BehindTheLens

I think fire ants were created by the devil.  They are vicious, attack in swarms and hurt like the dickens.  When I first moved to Texas I was introduced to them on a story.  We were doing an interview on a football field with a high school coach.  I had placed a tripod leg in a big mound of the red devils.  I was concentrating on my framing and next thing I know, ouch!  Something had bit me on my hand.  I looked down and the tripod was covered by the evil creatures.  So was I!  I locked the camera down and ran off down the field jumping, swatting and cursing.  The reporter was so involved with the interview that she never noticed.  

You don’t have to be told twice to look carefully for fire ant mounds after you have been stung.  It’s especially important to pay attention now that we are in the spring storm season and the rains can make the hills more difficult to see.  I have covered flooding and seen balls of fire ants floating down streams, surviving on the bodies of other ants.  They refuse to die!

A few years later, I had another encounter.  It was a rainy day and I didn’t notice that I was standing on a flattened fire ant mound.  Jim, the reporter, was in the news car making phone calls when he heard me scream.  Fire ant stings hurt so badly that you will do anything to make the pain stop.  I jumped in the backseat and told Jim not to turn around.  My shoes and socks were covered in ants so I threw them out of the car.  Ants were swarming all over my jeans too so I ripped them off and shook them out of the window.  We were parked on the side of the interstate in a marked news unit (with peacocks) so several cars honked as they went by and saw the waving pants.  I could see the back of Jim’s neck turn red but he stared straight ahead.  From that day forward I carry the strongest bug spray they sell with me at all times…..just in case!