Fire! Fire!

When I was in elementary school, I sang in our church’s Children’s Choir. We met every week at the music leader’s house, and that’s where I first learned about singing in rounds. The first one I learned was “Scotland’s Burning.” The third part of the round (after “Scotland’s burning; Scotland’s burning! Look out! Look out!) was the portion “Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!” That’s what I remember most clearly.

I had the experience recently of, well, not exactly singing, but more like yelping:

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

Solar lights with their solar panels, all packed up until next year.

We have solar outdoor lights that I put on the hedges at the front of the house at Christmas time. One set goes on the holly hedges. One set starts on the greenery on the porch railing and then goes on the holly bush at the end of the porch. Both of those sets are small lights. Another set of snowflake-shaped lights go on the boxwood at the corner of the house. I love these lights because I put them up and then press the “on” button on the little solar panels that are attached to the lights’ strings. They soak up the sunlight all day long, and then the lights come on when the sun goes down. They glow for a few hours, then they shut down, after using up all the sunlight-powered energy. The next day, they soak up the light again. They’re great.

After several chilly days, last Monday was warmer, and I went out to take down the lights. I wound the strands around large pieces of cardboard to store them. I finished the longer, small-bulbed lights. Then, I went over to take down the snowflake lights. I bent down to get the solar panels that were lying on the ground under the boxwood. I picked them up and dusted off the loose soil that was there. And, YOW! What?!? Fire Ants! I dropped the panels and, a little frantically, began to sweep the ants from my hands. Those ants mean business.

I went inside to wash my arms and hands to be sure I’d gotten all the ants off. I waited a few minutes and went back out. Fire ants erupt and swarm around for a few minutes, then they disappear down into the ground. I didn’t see any more of them, and, carefully went about the business of removing, quickly, the remaining strings of lights, and packing them up, looking carefully for any errant ants still lurking about.

Yucky looking fire ant sting

Monday, the stings were just rather painful. There were five on my left forearm, between my elbow and wrist, and two between fingers on my left hand. There were two, between fingers, on my right hand. It seems as though, while I was brushing ants from my right arm and hand, ants were busy on my left arm and hand. And that’s all there are, so I’m more fortunate that some folks. I put some anti-itch cream on the stings.

Tuesday, I put more cream on. Then, in the wee hours, Wednesday morning, the itchiness woke me up, and I eventually got up and re-applied the cream. I’ve heard about people who fell onto a bed of fire ants and were overwhelmed with stings. I’m assuming that those people would need to be hospitalized and sedated and in need of antibiotics. I don’t know how long it must take to recover. For me and my nine stings, I’m not miserable, just uncomfortable.

Wednesday, I needed to go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, and while I was there, asked the pharmacist what would be a good choice for treating fire ant stings. She not only told me what to get, but she walked me over to the aisle and picked up the tube of hydrocortisone cream (intensive healing formula), which I can apply 3 to 4 times daily. It’s much, much better. I’m wondering how long it’ll take for the stings to heal completely.

As of Thursday evening, the stings don’t really look any better, but they don’t itch hardly at all. But, I’m still using that Pharmacist’s curative balm.