# My Uncle Had An Ant Farm



## Meanderer

By Kenn Nesbitt
Art by David Galchutt





My uncle had an ant farm
where he raised a lot of ants.
He taught a few to play guitar;
he taught a few to dance.


Another one, or maybe two,
he tutored on the ant kazoo.
He bought them little xylophones,
and teeny-tiny slide trombones,
submicroscopic saxophones,
and itsy-bitsy baritones.
He trained a few to beat a drum,
and all the rest learned how to hum,
until at last they had a band
parading in the ant-farm sand.


And yet no matter where you stood,
or where you put your ear,
those little ants were much too small
for anyone to hear.


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## Falcon

Nice poem Jim.  Thanx.

My partner is lying down with a damp cloth on her forehead.  She spotted an ant on the kitchen counter.


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## SifuPhil

I had an ant farm once. I liked it. I got to play God.

Every once in a while I'd pick it up and shake it - earthquake.

Every once in a while I'd pour water into it - flood.

Every once in a while I'd put it in the freezer section of the refrigerator - cold wave.

Every once in a while I'd put it on top of the radiator - heat wave.


One day God left the farm door open - multiple bites and a mean rash.


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## Pappy

These buggers are mean and nasty. Any new Floridian only has to get bit once and next time they will stay away from nest.


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## Pappy

And now, the rest of the story.....Geez


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## Meanderer

American Gothic Ants


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## jujube

A friend likes to razz me about the first time we met oh so many years ago.  I had been working at Pioneer Days at an art center I was on the board of and was dressed in a long pioneer dress.  The event was over and I was picking up trash from the bushes when I stepped into a mound of fire ants.  Before I knew it, they had traveled up my legs and the skirt of my dress and were biting like mad.  As he tells it, suddenly a madwoman burst out of the bushes with her dress tucked up under her armpits, clad only in a layer of fire ants and a pair of large white granny-panties, doing some sort of extreme clogging and slapping at herself madly with her bonnet.   He did say that it was one of the best performances he had seen that day.  He awarded me a 9; it would have been a 10 but he deducted one point for the granny-panties.  Men.


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## drifter

Well I had an ant farm, all encased in a glass bin with, I suppose, the right amount of dirt and hilled up just right. The ants tunneled here and there. I had it a few months and lost interest in it. My parents gave it to me but I don't know why. Maybe they thought I'd find it interesting. If I was interested it didn't last long. I don't know now whatever happened to the ant farm. To be so busy they didn't seem to accomplish much. Or maybe I missed the point. I did notice they were always busy and each seem to know his job and carried it out. I would have been asking, "What do you want me to do next, or is this all there is."


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## Pappy

When I first moved to Florida, I was working in my backyard, putting up my little lighthouse, and didn't realize I was standing on a fire ant mound. Many, many bites on my leg was all it took to remind me to keep my eyes open next time.

Never had an ant farm, but sea monkeys made the rounds when the kids were small.


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## SifuPhil

Yay sea monkeys!


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## Meanderer

Maybe you needed a Sea Monkey Farm?


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## jujube

I fell for the sea monkey hype as a kid and sent off for them.  There's a good reason why nobody has ever said "more fun than a barrel of brine shrimp".


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## SifuPhil

Sea Monkeys were the only pets that I ever fed to other pets.

I still hear their screams ...


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## Meanderer

SifuPhil said:


> I still hear their screams ...



http://www.perezstart.com/videos/th...e-the-wilhelm-scream-video-game-edition/4999/


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## SifuPhil

:lofl:

Oh, that was fantastic - thanks, Jim!


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## Pappy

His little friends.


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

When ants could text!


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## Pappy

:hiteachother:


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## Meanderer




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## Josiah

SifuPhil said:


> I had an ant farm once. I liked it. I got to play God.
> 
> Every once in a while I'd pick it up and shake it - earthquake.
> 
> Every once in a while I'd pour water into it - flood.
> 
> Every once in a while I'd put it in the freezer section of the refrigerator - cold wave.
> 
> Every once in a while I'd put it on top of the radiator - heat wave.
> 
> 
> One day God left the farm door open - multiple bites and a mean rash.



Serves you right, God.


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## Meanderer

*Yukinori Yanagi | Ant Farm Project*

Over the last 20 years Yukinori Yanagi (previously) has been creating a series of artworks with an unlikely collaborator: ants. The Japanese conceptual artist begins by assembling replicas of flags by pouring colored sand into plexiglass boxes. He then pours live ants into them, allowing them to wreak havoc – or order – as they set about tunneling through the sand. The piece is indeed a living, breathing artwork. It’s appearance continues to evolve as ants travel through the maze of flags, mixing sand as they go.
http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2012/08/15/yukinori-yanagi-ant-farm-project/


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

Ant Song


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## Pappy

Ant mafia...


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## Meanderer




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## Pappy

Oh boy.....


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## Meanderer

Adam and the Ants...are Adamant!

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## Meanderer




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## Pappy

Never ends:


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

ANT MAN


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## Underock1

Some great cartoons on here. I enjoyed this. Thanks Meanderer. As a little kid, I used to bomb ants on the pavement, by dropping a pink "Spaldeen" ball on them. Then I scared myself, thinking they're going to find me some night and get revenge.
As I got older, I became seriously interested in ants, and ant behavior. Not completely like us, but some similarities. They feed each other so that everyone in the colony are identifiable as one of "us". They follow each others scent trails, and you can get a whole colony to walk around in a circle, going nowhere until they drop. Yeah. Those Fire ants are supposed to be murder. Thankfully they have not spread far enough North to get me.


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

Yes the busy ants are movin', 
Never saw the like before. 

We have killed 'em by the thousands 
Yet a million more came on, 
Couldn't tell fer all our trouble 
That a single one was gone. 

Scalded, peppered, mashed and burned 'em, 
Yet they seem to have the call; 
And I guess we're bound to eat 'em, 
Bound to eat 'em after all.


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## Ruth n Jersey

@Meanderer  its the first I read your ant farm poem it made my day. Someone should set it to music it would make such a great kiddie song. I'm sure it could easily beat out Old McDonald had a Farm.


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## Meanderer

Sir David Attenborough Jr. - Leaf Cutter Ants (2012)​


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## Aunt Bea




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## Aunt Bea




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## Aunt Bea




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## Meanderer

Wisdom Of The Ants - Best Motivational Video​


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## Pappy




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## Meanderer

Pappy said:


> View attachment 150907


Reminds me of the grasshopper who sold lawnmower insurance to ants!


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## RadishRose

Ruth n Jersey said:


> @Meanderer  its the first I read your ant farm poem it made my day. Someone should set it to music it would make such a great kiddie song. I'm sure it could easily beat out Old McDonald had a Farm.


Ee i ee i oh


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## Meanderer

RadishRose said:


> Ee i ee i oh


"Ant-Farm-In-sur-ance"!


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