in heat. This is one I would like to try this year.

http://nasaexplores.nasa.gov/show2_5_8a.php?id=02-034&gl=58.  Teachers will love this page which includes the article about using animals in the space program with lesson plans, teacher pages, and students pages.

http://www.wgby.org/edu/lessonplans/ntti/1999/amazingant.html  Another lesson plan for teachers of grades 2-4 using books, The Magic School Bus: Gets Ants in its Pants video. Music, art, poetry, science integration. Many activities.

http://www.hunkinsexperiments.com/pages/ants.htm  How to make an ant farm with anillustration. This design requires adult supervision; probably for adults or older students. Uses two pieces of glass and putty. Permission to link granted.

http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/bi/1998/ants/antfarm.html  Another ‘how to make an ant farm’ idea using 2 sheets ofPlexiglas and modeling clay. Sounds easy. Haven’t tried this one either, but keeping all these ideas for future use.

http://www.eduplace.com/author/vanallsburg/  Here you can review any of Chris Van Allsburg's books, but for this reference, I want to point out the connection to his book, Two Bad Ants. Read his biography, an interview with the author, and for teachers, making connections with other stories through art, creative writing, science and social studies.

http://www.ncsu.edu/news/press_releases/03_07/185.htm  NCCSU News Release about the Argentine Ant, how they came to live in NC, why they may exhibit different behaviors in the US than in their native land of South America, and theories on why they haven’t moved further north in our country.

Tomorrow, I'll have some relevant NASA Ants in Space sites that I have discovered. Too much to put here with all the lesson plans. Come back again! Thanks for visiting. Bea