Man vs. nature: The eternal struggle goes on and on

One day I slowed down long enough to notice some finely piled dirt in the corner of one of the steps leading off our back patio.

I got a silver scoop and dug into it and immediately saw many tiny ants trying to make a quick exodus.

Those tiny little creatures had moved, for them, a mountain, and they had also created quite a space on the side of the step where some concrete had come out.

As sad as I felt destroying the haven the wee insects had created, it wouldn't do to allow them to undermine the patio.

Besides, it possibly was the pathway into the kitchen where we were seeing lots of little ants. It could take a long time, but who knows, it may just be possible for them to cause something to collapse if they were left alone long enough.

At this time of year all sorts of creatures are trying to make headway. They crawl and fly and bite their way into our lives. Someone once said, "Take time to smell the roses and eventually you'll inhale a bee."

University of Utah football player Brian Blechen probably wouldn't think that was funny because he actually did that a few weeks ago. The bee stung him as he swallowed it.

The tug of war plays on between man and nature. Hornets build nests in the patio umbrellas. When we open them, we bush the nests off and stomp on them.

When the aphids get after the roses, I grab a handy spray bottle filled with a couple tablespoons of dish soap and water and spray with a vengeance. In the next day or two there likely will be more aphids trying to regain their position, and so out comes the spray bottle again.

Left on their own without human intervention, these little creatures run amuck.

Columnist Bill Vaughan optimistically surmised, "We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics."

And indeed, we do take them along. That is why we recognize the brand names Ortho, Off and Repel.

And flies.

Don't we all just hate flies?